Flatbed mods to make it easier to load / unload

V boards, you need eight pieces of 1x4 cut to 4 ft and twenty at 8 ft long. That should be enough to cover a 48 ft flat skateboard front to rear.

 

Why bolt winches to the side of the trailer to clear tires on occassion? That is why they invented the ratchet strap, or the porta-winch.

 

Or the stake pocket winch. A few years back, I went into that Petro thats to the east of Kansas City. I went browsing through the flatbed stuff and noticed that they had the stake pocket winches marked for $19.95 each. I knew that just had to be a mistake. I took one up to the cashier and asked her to check the price. When she told me $19.95, I went back and got 5 more. They work great around the tires on a stepdeck.

 

Some of our curtain sides have the first four and the last four winches bolted into place. It really is more of a pain, I think.

 

I've never had a winch touch a tire on my wagon, and I have them directly above them all the time. Sounds like maybe you got some 5th wheel height issues???

the only thing I've found yet to help me speed up the process was a strap winder for when I'm done. I used to roll them up by hand but then got smart and spent $12 on one and now I couldn't live without it.

 

Yep. Only time my winches hit my tires are the rear axle on our 48 footers, cuz the trailer dumps when you set the brakes.


And V-boards...like he said get 4 and 8 footers, cut you some old strap about 6-8 inches, and just tack em into the boards...

 

Mine has a bolt through the rail to stop sliding over the tire. I just grab a Portawinch when I need astrap there. Wish I found some for 19.95!

 

I carry a couple stake pocket winches and 4 - 4" strap style ratchet's. and all that $#*t cost me more than 19.95 a piece but worth it ! why cut your rails apart when you can just put a 4" ratchet strap on ? If you don't know, it's just like 2" straps except 4"

oh, and vee-boards you can just use roof flashing or just get a sheet of whatever gauge steel you like and shear to whatever size you like and press it to a 90 degree. I kind of like the plastic ones though, because if it's windy, steel ones are likely to cause head trauma and pools of blood if they blow off.