Ratchet straps - Do they work as a lever?

[vybrano]

I've seen ratchet straps like that being used during seating/unseating tire bead, compressing shock springs etc etc. I have no experience with them.

It looks to me, that they are working as a lever? That you are able to reach much higher forces than by your bare hands? If so, how much force are you able to create with such a ratchet? Would I for example be able to reach double/triple my body weight or something like that? Or is it just a mechanism, that tightens that strap and actual created force is negligible... ?

 

[mckutzy]

It kinda depend on what you mean by are they a lever....

The essence of them is yes in fact they have a lever to actuate the ratchet mechanism.... built in... but....are they a lever???? im going to say no....

Overall what is that your getting at anyways????...

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

I think he's talking about using them like a tire band.
vybrano, no, they're not really a lever, they are simply a strap with a ratchet mechanism on it.
I would think that ratchet straps could be used just fine as a tire band to keep the tire from distorting while seating the bead.
Why do you ask?
And also, please clarify your question. Are you just curious or do you plan to use a ratchet strap for something?

 

[Hellion]

It's a mechanism that just tightens a strap.

But I suppose you could fashion a longer handle and put it on the lever, get a strap that's 24,901 miles and 3 feet long, run that strap all the way around the earth at the equator, feed it through the mechanism and keep ratcheting until you sever the planet in two.

Then we could have the northern and southern hemispheres as two distinct (but oddly shaped) planets.....

 

[mckutzy]

naa.... I prefer Hellion's way better..

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

It's a mechanism that just tightens a strap.

But I suppose you could fashion a longer handle and put it on the lever, get a strap that's 24,901 miles and 3 feet long, run that strap all the way around the earth at the equator, feed it through the mechanism and keep ratcheting until you sever the planet in two.

Then we could have the northern and southern hemispheres as two distinct (but oddly shaped) planets.....

BWAHAHAHA! That's hilarious!

 

[Kartorbust]

I'm confused on what even the question is. Is the ratchet part a lever? Partly maybe? If your trying to use it to seat beads on a tire, it only works on 2 ply tires (go kart, atv, dolly, lawn tractor, etc), it doesn't go too well with car or truck tires...trust me on this one.