Straps or chains on plate steel???

Hauling field irrigation systems out of Valley, NE requires you to follow the directions for securement. They give you a hand out when you check in.



Truck bodies I delivered in Chicago years ago. I was not allowed to strap the load without explicit permission from the shipper. The shipper banded the bodies straight to the deck.

 

Negative. I didn't loose the load......... The first couple of good bumps/potholes I hit on this awesome California 10 Freeway we've got out here I had a strap snap, from the flex in the plate I guess.. Probably also because I put the strap right up against the sharp edge of the steel plate like a smartguy would. I look in my mirror and the strap was looking like a dreadlock flying around back there... People were honking.. Scared the crap out of me. Got out. Rerigged with chains. Lesson learned. Around a jobsite I would probably use straps, but rolling down the road it would be chains all the way brother!

 

so you didnt have edge protectors under the strap? it was just against the plate edge?

 

X-chain the front to prevent forward movement....it doesn't really matter much if you use straps or chains over the plate. Just use good straps, with adequate edge protection, and enough of them, and it will be safe. Saw a guy use 4 straps on a load of plate that was probably 45,000lbs. No edge protectors, no chains x'ed across the front. Didn't look good to me. Kinda tried to talk to him about it....Got told to "get bent". What can you do?

 

I prefer chains on steel and i put a x on the front of it. I seen guys use straps with edge guards. As long as you have enough on there to make it safe for you and the people around you i would say its fine.

 

It depends if they are crated or not....

I haul stainless for nuke reactors from Long Beach that are crated....They get tarped and strapped....

I also haul plates that are bare...Uncrated....They get chained...Then tarped...and straps over the tarps....


How are they loading those plates?

You need to have dunnage between layers......

 

I am new at flatbedding, but just delivered plate steel from Memphis to Fort Lauderdale. We threw 8 straps, plus a 5/16 header chain. It was 1 inch steel and it didn't move. But next time, I will probably use more chains. As G/Man said, chain does get a better bite on steel.

I appreciate the old hands information and knowledge on this topic.

 

dunno what the accepted yard-speak for it is but some sort of "padding" { cushion} under the load is critical to thwarting movement -- whatever is between "layers" has to be right or you go back to burger-flippin, no discussion and no cussin

corner "shields" of some kind is important to at least consider ~ straps ^WILL^ fail if there are sharp edges anywhere, beyond those two things what it gets down to is make sure you have proof at the bench of law that will hold against insurance company efforts to shield their costs by using professional counsel, which at $340 an hour can be amazing words & nothing useful

there flat is no substitute for testing in a yard where you can throw some off in turns and see what actually works / what actually fails as the placement of words in an operations manual is subject to twisting by office types who really should not be writing those things......

written test questions is ideal example ~ test to failure is proven industrial engineering - most of internet is not concerned with "reality-check" ..... I saw a video on youtube where rubber was on a drop-lowboy = very obvious for ramping track-mounted construction equipment onto lowboy for anyone who has done it

I have 100,000 hours and can tell you there is no useful reality check short of field-testing to destruction and you really have to be careful not to get ahead of your experience level { no matter what }

 

nicholas, , the yard speak is called dunnage. i know of no one that would load flat plate without it.

and the testing you speak has been many times over, hence the working load limit of straps and chains.

it isnt practical for every flatbed driver to load things and sling em off a trailer in a yard.

basically it boils down to common sense, which may be lacking in many cases.


and gentleman farmer, with 8 straps and a header chain, as long as you used edge protectors you were good to go. just keep the straps tight.

and keep in mind some customer requirements and the type plate being shipped as to damge. you honestly just cant say chains across the board for plate steel.