Trucking Businesses and Cargo Securement Devices
By admin | August 3, 2010
Truck tie downs are actually about totally different stuff to different applications , we will focus on commercial truck tie downs in this post , more precisely, we will talk about flat beds only, probably you’ve already seen them on the highway or truck stop.
There are all kinds of loads on the flat bed truck, sometimes they just have to , the requirement for tie downs become complicated. When it comes to flatbed truck , the first thing comes up will be the truck winches, you can see those flatbeds with truck winches at one side on the highway all the time, with those winches it’s easy for the driver to tie down loads with just winch straps with the help of winch bar .
For most flat bed trucks, truck winch and winch straps are what we usually use to tie down stuff, some trailers come with winches installed you only have to get winch strap. There is one thing necessary for truck winch and winch strap tie down combination, winch bar, which is the tool to help you secure the cargo on the flatbed, since you can only tighten the winch straps through turning winch barrel, this only can be done by utilizing winch bars.
If your flatbeds come with winches installed, you only need to get some winch straps for most of your work, of course you still need to keep some chains, binders and ratchet straps handy. When the flat bed have the winches installed, we can use winch straps to tie down loads on the flat bed , usually we tie down steel coils, concrete pipes, skids, anything that not too heavy for the 5400lbs safe load limit . Usually we see flat hooks at one end of the winch straps, the use of flat hook sometimes is by convention, sometimes by choice, because the flat hook is easy on flatbeds, and double J hooks can be used as well, mostly seen on 2” winch straps. Truck winches come in with two different width, 2” and 4”, while there are 2”, 3” and 4” winch straps available, if you were to use 3” winch strap you only can put it into 4” winch for sure, when we look at the length of the winch strap, the range is pretty wide for regular use, from around 20 feet to more than 60 feet, 27′ and 30′ being the most common length available.
Of course here are most popular tie downs: ratchet straps. Usually the ratchet straps are assemblies of ratchet buckles and nylon or polyester webbing tie down strap, there are fixed end straps with ratchet buckles and loose end straps.
The ratchet tie down earned it’s popularity by being the most flexible, adaptable and capable tie down devices , from passenger cars to eighteen wheelers , you can see ratchet straps anywhere cargo needs to be secured. The ending comes with quite some varieties, flat hooks, wire hooks , chain extensions, snap hooks, endless and more. Width of the ratchets measured from 1” to 4” and the length can be anything from inches to more than 50 feet, the ratcheting mechanism really has it’s advantage. On commercial trucks ratchet tie downs are the most popular tie down devices for shippers , those flat bed trucks without winches installed will find ratchet straps pretty useful .
Before you go out or go online to get these tie down straps , you will have to know how to get most out of them with less money, most important thing is the strap quality , most likely you will know the quality of local store stuff, but for online stores you need to find out by reading other people’s the reviews, trucking blogs, such as running tire , customer feed backs, or by some other venues to find out if the products and service are good or not.
