Do you need a headboard on a flatbed??

If you want to keep your head , answer is YESSSS

 

If what your hauling is large enough to come through the back of the cab or sleeper that extra 1/4 thick piece of aluminum isn't going to do anything anyway. You might feel safer but they're worthless, just amazing even the DOT finally realized it.

 

There is a difference in the tie down requirements with a headboard. With no headboard, you have to have 2 tie downs on the front of the load, no matter . Got a ticket for that being used to step decks, and strapped down as usual, lol

 

yes but it will make a difference if it is a crane hook that hits you.

 

I disagree with you on this...One of our company hands had a load of pipe on and he had to do a quick stop and a couple of pieces of pipe slide out and hit the headache rack, HARD!....Had he not had a headache rack they would have surely hit the back of the sleeper and probably come through causing at the very minimum massive damage to the sleeper and possibly much worse.

Personally, I would NEVER even consider running a flatbed without a headache rack.

 

There's also two I-beams that are part of a cab shield.

Amen on the crane hook. That plastic hat could keep a hole out of your head.
Seen some crane operators that were new or in a hurry scare me.
I don't like when they lift that #### over my truck I want it away ASAP.

I wonder if these mills would say anything if I bought a replica WWII German helmet and ditched the plastic brain bucket.

 

one time while loading 15'' pipe, a peice of pipe slid off of the forks into my headache rack and bent it pretty bad.......the result was a new headache rack and about an hour of down time............if i didnt have a rack it would have hit the sleaper, meaning that i would have had body work and lots of downtime........in my opinion it paid for itself that one time without considering any other benefits

 

2 tie downs for the first 10 feet and 1 additional tie down for every other 10 feet or part thereof. And that's not AT every 10 feet, it's FOR every 10 feet.

ie; a load of 40 foot pipe would require 5 tie downs, you could have 3 within the first 5 feet at the front and 2 with 5 feet at the rear.
Of course, the above is based on the weight being light enough to require 5 tie downs only.

 

Pull tankers... problem solved LOL

 

I prefer to secure my load so I don't need to rely on a headboard! :smt064

Your starting to sound like a door slammer.