Flatbedders: Headache Racks REQUIRED?

headache racks are no longer required for flat bedders... but the first unit of lumber MUST have 3 straps and palletized freight the first pallet must have 2 straps per group this means if you have a gap between the pallets on your trailer the front of each group must have 2 straps ( thankyou washington dot for this free info and for not writing me a ticket)

 

Although safety is the most important issue here, let's not forget about, just how hard do you want to work?

When I was an Owner Operator, and yes, I understand this is different than a company driver, I can choose my equipment, I always had custom made cabinet racks. Do you really want to struggle with straps, bungees, and chains in your cubby holes on your bunk? This area is for cover-alls, boots, gloves, sockets, pliers, misc tools, oil, coolant, this type of stuff. In every truck I have ever had, regardless of who owned it, even the 2 cubby holes under the bunk are not enough storage for just the things a guy needs on the road, nevermind decking equipment.

A cabinet rack is the best investment a deck hauler can make. Not once did I ever struggle with my equipment. I had my 3 door cabinet rack, with a custom built tarp rack on top of it, and 2 custom made tool boxes mounted to the frame behind my fuel tanks. Every single piece of equipment had it's own designated place. I knew where everything was, nothing was ever tangled or lost. I seen a ton of guys in the company yard ask me why I didn't put a light bar on top of my headache rack, instead of a tarp rack. Yet every single time they have to switch trailers, I am inside my comfortable cab, watching them throw 4 tarps across from trailer to trailer. My tarps all stayed up top. Was having those extra 11 LED lights worth the hundreds of times you will move those tarps? At this company, one rarely tarps. I might move my tarps 15 times a year, but rest assured, when I moved them, they were being used. Other guys, moving there tarps 150 times a year. My back feels fine, how's yours?

Point of the story is, to truly do deck work right, you need storage, and you can NEVER have to much. I did not EVER keep ONE PIECE of equipment on a company trailer. I would simply drop, untie, and leave. Grab the next trailer, tie down, and go. No screwing around with moving tarps and a tool box full of stuff. I could keep everything entirely on my truck, including tire chains.

Sorry for the rant. I find it very frustrating when these companies, and the people who run them, decide a cheap buckboard with storage for 10 chains is enough. No cabinets, no tarp rack, no frame mounted tool boxes...nothing. Yet when you are the one struggling to get your equipment out in - 30, the guy who stuck you with that lousy equipment is at home, with his family, watching TV, drinking coffee, occasionally staring out the window at his brand new diesel pickup in the driveway.

The room is there, get creative. On my last truck, another W900L, I built tire chain brackets, underneath the hood. With a long nose, there is frame space to spare. I had my tire chains hanging under the hood towards the rear. You could barely see them hanging down. No one knows they are there, so they won't be stolen, and 8 times out of 10, the engine heat melts the crap off of them. That way, if I do have to use them, they aren't already frozen in solid chunks of metal. There is weight room to spare up front on a long nose so, it just makes good sense.

....I need to stop with these long replies.

 

I wouldn't even think of pulling a flat deck without a headache rack. I have seen what happens to a truck when a load shifts and comes into the cab. While a headache rack may not stop every thing, It will slow it down. It may mean the difference between dead and living.

Do you happen to have pictures of this?

 

I'll try and find the pictures of it. I sold that truck in September of 2010 so, she's been gone for a few months now. I know I have pictures around here somewhere, the biggest question is which box are they in

 

The last 1 so look there 1st.

 

It won't even slow down as is crashes through the flimsy aluminum headache rack, then the back of your cab, and then mashes you into oblivion.

I wouldn't haul without one, but they are little more than a placebo to give drivers a warm fuzzy feeling in their belly.

Remember this when you are trying to decide if you need another chain on that coil or strap on that load.

 

The best thing a rack becomes is extra storage for chains and such. Other than that the thin aluminum skin that makes up the rack will not do too much.

 

Oh yeah,
You "DO" need a headache rack "legally" in most places.

Can be on truck OR on front of trailer.

 

No you do not, the law was changed a few years back, if you have no headach rack you need and extra strap or chain in the 1st 8 ft of the load, ie your 1st 8 ft will now require 3 straps or chains if not blocked or against the head board and if hauling pallets your 1st pallet would need 2 straps instead of 1.

 

when they changed the load securement rules a while back believe it or not your not required to have a headache rack just have the load secured correctly.