Is this ok? (chaining)

Yes. 100% of outbound freight and about 70% of other loads.

 

I can't agree with this. Suicide properly secured is the safest. Most shot gun coils set between the rails, not on the rails like suicide. Weight is distributed differently. The creates a false truth. Just like the strap over top. Last I knew anything not thru the eye don't add to wll and it will not be there if a accident happens. Effects handling, harder of trailer. Normally you haul them to receivers request. Normally you don't have a choice. Its all how they off load. Now @Bean Jr. coil aint steel. That appears to be Aluminum. Most steel shotgun coils will be narrower. I don't like them because I would rather it be me dead if a coil came loose from me doing a poor job than the family in the car next to you. I have hauled them, I have recovered them. Some in the woods, some severed as a lift point to remove wreckage out of ditch. I choose latter!

 

I agree 100% If you load them shotgun it is bad for cross members. Haul enough, big enough and you will eventually bust them. Always load them suicide so they sit on the rails not the cross members. Also if you load shotgun and you get to receiver without overhead crane, you won't be able to unload them. Lots of places uses tow motor from the side.

 

Most guys I know that haul coils don’t have a choice, they tell me they’re loaded to the preference of the receiver.

 

I tried to communicate this.

 

4 binders 2 chains. The chains need not even have hooks if that's all you have. The binders can even be the beginning and the end of the loops....the Alpha and Omega if you will.

This is using D rings on the trailer and shackles on the roller but you can do the same thing with any machine tie downs and the SPOOLS on a step deck or flat. I personally do not trust pockets. I've done a fair bit of flatbed and heavy haul as well. Machines are not even remotely the hardest or ugliest thing they can throw at you.

 

That coil was longer than it was wide, so the weight was centered on the trailer, also much safer for the driver, well done.Also coil racks with the right size dunnage and rubber mats would actually distribute the weight nicely.I personally have never loaded them that way, but I can tell when something is loaded right,I've also seen what a 40k lb coil can do to the cab of a truck. That driver is a professional and I was giving him kudos for a job well done. I've also hauled single 40k lb coils from port Jersey to Ohio and I don't care which way it's loaded if that coil wants to go it's taking every thing with it.

 

I normally wouldn't trust a pocket, either, but sometimes you have to when you can't move the piece.

 

I haven't ran a lit of lowboys but the ones i have are built a LOT stouter than the typical flat. While i haven't used a micrometer to measure, the cross members that the four screws to are only 1/8th inch thick on my flat, maybe 3/16ths.

I do everything i can to keep the weight supported by the main frame rails. And while i have hauled them shotgun i really don't like to, im convinced it can't be good for my trailer because the weight sits between the rails and doesn't even touch them.

Also for what its worth years ago when i ran steel from Ohio to gary/Chicago and back pretty much exclusively, i saw a LOT of guys with trailers specifically modified for shot gun coils to be putting the weight on the frame rails. Had to be a reason those old timers took the time, effort, and money to fabricate their trailer up like that.