Chaining vehicles

I saw a hauler at an auction a few weeks ago pull in off of the street and drive to the gate. I got to looking and there were no chains, straps or anything. I believe that he had the one Tahoe on his trailer. Hope he didnt come from a ways off like that!

 

I been doing car hauling for a year now, with a 3 car wedge, that had ratchet chains with rtl hook ends, but i only used those on trucks, vans, or duallys sometime. I bought a new set of 16 lasso ratchet straps, adn use them almost exclusively on eveything. The trick to them os to have them pulling slightly in opposite directions to help keep the car stable and not rock..AND SET THE PARKING BRAKE!!!

I have had a few instinces of having light weight front wheel drive cars, load at the rear of the trailer try to bounce around a little, and the rear tire trys to roll a little, and let the strap come off the top of the tire, but as long as you dolike any good flatbed driver will tell you...CHECK YOUR LOAD REGULARLY...you will be ok.

 

Used cars are a bit of a free-for-all .... that said, if you check, most manufactures stricktly forbid the use of basket or lasso straps on new units .... unless your using marine straps, which would mean your driving a ship ..... and on the wrong forum ......

 

Speedloader...I don't know where your getting that, because in my experience, exactly the opposite is true. Allmost all my brokers and dealers want new vehicles strapped, not CHAINED. They even go so far as to speel it out in writing on their broker agreements. I don't haul new cars from port or railheads, so they may want it done differently, but almost every hotshotter I run into in auction parking lots are using straps just like me.

 

Bbbzzzzzztttt - wrong ! Read my post again BH.

I said BASKET STRAPS or LASSO STRAPS ...... not straight straps. Straps are the wave of the future. Look at Cottrell and all that new NextGen SofTie equipment their making now. No, chains are history. Period. I know that because I haul new stuff with a smattering of used stuff thrown in for fun.

Let me clarify >> Most manufactures require the following regarding highway haulaway: If the cargo unit requires strap, or soft tie, wheel securment, then a straight, over the tread, wheel strap is to be used. Clear ? Most manufacturers (all the ones I haul for - like KIA, Hyundai, VW, etc) STRICKLY FORBID the use of basket straps, or lasso straps NOT straight straps. And they have very good reasons for that. Does anybody know why ? Anyone ? Anyone ? Bueller ? Bueller ?

We ok now ?

I know where you're coming from. I really do. Prior to Car Haul, I was a flat bedder. As part of that world I hauled ALOT of heavy equipment and over dimensional stuff. That said, I'll say this. I LOVE chains. Tight, cranked down, steel on steel. I don't like a load that 'wiggles'. That's just me. Now that I've been using straps (Nextgen, ratchet type, and the old grab hook style) for a few years pretty much steady, I've gotten to know what I can and cannot do with them. And it really hasn't changed things that much for cars. Now hauling full size vans and pick-ups is different. Sucking down the top and the bottom of a load of vans and 1 tons with chains will give you as much as 5 inches of top cleanence you WON'T get with straps. That makes a difference.

SL

 

Speedloader, trying to make guys understand why lasso and baskets are verbotten is akin to trying to get them to understand why cars should be 4-chained and why the manufacturers require that. Oh, you can add GM and Chrysler to list over-the-tread-only.

 

Like i said, I don't haul new cars from railhead, and probably never will, since thats mainly contract and union stuff. I just haul freelance for dealers transfers, or brokers or individuals. I've never had a car come loose, or get damaged with lasso straps, and i check my load regularly. I mainly had to use them because my 3 car wedge was an older solid deck with no lunch holes, and someone had added side pockets, so thats all i had to hook into. My 6 car rig has expanded metal flooring, so it probably wont lend itself to over the tire either, but like i said ...nobody has compalined yet, and most all the 3 car guys do it this way. To each his own.

 

I cringe every time I see a strap through a wheel, I don't do it and don't want to buy any wheels either.