I have found that products on the most part from China are rated at a specific PSI or burst strength, and that what we are used to in the US is things that have a weight rating for as an example: say rated for 1,000lbs. which can be stressed mabe a third to double of the rating beyond listed capadity to say 1,333 lbs. to 2,000 lbs. and still not fail but be at the outside edge of capacity beyond the 1,000 lbs. Chinese on the other hand do NOT have their ratings the same with a margin of safety, and if its rated at 1,000 lbs you can be sure that the margin is only fifty to a hundred lbs. at most, but likely at the 1,000 lbs. and NO further!!!!! Their not of the persuasion of making it stronger than need be or having any reserve. Another thing that falls far inferior to US made parts are the bolts that are used. Where a plain Jane piece made in the US here usually has a *grade 5 or so bolt, the Chinese will use a grade whatever or 'no grade' and call it good. Often times Chinese bolts are for all practical purposes a ONE TIME bolt as when you remove it, it will show signs of scoring, burring and thread deformity, and often times be too suspect to use a second time as evedinced by your visual examination.......you'll see for yourself, SO, I too was looking at the same Tractor Supply block wondering the rating and burst strength of it. My guess is that the body is FAIR as well as the U-pully, but that the likely culprit in a failure would be in the bearing/bushing or the bolt. FOR SURE, I would change the bolt and ny-loc with a *grade five bolt and hope for the best with the body holding togather. The other area of concern is ofcourse the attatching loop, it looks JUST marginal. Yea it has a spiffy looking bolt, but ...... A good test to do to determine the integrity of the body is to hold it on end and hit the edge of the flat plate with a ball-peen hammer and observe if the impact caused any deformation of the edge (FLATTENING) where it was impacted as steel usually does. And if it unduely (DENTED) then realistically would rate it as safely capable of two thirds of its advertised capacity. Honestly, they look good and appear to be substantial, but in my eyes are suspect as to actual strength and ratings. Which is 16,000 lbs. I guess the bottom line with the T S snatch block is that it 'LOOKS" good, but I think we all know its Chinese cheese and wish it were built of higher quality steel, but they have only got to quality control in recent years, mabe the next evolution or phase of the Chineese industrial revolution will be QUALITY. Looking online I found two manufacturers or retailers of Snatch blocksThe first by a Co. called 'Gunibo' with blocks from 3 to 30 ton ratings. And a more well known brand by all, WARN. I'm sure there are several that Warn sell, but this particular example was a 19.000 lb. unit @ around $88.00 Compare the plate of TS (black) and the Warn (gold) and theres a considerable amount of metal in the hole area, far less likely to be the area likely to fail. The three pictured in red are Gunibo, but the single one in red is another example from
WARN and rated at 24-36,000 lbs. The pictured single 'red' Warn has my attention, not sure of the price, but think it is the logical choice, as snatch blocks usually are needed in dire circumstances as a rule, and this looks like it would have plenty of reserve strength-wise.
