Shackle size chart: WLL, pin and jaw dimensions from 3/16″ to 4″

A shackle is ordered by its nominal size, but the size tells you its dimensions, not its strength. Two 3/4″ shackles can differ in rating by a factor of three, depending on the steel. The charts below give both — the dimensions that decide what fits, and the working load limit that decides what it can carry — for every shackle family we list.

/01Carbon shackle size and capacity chart.

Dimensions and ratings for the carbon steel, quenched-and-tempered shackles of the G-209 family, from our tables. Sizes to 2-1/2″ are from the G-209 screw-pin anchor shackle; 3″ to 4″ from the G-2130 bolt-type anchor shackle, which shares the same body. WLL is in metric tonnes as rated; the pound figures are our conversion, rounded down.

Read it like this: a 3/4″ shackle has a 19 mm body, a 22.4 mm pin and a 31.8 mm gap between the ears. The pin must pass through the eye or lifting point it connects to, and the jaw must accept whatever goes on the other side. If the pin is too big for a pad eye, the answer is a smaller alloy shackle with the same rating, not a carbon shackle with a smaller pin.

/02Side-load ratings for anchor shackles.

An anchor (bow) shackle may take a load that is not in line with its body, at a reduced rating: 70% at 45° from the shackle’s centre line and 50% at 90°. Worked out for every size:

/03Same size, different steel.

This is the chart that stops the most expensive mistake with shackles — assuming that one 3/4″ shackle is as strong as another.

Stainless figures are converted from the pounds in our table and rounded down. Commercial-grade shackles are light-duty general rigging; use one for lifting only if it is marked with a WLL and covered by a certificate. Stainless shackles are chosen for corrosion — marine, food and chemical work — and are sized up to carry the same load.

/04Grade 8 alloy shackles.

Alloy shackles share the carbon pattern’s dimensions but carry more, so a smaller shackle can pass through a smaller lifting point. Ours are rated at a 5:1 design factor — the listed minimum breaking load is exactly five times the WLL at every size.

/05Metric shackles: AS 2741 and BS 3032.

Australian Grade S shackles to AS 2741 are sized in millimetres. The bow and dee versions carry the same rating at each size:

BS 3032 shackles come in four shapes on the same set of bodies, and the shape changes the rating: a large bow or large dee is never rated above the small version on the same body, and is usually rated lower, because its longer reach puts more bending into the steel.

/06Light-duty and heavy-lift ranges.

At the other end, European and Italian galvanized shackles and JIS chain shackles are light-duty hardware rated in kilograms. They are not substitutes for lifting shackles of the same size:

A 20 mm European bow shackle is rated 1,100 kg. A 3/4″ (19 mm) G-209 pattern shackle is rated 4.75 t. For heavy lifts, wide-body sling shackles carry a large bearing radius that protects synthetic and wire rope slings; ours are rated 7 t, 12.5 t, 18 t, 30 t, 40 t, 55 t, 75 t, 125 t, 150 t, 200 t, 250 t, 300 t, 400 t, 500 t.

Same size, different rating: see commercial grade vs lifting grade shackles, G-209 vs G-2130 vs G-213 and the non-US shackle standards.