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.

E Track tie down system usually has two parts, the E Tracks and the logistic straps or hardware connector, aka E Track straps or tie downs. The E Track will be installed inside the semi trailers , the most used are 2 variations , horizontal E Track and vertical E Track, most seen sizes are 5′ section and 10′ section. E Track tie downs have some varieties, there are e track cargo bars with e fittings at both ends, ratchet e track straps, cam buckle e track straps, rope tie offs, wood beam socket, they all have e fittings at the ends, and on the floor we have chocks for stop vehicles from moving. Of course all of these need to have E Tracks installed and secured on the trailers, let’s see how do we do that.

How to install E Tracks and install them safely? Here are some tips.

When you mount the E Track you will have to look for the wall studs on the trailer, we will focus on doing it on the wall but the same principle applies to the floor as well. The wall stud is basically a big channel with a couple of flat spots on top to attach the plywood to, we just have to do the same to the E Track and bridge two of them somehow, when you figure that out you can use screws to hold the E Track up, you will need deep threaded wood screws or tec screws to get the job done. Basically this is all about installing E Tracks on the wall, and you will have to make sure the E Track sit as flat as possible on the wood. Use deep threaded wood screws on these E Tracks is a good idea, and if it’s possible, you should put one screw in each hole on the track, and run the track as far as you can(spread the load), then you’re pretty safe as long as for regular loads. The outside wall is about 2 inches away, so make sure the screws are not longer than that.

When finish installing E Tracks, you will need to test it , just put an rope tie off into the E Track, drag it all you want, see if there are any weak spots, loose ends or whatever feels not well secured, if there are any problems fix them before you put the system into real use.

Grade 70 transport chains and ratchet chain binders are heavy duty tie down devices , both chains and binders are made of carbon steel, their working load limits are higher than their straps counterparts , say we compare grade 70 size 5/16” binder chain(which has 4700lbs WLL) to WLL 3333lbs 2” ratchet tie down straps ,  6600lbs 3/8” transport chains vs. 5400lbs 4” tie down straps , you will see that compare to tie down straps, binder chains are much stronger, and chain binders are even stronger than same size chains, for instance, 5/16”-3/8” binder has WLL 5400lbs which is stronger than 4700lbs WLL of 5/16” grade 70 chain . If we examine the design factor of chains and tie down straps, we will see that chains and binders have 4:1 design factor while tie down straps have design factor 3:1, that’s another reason we consider chains and binders are heavy duty tie downs .

According to NACM recommendations, the carbon steel used in making grade 70 chains should meet following criteria: no more than 0.35% Carbon, 0.040% Phosphorous and 0.050% Sulfur . As long as the choice made by chain manufacturers meets the recommended criteria and the final products meet or exceeds DOT requirements(or CHP, California Highway Patrol, or some other mandated requirements), we can use these products for transportation purpose and don’t have to worry about inspections.

We use these heavy duty chains and binders to haul heavy equipment, for instance, backhoe, bulldozer, forklift, these big rigs are tough or straps, we have to use steel chains to tie them down , when we talk about backhoe, forklift, we need at least 3/8” grade 70 chains and binders to secure them, for something which has less weight we consider 5/16” chains are good fit, of course we still have 1/2” and up chains and binders, these chains will most likely be used to tie down something out of ordinary, such as battle tanks, or some other applications require super heavy duty chains.

As we stated above, transport chains, or say binder chains are used on a lot things except for overhead lifting. There are people who use these chains to tear trees, to tow mobile loading docks, a lot of forestry services use large quantity of these grade 70 chains.

The  assembly of ratchet buckle and nylon or polyester webbing is the ratchet straps. The straps part of the assemblies can be made of nylon or polyester webbing , the safe load limit can range from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds , the strap width can range from 1 inch to 4 inches , usually we can see hooks, loops or chain extension at both ends of the assembly .

The material people use to make ratchet buckle is steel, specifically carbon steel, but the ratchet handle can be aluminum or plastic coated, or just the steel . Following link is the diagram of long wide handle ratchet :

Ratchet Buckle

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According to WSTDA, tie down straps are made of nylon or polyester webbing, people choose different ratchet straps for different applications, nylon webbing has better elongation than polyester one, so it’s used when shock absorption is critical, such as motorcycle tie down, when low elongation and  low creep are required, polyester will be the choice, tie down heavy equipment will require polyester webbing ratchet straps .

Webbing cab also be coated with suitable materials that will change desirable characteristics, such as abrasion resistance, sealing to prevent penetration of foreign particles and matter, increased(or decreased) coefficient of friction, ultra-violet light resistance .

Of course the quality of the straps is the most important characteristic, to properly and safely use the ratchet straps is a must . Now we need to find low price yet high quality straps. Usually your local dealer will have quite some varieties of straps, and the quality probably is OK but the price will be somewhat high . Actually there is a better way to acquire these straps, you guessed it, online stores are probably the best place to find wonderful deals, not most of the time but you will always find what you need, maybe not exactly but it will be close.

The ratchet tie downs are safety truck accessories, especially for 18 wheelers, the quality is the most important thing in transportation industry, because all the big trucks on the highway are potential safety threat, and the tie downs are the ones which people use to secure the heavy load on the truck bed, if the truckers cut corners people will suffer, you need to choose tie down strap carefully and responsibly.