Snap hooks and quick links: ratings, gates and where not to use them

Quick links and snap hooks are the fastest way to join two things, which is exactly why they end up in places they were never meant to be. Size for size, they are rated far below the lifting hardware they resemble, and their strength depends on a gate that someone has to remember to close. Used for what they are made for, they are excellent; used as lifting gear, they are a liability.

/01What is on the shelf.

/02Quick links: the sleeve is the strength.

A quick link is an oval or pear-shaped link with a gap in one side and a threaded sleeve that screws across it. Closed, the sleeve completes the ring and the link carries its rated load along its long axis; part-open, the link is a hook with a weak, thin tip. Our 4× quick links state a breaking load four times the working load limit, from 220 lbs WLL at 3.5 mm through 2,640 lbs (about 1,200 kg) at 10 mm to 8,000 lbs at 16 mm. Screw the sleeve fully home every time, by hand and then a nip with a spanner where the job calls for it, and load the link in line rather than across its width.

/03Snap hooks: the gate is the weak point.

A snap hook closes itself with a spring-loaded gate, which is what makes it quick, and also what makes it vulnerable: the gate is the weakest part, and a load against it or a rope that rolls across it can open it. Screw-lock versions add a sleeve that holds the gate shut. Our zinc-plated snap hooks are sized by wire diameter and length — 10 × 100 mm is listed at 770 lbs WLL — and the pear-shaped spring snaps, oval snap hooks and boat snaps on the shelf are rated lower again, in tens or hundreds of kilograms. They suit lanyards, light rigging, marine and agricultural use, not structural or lifting loads.

/04Stainless steel versions.

Most connector types are also listed in 304 or 316 stainless steel, polished, for marine, food and architectural use where zinc plating would corrode or flake. Stainless and carbon versions of the same pattern do not necessarily carry the same rating, so take the WLL for a stainless connector from the certificate supplied with it rather than from the carbon steel table. For where stainless is worth the cost in rigging, see stainless against galvanised rigging in the Gulf.

/05Ordering.

Give the type, size, material and finish, and the load the connector will see, so we can confirm the rating covers it. If the job is lifting, tell us — we will quote rated lifting components instead, such as the master links in master links explained or the shackles in types of shackles.