Flat bed Equipment Advise

Here is a list of what I have/use right now.

8 4x4 (Dunnage) boards approx 96 - 98 inches in length. I have 4 hung in my landing gear and 4 I keep chained on the head of my bed when not needed. (53' bed so usually not in the way for 'normal' flat bed loads).
4 pipe bars (Bed stakes).
12 30' cargo straps and ratchets. 6 on each side of the trailer. Plus 2 boxes with about 8 extra straps in case I break or DOT fails one.
5 2" 30' straps with hand ratchets.
10 Coil plates (Used to hold the dunnage in place when hauling coils). To this day I have never used more than 2 for use with hauling a single coil.
20 4" edge protectors (Plastic)
20 8" edge protectors (Plastic)
8 Vee Boards (edge protectors (Wood). For doing bricks and work well when strapping down and not crushing material in cardboard boxes.
12 20' 3/8 chains with maybe 4 or 5 extra hooks and pins for 'just in case'.
6 screw binders and 6 lever style binders.
200 assorted rubber tarp bungees plus another 200 or so under my bunk still in the boxes. (You can never have enough bungee's IMO)
2 24' 8' drop tarps with a single flap. (Heavy bastages and SOB when its windy)
1 24' 4' drop tarp with no flap. This one is heavy too,.. I use this one as a smoke tarp when it calls for one.
2 strobe lights
2 "Over Size Load" banners.
8 red flags.
And 2 come alongs. (If you've ever had your load shift for what ever reason (Pallets loaded on top of vinyl covered material) and really needed to get it back these come in handy).

I carry other none essential (Personal) tools (Like the come alongs) but this is mainly what my company owner provided me with.
Self ratcheting load bar
Strap roll up tool (My favorite).

Hope that helps.

Hurst

 

Good idea on the furniture pads. I can get those from a guy locally where I live. Been using old towels from home, not always the best at staying where you want them.

I just tore a 3' hole in one of my large tarps hauling a mixed load of steel building material.
The steel framing was stacked in the middle between 2 sets of boxes and in my infinite wisdom thought my tarps would be ok unprotected. Hopefully it can be repaired,.. if not I guess I bought this tarp.

 

Go to a Trailmobile dealer. Bought mine there. Makes me mad when they say "Must Tarp" and its laying out in the rain or remove all you side kit and they load from 1 side.

 

In the last year none. There have been times in the past it has but to give a figure on how much would be impossible.

If I were younger and in good health I probably would carry 8' lumber tarps although most of the time when I had them they stayed in the box.

If you are running as an independent owner/operator I would recommend you try running no tarp for a few weeks and see how it works for you. You can always buy a set of tarps if you need them then. If you are leased to a carrier you probably will not have an option. Tarps will most likely be required.

 

I have similar to dannythetrucker, but only carry the following assortment of tools. Bear in mind I have my own authority and book my own loads, but I haven't needed any special equipment in the past two years. I save myself a lot of heart ache by NOT carrying 8 foot lumber tarps.

10 3/8 x 25 chains
10 snap binders
5 ratchet binders
2 20 x 27 lumber tarps
2 16 x 20 steel tarps
8 coil racks
8 4 x 4 x 4 beveled hard wood
10 4 x 4 x 8 or 3 x 5 x 8 landscape timbers
50 (minimum) 21" tarp straps
50 (minimum) 31" tarp straps
30 plastic corner protectors
20 metal corner protectors
10 4" x 4' rubber mats
4 2" x 30' ratchet binders
4 5 foot pipe stakes
2 bungee red flags
2 oversize load banners
1 step ladder

All this stuff fits in my chain rack or my two trailer boxes. Nothing goes in the cab except my winch bar and my strap winder. Hope this helps.

 

Grade 70 on the chains ...

 

I have 2 coil bags and find I like using the smoke tarps better for coils.

 

I carry 2 10x12 smoke tarps because I use them for other than the front of loads.

Also I love using the bungee rope vs regular bungee cords. Though I do carry both as some places regular bungee cords work better.

 

You can expect to lose a lot of flat bed loads if you don't have tarps. I would expect to tarp at least 50% of the time. If you don't need them then fine, they don't take up that much room on the trailer. If you need them and don't have them, you may have lost a lot of money. I would never start out pulling a flat bed without having tarps on the truck. Buy a couple of steel tarps and one lumber tarp and you should be able to tarp most anything that you would need for a flat. You may also want to buy some moving blankets, as others have suggested, to protect your tarps. You can buy them from Harbor freight for about $7 or $8. Or you could buy a box of Pampers, if money is tight or you can't find blankets. Another option that works very well is carpet or carpet padding. One other thing that I will throw out for you is to use rope rather than bungee's to secure your tarp. I would not necessarily use it for a coil, but a larger load it works very well. There is less stress from wind and not as much of a chance you can punch a hole in your tarp with some loads. It will take a little longer to secure the tarp, but can work better than bungee's. I have some freight that we haul every now and then and I only use rope to secure the tarps with those loads. I find that I have less damage than with bungee's. Rope is also less expensive than bungee's and you can find rope at any hardware or Walmart.

 

12 sets of chains? Whew, thats a lotta chains! Lol