The Truckers’ Report flatbed Hall of Shame.

that’s how Hornady secured coils and flat steel for ever until they got swallowed up by Daseke/COTC. They were pretty much just a steel hauler from what I know. For the same reasons of being able to tighten the chains without untarping.

 

Yes, but they could have cut it sooner?

It makes sense that states will make allowances. We have Nucor in Utah, but not a lot of raw steel here. We see loads of those steel balls for mining mills occasionally, but not much otherwise.

 

Well, that's a way to do it. If it works I guess. I do prefer to go around the axles and pull the chain out at around a 45 degree angle. When you're going around corners, that will take off the side-stress on the wheel bearings. Actually, there was a problem with that, not too long ago, I don't know if it's still going on. When new cars were coming off the assembly lines and loaded onto trains, they did a poor strap job. Not in such a way that it would come off, but it was doing damage to the wheel bearings. There was a guy in my town who had bought a new truck that was strapped like this on the train. Within a month the first wheel bearing went bad. Went to the dealership and they wouldn't support it. $500 outta his wallet. That was a very common problem people were having all over the country. Every time the trains would go around a bend, the tire assemblys would absorb all the side force.

 

How did he have a 1 month old truck that was not covered under warranty? Did he modify the suspension or install larger tires or offset wheels?

I still tie down with all 4 chains at a 45° angle to the vehicle. I just don't want to mess up the paint on the axle tubes more than anything. The tow hooks and hitch are easy to unbolt and repaint if they start to rust.

 

What happens when you’re driving the car around a bend and the tire assembly absorbs all the side force?

 

It's a little different, because usually (hopefully) your wheels are turning. When everything is static, all the weight is concentrated on a couple little ball bearings in each wheel, and wheel strapped takes some lash out of the assembly and the since there's no movement, grease is displaced and micro dents form on the bearing/race. At least that's the theory.

 

No, he didn't modify it, was all stock. I don't know why the dealership didn't cover it.

 

You do realize that almost every new car is shipped with wheel straps over the tires? As in their suspension & wheel bearings absorb all the road shocks and acceleration loads as the truck travels down the road. And those loads are far less than what we introduced into the chassis when we chained down vehicles, loads that were transferred thru the bearings. At least straps don't load the suspension pieces. And only low-profile vehicles are strapped on rail, if they have the ground clearance they'll be chocked.