Green Pin shackles

[JPaul]

So here is a find of mine on Amazon, not sure if anyone else knows about this seller, but they are selling Van Beest Green Pin shackles for very good prices (lowest I have seen anywhere). The orders are fulfilled by Amazon for the most part, if not all of them I think.

Interestingly it doesn't say anywhere that they are Van Beest, just that they are Green Pin. So I was a bit hesitant to order a pair from them since I wasn't 100% sure they were legit, but I figured if Amazon was fulfilling the orders, they wouldn't risk upsetting the manufacturer by selling bogus product. Plus all the documentation was from the Van Beest website, and seemed very up and up.

Anyway, I bought a pair of 6.5 ton screw pin shackles for just under $18 each with Prime shipping. I figure at that price it wouldn't be a big deal if they weren't legit, and awesome if they were. Turns out fate smiled on me, they are definitely legit Van Beest Green Pin shackles.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MWW6VQG

The pics on the product page don't show any of the stampings, which turns out because they are on the sides of the shackle rather than the face as normal, but here are some pics I took of what I got:

 

[woodwardsh3]

good find. Thanks

 

[RamRod]

Never heard of these, what makes them a good buy? Is it a quality thing or?

 

[Renagade132]

I agree with RamRod... Or is it because OEM ones are hard find?

 

[JPaul]

They are quality shackles that are actually CE certified and whatnot, and are rated for actual rigging and lifting use. You can even get certificates for the shackles if you need them (probably for OSHA and whatnot). So when they say it's rated for a certain tonnage, they actually went through the proper procedures to test the shackles. And I believe they proof test every shackle as well to make sure they will hold their rated amount. (Proof testing is loading something to a certain amount over it's rated capacity to make sure it will actually hold the rated capacity safely, sometimes there are defects in the material that cause failure below the rated capacity)

This is in contrast to the cheap shackles you get at most offroad place where you don't really know for sure if they are good or not. I know that many offroaders will say to only buy shackles that have ratings stamped on them, but honestly nothing is preventing a manufacturer in China or where ever to put ratings on their shackles without actually testing them. Instead they may just assume that because it's a certain size/material it will hold X tons. Or maybe they just dont bother testing every shackle to make sure they aren't flawed, so bad ones could sneak by that end up failing under their rated capacity and damage property or even kill someone.

The lifting and rigging industry has much higher standards (heck, they actually HAVE standards and regulations that must be followed) than the offroading industry has. These shackles are not being sold strictly as an offroading product, they are being sold as a product for an industry where people's lives and property is at risk.

You can find Van Beest's Green Pin shackles sold at some offroading suppliers (like billet4x4.com) but for a lot more, and even on Amazon if you search for Van Beest you'll find other sellers charging double or more for these.

TL;DR:
These are certified shackles meant for the lifting and rigging industry and are superior to the cheap stuff you get from offroading suppliers normally, just like Crosby and other manufacturers of rigging and lifting equipment are.

 

[RamRod]

Very good info! Thanks and great find!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[JPaul]

Plus the fit and finish on these is a million times better than the shackles I've seen from offroading suppliers. The galvanize on them it nice and smooth and even. I looked at a shackle the other day from an offroad supplier and compared to the Green Pin shackles it looked like a child had formed it out of clay and painted it with silver paint.

By the way, check the other products from that seller, I didn't notice until after that you can get the 9.5 ton super shackle for just a dollar or two more than the 6.5 ton shackles I got. The super shackles are the nicer alloy plus have the bolt and nut for the pin instead of the screw in pin, but are basically the next physical size down from the regular shackle with a similar rating:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MWW5TGY

The 7 ton super shackle that is the same physical size as a 3/4" 4.25 ton shackle is still a bit more pricey though (about $36), oddly enough. So that 9.5 ton is a super deal.

 

[chaos254]

Just ordered a set