The Truckers’ Report flatbed Hall of Shame.

You're blocking a fire hydrant?

 

Bumper was behind it.

 

Good eye, but it was stowed before leaving. Just hang it there to go sheet.


First piece from the rear, front cribbing the fork lift driver hit the 4x4 and it was stood up on edge. I missed it. Chained it down, drove 7 miles to fuel, it settled and tightened chains down. Calling to get a fork lift driver for a reset in the port at 430pm day before a holiday was not gonna happen. There was rubber under everything too.

But Im telling on myself here.

 

Come on not my first day, used to be a fireman. Them guys look for a reason to destroy things! Commm onnnn

 

Yes, I actually checked as I was about to sheet my pants.

 

You don't want the old "smash the windows and lay a hoseline through the cab" routine?

I've seen it happen. It's ugly.

 

Belly wrap it with a winch on one side and a hand ratchet on other so you can get it fully choked all around.

 

My experience with bellies tells me you are correct when there's a lot of friction.

One other IMPORTANT aspect of a proper belly aka cinch wrap is you should never allow the strap to wrap over itself, as in your picture. Once the strap rides on top of the other strap, it creates a binding point and it is impossible to tighten the strap on the winch side enough to tighten the other side. Perhaps that's why you rely on a hand ratchet on the far side.

Two cases of this mistake, with the hand ratchet. First case was my brother, who was sited for a strap that was loose, because as was his habit he threw his bellies and clinched them over to the same spot on the far rail.

The worst case was one I witnessed last summer. A hotshot driver had front and back bellies on a drilling motor and two collars. I came out the gate before he did, but with some aggressive driving he passed me on I-40 westbound out of OKC. By that time BOTH his belly wraps were useless. The back wrap j-hook had disconnected itself and the entire 12000 lb load was slanted on his trailer. There was a good 4-6" of flutter in the front belly. I can only imagine the effort he would need to go through to recenter that load, if he ever did a load check.

For all bellies I throw straight across, pull the strap under, then direct it to the winch slot ahead or behind the J-hook securement, NEVER straight across where it is going to cause the strap to bind on top of itself.

If I have long rolling pieces, like drill collars, the front belly is offset toward the front and the back is offset toward the back or vice versa. That controls against the tightened bellies wanting to cause your long pieces to go ####ed on the deck. Sometimes I had to cinch the downforce straps at the front and back dunnage before reefing on the bellies. That was in order to prevent "pop ups" (pieces that would pop up and start binding together if you tighten those bellies too tight to start with).

I rarely used a hand winch. That was usually only if I had a "double belly", like holding two Frack valves apart from each other. It's near impossible to tighten all the way across a strap if you have two or more cinches.

 

But it is hanging half way off like they always should be so they can be seen in the mirror