Do you guys do this? Insufficient load securement

Busted shingles make big shrapnel.

 

I sold the 1/2" and 5/8" chain when I sold my 4 axle tractor etc.




There are tie downs under the skid plate, but they are a SOB to get a chain around without scratching it to hell, and don't give enough downward tension IMHO. So I go through the pin instead.




Martin

 

nice load leftlane, but i still carrie 6 10' 1/2 chains as far as the holes being tight my solution is a set of padded shackels i carry with me. CAT doesnt like chipped paint either!
As far as load securement OVER KILL WORKS FOR ME!
throw as many chains to you feel safe then throw 2 more!

 

I have yet to need my old 1/2" stuff, but I do have more than enough 3/8 all rated at 7400, so I'm good.
We are a contract carrier direct for Cat, so that is our mainstay, and the only place that has mentioned about padding chains is the port of Tacoma when they used an outside wharehouse, and the new grader plant at Little Rock. No where else, shipper wise, has said a word in all the years I have been hauling pretty much exclusive for Cat. And I have yet to have a dealer say anything about tie down points having chipped paint. Think they would have to pick me up off the ground after I finished laughing at them if they did.....
The tie downs at the front would are only @1/2" away from the skidplate, which is stupid IMO. So I just use the pin and be done with it. If they made them like the rest, where they hang down and are on their own, then it would be easy to use them, but what do I know....Just like all the tie downs on some of their other stuff that isn't big enough to get a hook through!

Martin

 

What is that front pin rated at??? Since u are hooking to it, u only get the WLL of the pin, even tho you have 2 chains/binders on it. But I bet it's rating is still more than those 2 put together lol...

 

left lane, i agree would be nice if they did think of tiedowns, most of them will only fit 5/16 chain and barely 3/8. but if you go to Aurora or Decatur you'll see pad suggestion notes on the wallls of the office wher you get your load and paper work from. You wast an hour padding everything, then get to the port or the mine with this equipment and they either take it off with a crane and set it in the mud or on rock or the port takes it off with a fork lift dragging the forks across that nice yellow paint

 

you can put a 5/8 hook on a 1/2 chain right( for getting through a smaller hole)? Not sure what that does to the rating though.

 

A 5/8 hook won't even fit on a 1/2 chain, the opening on the pin side is too small to fit over the link. A 3/8 hook might work tho, or a 5/8 on a 3/8 chain could work too.

 

When and if the DOT looks at the hook they go by what size and rating it has. So if I have a big chain with (just examples guys dont get nutty) 7000 wll and a hook with 5000 wll then it will default to 5000 wll but again they will have to look at it first

 

I was reading this thread as I was getting loaded with some pavers watching the guys ahead strap down. One guy was strapping ever other row and apparently because it was an even number of rows he didn't even strap the front row (he started from the back).

As he pulls away I call the office, put on hold, and when I start talking to the office told another driver had just called about the same thing.

After I secure and I'm leaving I see the guy from the office handing him a winch bar. Few minutes later I get a call from the office guy to thank me and was told that the guy was just hand tightening the straps.

When I first started I wanted to get into flatbeds but never had the opportunity. But I was always talking to guys and learning as much as I could for when that opportunity came up. I can't remember seeing loads that I thought where not secured properly. Some bad tarp jobs but that was about it.

But now it seems that flatbedding is getting some of these drivers with the same mentality as dry van drivers. One of my regular accounts said last year they had to start checking load securement for the first time because so many loads where going out under secured.