Single Leg Chain Slings

1 Leg Grade 100 Chain Slings Buying Guide

What a single leg does, and where a bridle takes over. A single leg is a one-load tool: master link, one run of chain, one hook, rigged as a straight vertical pull or choked around the load. There is no angle math to run, because there is only one leg carrying the whole weight in line with the hook. That simplicity is the reason to buy it. When the load has an offset center of gravity, needs to hang level, or wants two or more pick points to stay controlled, a single leg is the wrong tool and you step up to a bridle. The 2 leg Grade 100 chain slings hold two points and let you balance an off-center load, and the 4 leg Grade 100 chain slings spread a rigid frame, skid, or machine base across four corners. The full alloy range, single through four leg, lives in Grade 100 chain slings, and the wider family of alloy, wire rope, and bulk chain sits in Chain Slings & Lifting Chains.

Size the leg to the load and the hitch. The number on the tag is the vertical rating: one leg, straight pull, the load hanging in line under the hook. Change the hitch and the rating changes with it. Choke the leg back on itself and a chain sling carries about 80% of its vertical rating, and only when the angle of choke is 120 degrees or more; tighter than that and the number drops off fast. A true basket, both ends up to the hook with the load cradled in the bight, can carry up to twice the vertical rating, but only with vertical legs and a generous bearing diameter. Our single legs run 1/4 inch at 2,700 lb, 5/16 inch at 5,700 lb, 3/8 inch at 8,800 lb, 1/2 inch at 15,000 lb, 5/8 inch at 22,600 lb, 3/4 inch at 35,300 lb, 7/8 inch at 42,700 lb, and 1 inch at 59,600 lb, starting near $102. Decide the hitch first, then size off the hitch-adjusted number, not the tag.

Why Grade 100 for a lifting chain. Grade 100 alloy is the current standard for overhead chain slings, and it earns its place on strength-to-weight. It carries roughly 25% more load than Grade 80 of the same diameter, so a lighter, easier-to-handle chain does the same lift, which matters most on the long legs a crew rigs by hand all day. It also holds full rated load from minus 40 F up to 400 F, with published reduction tables above that and removal from service past 1,000 F, which is where chain leaves every synthetic behind: OSHA caps polyester and nylon slings at 194 F. If the lift is cool, clean, and easy on the sling, the synthetics in lifting slings are cheaper and lighter for the capacity, whether that is a round sling, a flat webbing sling, or a wire rope sling. Chain is what you buy for heat, sharp edges, and abuse that would cut a synthetic through in a single pick.

Pick the hook and the length. Two build choices decide how the sling handles day to day. The hook comes as a standard hook with a spring latch, the quick, familiar pick-and-place fitting, or a self-locking hook whose gate stays shut under load and will not roll open if the rigging shifts, which is the safer choice for loads that can spin or lifts left rigged. Effective working length runs from 3 to 30 ft; order the length that keeps the load off the ground with the hook at a comfortable height, since usable reach is measured bearing point to bearing point, master link seat to hook saddle. You can also add a chain adjustment grab hook, which lets you drop a chain link into the hook to shorten the leg and dial in reach on the job. Used as a cradle grab hook it shortens the leg with no loss of rating, so one adjustable sling covers loads of different heights instead of a rack of fixed lengths.

Match the end fittings, or buy the assembly whole. A rig is only as strong as its weakest piece, so every fitting has to at least match the chain. The advantage of an assembled single leg is that the matching is already done: master link, Grade 100 chain, and hook are sized together, proof tested, and tagged as one rated unit, so there is no mismatched-component guesswork. When you are repairing a sling, building a custom reach, or replacing a worn hook, the loose pieces live in Grade 100 chain components, with more hooks, coupling links, and connectors in lifting hooks & connectors and screw-in lifting points for the load side. Store the slings off the floor and out of the weather when they are not on a hook; the Vestil lifting sling rack keeps a set hung straight, sorted by rating, and easy to inspect at $519.

Inspection and removal under ASME B30.9. Chain slings fall under ASME B30.9, the sling standard, which calls for a visual check before each use and a documented periodic inspection on a schedule that tightens as the sling works harder. The removal criteria for alloy chain are concrete: stretched links, which show up as a chain that no longer collapses freely or measures long against its record, bent or twisted links, nicks, gouges, and cracks, and a hook that has opened at the throat or worn past the maker's limit. A missing or illegible tag also takes the sling out, because the tag carries the rating and traceability that make the sling legal to use. New assemblies here are proof tested to twice their working load limit before they ship, which is the manufacturer's test, not a license to overload; rig to the WLL on the tag, and when any link or hook is in doubt, the sling comes out of service until a qualified person rules on it.