watched tv last night and saw on a military truck, they carried a decent amount of looped cable and had it attached to their spare,..... later using it as a tow strap. anyone do this (no winches)....is there a benefit?

 

No - safety first.
No cables (only on your winch and synthetic is safer)
No chains
No straps with metal hooks.
Only a strap with looped ends.
No metal.

 

The military seems like a dangerous enough job without using cable as a recovery "tool". I do believe I watched a TV show a couple of years back where the US Army was hand winching some large vehicle using cable and pulleys. No winch, just muscles.

 

i would stay with a strap.

I believe that the military uses cables for a few reasons, one being that they are stupid proof. if they get drug through the mud and never cleaned properly it wont have an advers effect on the cable or if it gets run over by another vehicle. And a cable that's about 100 pounds doesn't walk off as easy as a 10 pound strap. also I haven't seen to many tow straps that are rated high enough for pulling a 80,000 pound tank.

 

strap all the way. Safer, not as much of a pain as cable to haul around in your jk.

 

Go to Masterpull.com and checkout the Kinetic Recovery Rope. Saw it demonstrated on Top Gear. Cost is about $80-90 and meets all those previous posts regarding safety (no metal, hooks, etc).

 

The "Bubba Rope" is the way to go. Google it

 

Bubba rope is also a kinetic recovery, but costs about $50 more @ about $140. The master pull (equivalent tow rating of 28,000 lbs) is $90. Whichever you chose, it's a viable alternative to conventional straps.