I use 4' and 8' chains. As of this weekend I will have 8 of each with a slip hook on one end and a grab hook on the other. In 6 months of having this truck I have used 4 long chains exactly once. Everything else has been covered with 4' and 8'.
Tips and Tricks of flatbedding
Discussion in 'Flatbed Trucking Forum' started by Flightline, Feb 23, 2014.
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Anyone who wants my ratcheting winch bar, pm me. It was gifted to me and I never use it.
Warning: it is heavy heavy heavy. -
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Y’all must have magic frogg toggs because I tried them at least 3 or 4 times and always got soaked. Not to mention they rip easy and the zipper sucks. Also sweated like a pig in them. I’ve dealt with a LOT of rain gear as I went motorcycle only no car for 5 years.
What I do: get soaked like crazy and change clothes in the truck when done.
Cheap: Columbia evaporation jacket and rebel roamer pants off amazon. About $60-80 depending on sizes and sales.
Best: Carhartt shoreline jacket and pants. About $180ish off amazon but this stuff is awesome. -
Way up at the start of this thread someone talked about the Maverick method for folding 4' drop tarps. There's a quick video on YT showing how they do it.
Boneheaded, Flightline and JonJon78 Thank this. -
Pros:
Absolute best way in wind or rainy weather
Fast
Cons:
Tarps with flaps make it 10x harder
Little harder to unroll on an uneven loadJ/Cope79 Thanks this. -
Im on my 5th week of flatbedding professionally and studying up here. Excellent thread and ive adopted a few tricks from it already. The cut up inner tube rubber bands have tidy'd up my strap storage alot. I keep them plopped over the shifter when not in use, then stuff a handful in back pocket when its go time.
I mostly haul quarry stone outbound, and we use firehose for edge protectors, with a slit to sleeve it over the strap. I also use conveyor belting scraps.
My worst stone product is baskets of river rock. Theyre palletized round fence wire baskets and you cant keep them tight, the load vibrates down, compacts and loosens. The baskets bulge out as you continually retighten. I keep my best straps on the front [since theyre the first thatll kill me in a wreck] and i criss cross that pair since round baskets want to drop a strap over the corner unless youve got them lasso'd at center. Double strapping the center too tight will just bust the cage open or crush it down and let stones dance out. Im gonna cut some plywood strips to try spreading the force across more stones soon.
Another trick i never see other drivers do is to wrap a regular ratchet strap around the belly of two baskets like a corset to keep them from bulging over. You link two J hooks hand in hand then use the slack to wrap the j hooks into a splice cover, starting by feeding through the gaps in the hook eye where the factory sew the strap onto the hook.. Hard to explain but i have never had this pull apart or shift. I dont think it counts as securement and its more work for me but easier than apologizing at someones funeral when a basket splits. I do it on front and rear where the double strap is really crushing the cages down, after ive drove a few miles to settle the load.Attached Files:
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I use machinist hammer i turned years ago for my quick cincher before going thru all the winches with a full sized trucker bar, because of the big T you can still get two hands on it. That and my winder save a lot of time there. I use drop in winches in the two spots my rub rail is too crushed to pass a strap hook, just fold the strap end so i dont suck the hook into the winch. Quarry trailers get hammered pretty bad. I use drop ins over the tire also. I tuck the tail ontop the load under the strap and then use some walmart gear ties to keep any slack from flapping. That 2" ratchet strap is a failsafe just incase the portable jumps out of the rail there. It hasnt yet but it could. Innertube is tying up the 2" strap tail.
I keep a duffelbag of 2" straps in the truck for that odd paver that looks like it'll walk out of the banding, basket or shrinkwrap. Rather than fooling with additional 4" straps and winches. I think im gonna start collecting old lawn mower tires or something to put load on that random loose one in the middle of the pack and help keep my straps from slapping. They dont last long in stone hauling.
My 5th wheel puller is just a piece of rebar with a hook in the end and a T handle welded on.Attached Files:
Last edited: Mar 22, 2019
JonJon78, cke, kylefitzy and 1 other person Thank this. -
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