Driver-made bulkheads

And there we go.

 

This. I'd never trust a bulkhead unless the load was up against it from the beginning. Once a heavy load gets moving, a bulkhead is probably not gonna do much.

 

That. Right there. That's how its properly done. Wish some of the yahoos I loaded with in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham had someone to show them how to do it right. @Tug Toy knows what he's about.

 

How do you attach them? Rub rail stake pockets? How do you store them? Thanks much!

 

I hauled bar for quite a few years. We had light bulkheads we used. A lot of the outside carrier highway trucks made up their own from extra 4x4's in front of the load. I found oiled hex bar to be the worst. Most of our cold rolled bar was 12' long and 4000lbs bundles. Any round bar under an inch would flex together and pinch tight when you chained it. Hex was strong enough to not pinch together and bars in the centre of the bundle would sometimes start walking out of the bundle. The bulkhead stopped that.

 

Sorry not my equipment. Saw it and snapped a pic thinking I could make something up sometime?

In my opinion rear bulkheads aren't nessasary other than holding something from vibrating out.

Front bulkheads are the important ones. Has to be up against the material or it's just garbage on the deck. Personally I don't even think the donnage is much help bet having the chain at the right height dose the best job.

I keep the dinnage on the front of my trailer for convenience not safety.

 

Watch this video......It sums up this thread perfectly

 

Was there anything worth while? I saw that car pass him, said yup, that car doesnt realize the lane is ending and will come back over. Sure enough..... hard brake.

The driver was at fault, there were many signs that that car was not getting off.

 

Right around the 4 minute mark he shows you that his load shifted because of the hard brake and broke through his 4x4 timber bulked. If the bulkhead wast there it could have been a lot worse

 

If he would have seen the car was STILL sitting on the off ranp taking their time to exit, he would have realized.... they probably arent going to exit.

I know, this isnt about the car or the driver. Its about the bulkhead....

But! That hard brake was absolutely avoidable.