Standard Matters

When it comes to truck tie down, you have to bear in your mind that there are totally different things, there are different kind of trucks, box truck, pickup truck, flatbeds, etc., they use similar or different tie downs, even for same kind of trucks, people probably will use totally different tie downs, say e track straps or plain ratchet straps for box trucks, so try to talk about generic tie downs is not a good idea, more specifically, we are going to talk about flat bed truck this time, because we can see those tie downs on the highway,

So many different loads can be put on trailers , the choice of tie downs will be really complicated, they will need quite some different tie down devices to get the job done, such as e track straps for box truck . When it comes to flatbeds , 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 .

Traditionally slide in winch and winch straps are most popular tie down devices for flat beds . When you work with truck winches and winch straps, there is one thing you can’t live without: winch bar, these steel bars are definitely needed for your job, so get one if you don’t already have one.

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. Winch straps with winches on the flatbed can be used to secure pallets, machinery, steel coils, concrete pipes etc., with 5400lbs working load limit and the protection of plastic corner guards these winch straps can tie down almost anything threw at them. Both flat hooks and wire hooks may be used on 2”, 3” and 4” winch straps, but flat hooks are more popular than wire hooks, you may see flat hooks on all size winch straps while wire hooks mostly on 2” straps. We can find 2” and 4” truck winches and 2” and 4” winch straps , depends on different applications , the strap length can be 20′, 25′, 27′, 30′, 35′, 40′ or more than 50 feet.

And here are most popular tie downs: ratchet strap. What we call ratchet straps are actually assemblies, the ratchet buckles with short straps, one foot or longer, and the long straps, 6 feet or longer.

Ratchet strap is most used tie down equipment because of their adaptability , you can put them almost anywhere when it’s applicable. The ending comes with quite some varieties, flat hooks, wire hooks , chain anchor , snap hooks, endless and more. And it’s width can be 1” through 4”, length can be a few inches to more than 50′ . On commercial trucks ratchet tie downs are the most popular tie down devices for truckers , those flat bed trucks without winches installed will find ratchet straps pretty useful .

To acquire these tie down straps, you have the choice between local stores and online stores , depends on your needs , sometimes purchase them in local store is a better choice , sometimes online deals are much more attractive.

To haul bulk loads like big logs most likely people will choose flatbeds , grade 70 chains and chain binders are probably not necessary for these loads, you can use tie down straps with them but 2” sometimes won’t cut it then you need 4” straps, if you choose ratchet straps you will need big ratchet buckles, it’s a overhead and not necessary, usually flatbeds come with winches installed, if that’s the case you only need a little more than 10 winch straps for one flatbed, plus one winch bar to tighten the straps. Winch straps have 2”, 3” and 4” width available, truck winches have 2” and 4”, slide in and weld on models available.

The way the truck winch and strap system works is pretty simple, the mandrel, the part into which you can insert the tie down strap, can be used to tighten the winch straps easily, thus tie the loads down pretty much by just put winch bar into the winch side hole then turn as many rounds as needed until the loads are secured properly. The barrel across the winch body has holes at one end, a  gear at the other end, the part between the winch body is mandrel, the winch strap can be inserted into it, when the brake on the gear is closed, the gear can only go one direction so you can tighten the straps one notch at a time, when you untie the strap, open the brake, turn the barrel the opposite direction to pull the  strap off the load. In order to secure your load with winch straps, you will need winch bar to turn the barrel, there is no way you can operate the winch by hand, it’s not only not safe, but also not legal.

There are a few different kind of winch bars available, usually you will be able to find following winch bars at any store: standard winch bars, usually painted black, chrome standard winch bars, chrome combination winch bar and chrome combination winch bars painted half yellow. To get which kind of winch bar depends on one’s priority and preference, all winch bars will serve the same purpose, they are just steel sticks with some tweaks after all.

We got a tree stump in the front , it’s diameter is about a little bit more than 4 feet, it had bothered us for a few years, we’ve tried chainsaw on it but nothing can go through it, lately we bought a 4 ton cable puller , hooked onto a pickup and pulled the stump out without major effort!

Actually cable pullers are heavy duty hand tools and can be used to do a lot of things, sometimes you even can use it in pace of ATV Winch to save money. The cable pullers usually have 1 ton to 4 ton pulling capacity, the lifting capacity is half of the pulling, and pull reach can be 6′ to 12′, 4 ton puller typically has 6′ reach but extra heavy duty ones may have more than 11′ reach. People sometimes call these cable pullers “Come Along”, but come along refers to a lot of different hand tools besides cable pullers, such as chain hoist, chain pullers, hand winch, strap pullers, and more, in a word, a come along is a hand operated ratchet lever winch. The difference between cable puller and other come alongs is that cable pullers are considered heavy duty tools, pull capacity can be 4 ton(8800lbs), while typical hand winch has 400-4000lbs capacity and mostly used to pull boat out of or lower boat into water from trailer, sometimes also called boat trailer winch.

You have to do your homework before you go out to buy a cable puller, get to know it’s features. The cable limiter on a cable puller help to keep 2 wraps of cable on ratchet wheel, and you can release loads one notch at a time, so you can lower a vehicle or tree safely, it usually has a laminated steel ratchet wheel, rust resistant plated steel, drop forged steel safety hooks, it features aircraft cable, 4 ton one will have 5/16” galvanized aircraft cable, and all the cable pullers will have to meet OSHA and ASME specs. The cable pullers usually come with two slip hooks with safety latch, and some extra heavy duty ones have 3 safety hooks for extra protection.

If you want to lifting or lowering something, you should choose cable pullers. To pull vehicles onto the trailer or release the vehicle off the trailer, to pull or tear down trees, to lift or lower heavy stuff in your house, pull the stuck trees out of somewhere , compare to electric powered winch, such as electric winch , cable pullers are cheaper alternatives.

Just to be clear, I am not talking about cheap quality leashes and collars, I don’t want those flimsy, shady stuff for my dog. Low price doesn’t equal to low quality , if you spend money, even not much , on shady merchandise you’re just throwing good money away . What the affordable says here is that you don’t have to spend an arm and leg to get the high quality leashes and collars, better yet, you probably can pay much less get much more, take this 3/8” dog leash collar set as an example, this set is ideal for small dogs in the city , the collar is 9”-14”, which is adjustable , combined with 48” long leash , only sell for $2.25 a piece, which is a very good  price for a nice product.

Take another dog leash as example , this 1”x60” reflective dog leash comes with trash bag and travel bowl in it’s handle, the choice of color are red, black, orange, dark green and blue, $7.00 with features like reflective, 60” length, handle with trash bag and travel bowl, plus free shipping it’s a no brainier! Nice looking and comfortable handling, plus you will get an extra travel bowl with your order make this deal sweeter. And there are 5 different colors available for you to choose, including black, blue, dark green, red and orange. With the easy to carry trash bag and travel bowl, this leash is ideal for you to walk your dog in the park or play in the wild.

For out door play the tie out cable and tie out stake are essential dog tie downs. Play with your dogs at camp you have to make sure it’s safe for the dog and the people around you, With tie out cable and stake, you can set up a tie down post for your dogs, when you’re not playing with them they can rest with the post. Usually people use aircraft cable to make tie out cable and stainless steel for tie out stake, therefore the cable ans stake are strong and safe for the dogs. With a few different sizes such as 9mmx18′, 9mmx17”, 8 mmx16” and 8mmx18” you always can find what you need, and the tie out cable is 5mm in diameter and usually has a few kind of lengths: 10′,15′,20′ and 30′, there always will be perfect size for you!