Do you leave straps on the winches or take them off every time?

Is that even legal to show? I hope he made a full recovery… but that looked like instant death or non brain functionality. Live every second to the fullest.
To the OP… I’d leave around 4 or 5 rolled and the rest stored.

 

I prefer to pull all the straps off the winches, roll and store in a work box. Couple of reasons. First, despise throwing hooks, and those that do. Got hit once. Hurt and didn’t like it. Second, when they get wet, the straps never dry and rust out the winch and looks lazy. Third, by taking the straps off and rolling them, I have to look at the strap. If it has any damage, I will see it. Last, the strap is rolled so when I next use it, it is ready to go where I want and need it to be. Plus if you put a half twist in, it’s already rolled for that.

 

I've done it both ways: when I ran OTR/regional, I, took em off, wound em up, stored them in the box. (Made equipment/trailer swaps easier, too.) When I ran local, I left them on...even though the three companies I ran local for generally assigned us a trailer (or in one of those cases, two or three), at any given time any of us could switch trailers, so it made sense to keep them rolled up.

I was never a fan of witching them on the trailer, but I eventually got pretty efficient at throwing straps either way: from out the box rolled, or hook first from the winch. The one thing I'll say about leaving them winched is that if you don't wind them up tight, pull out the slack, and then tighten them up again, it's not common, BUT all the bouncing of an empty trailer can bounce those winch latches loose and send your strap unspooling going down the road. It's happened to me a few times.

 

I'm in the cant bring myself to throw that hook club. I roll them up and put them in the trailer box everytime.

 

Besides, if you hold the hook and toss the strap, you can hook the strap and then walk around the truck to tighten. If you toss the hook, you have walk around and hook it, then WALK BACK AROUND to tighten it. Half the steps, half the time. Let alone the safety issue. And I think it looks tacky and lazy. JMO

 

Take them off keep them dry, plus they're easier to get tighter then if you leave them on the winch

 

The other thing is... If I throw the hook over, I can never seem to get the right amount of strap. I either end up half a millimeter short, or 20 feet too much.

 

I always rolled em up & put them away. Hook on the outside so I could grab the hook and throw.

 

Jatt_trucker on Instagram: ""

Just taking the sponge out of all the wound up slack on the winches. Lol.

 

On my own trailer I always pulled them off, this part time gig I am doing they always leave them on. I’ve done the math in my head and taking them off would cost a lot more time doing this particular job. If it were up to me I’d be taking more time and not throwing hooks. Couple reasons…

The way it is currently done… Back into warehouse, open conestoga, load, place strap onto load, climb ladder onto trailer and check pins on steel pallets and place hook over load (So product does not get dinged by an errant thrown hook) walk around load on trailer and hook to j-hooks, make sure Kevlar strap sleeve is in place to protect straps (sharp material) take ladder down and tighten straps on winches, close conestoga and boogie… you can see in this upload of my ELD sometimes this whole process of backing, opening, loading and strapping is done in as little as 14 minutes… but averages a bit higher due to unloading empty pallets returns etc. the average number of straps used is 7-10 straps.

It is a go-go-go process and not really my cup of tea to be so in a hurry but it pays well and the equipment is top notch. I don’t like being rushed when securing a load. Now, are always running the same type of material so due diligence and taking 1 or 2 extra minutes on a post securement walk around is something I do to ensure it’s done right.

I would rather slow down a bit and just roll and toss strap over like I’ve always done, this would not damage material and it would possibly save you from injury climbing around on trailer. But, they want all pallet pins checked and the only way to check inside pins is climbing on trailer. So, I just know it would take much longer doing it the way I want vs the way it is done now. Also the warehouse is roasting hot and the quicker your done the faster you are in truck AC replenishing fluids. Also, I can verify when leaving straps on there is some slack in the strap and if you don’t crank them there is more of a chance of loosening. I know most would but a lazy driver may not.

On a side note, it is slip seating and one of the guys told me… never move the straps on my trailer… ever… lolol… I told him when I am driving it that is MY trailer and I’ll do what I need to do to secure MY load. All was understood.