Just purchased a 48 flatbed split axle. Chains and Straps?

Where are you? You need to find n ride along with someone so you can learn some. This ain’t a dig on you- Learning costs time or it costs money. Don’t learn with a huge claim, an injury, or an accident.

 

Get some binders also. And about 30 straps, and 10 winches. And be sure to full wrap you strap hooks.

 

Driver's Handbook on Cargo Securement - Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Cargo Securement

 

If you have so much money; then why are you squabbling over 4 chains? The difference between 6 and 10 chains is chump change. Buy all 10 and be done with it, Money Grip.

 

Like the fellas are saying.

Please please please get some education from a skateboarder. Even the simple tricks of the trade we learned from a ol' hand many years ago. We learn something new all the time.

My suggestion is keep your loads under 4' for now and no tarp loads yet. You need to see your straps or chain and then cover with tarps later.

Your in a high visibility job. Everyone I mean everyone will see what you haul and how you haul.

Spend some time in a truck stop take pictures of the flat bed loads in the back of the lot. Away from mega-carriers. See how they chain to deck, strap a load. Placement of "dunnage" under load.

Tell us more of.your vehicle?

Year, make, model, transmission type?
Head ache rack?

 

How many winches do you have? I have 20, but that's to handle often complicated loads of oilfield equipment.
For general freight I would think at least a dozen winches, although I have seen drivers with far less.

I wouldn't roll with anything less than 10 chains and binders. Get chains that match the WLL of your chain securement.

Dunnage: get OAK 4x4's, no softwood. Don't get anything less than 4x4's, you need the height for coils or reels to keep them suspended off the deck. Get at least 10 4x4's and 10 coil racks. In addition to 4x4's you might also need 2x4's, again stay with hardwood.

In addition to 24 4" straps (most are 30' and some are 40') I carry 10 2" straps and winches and 10 1" straps and winches.

Tarps: I rarely tarp. My only words of advise is to get plenty of bungies of all sizes. I have greatly reduced the amount of bungies, because I am now using 50' cord on either side. I only need bungies to finish the front and back . My last few loads using the cords have kept the tarp nice and tight. Get plenty of padding to protect your tarp from sharp edged loads.

Pipe: if you want to haul pipe you either need 4' pipe stakes or install four steel pipe pins. You will also need at least 12-15 oak 4x4's at some pipe yards.

Hazmat: get flipboard placards or placard holders. Make sure they are secured, you can get a DOT violation for not having them secured and bungies don't count. I drilled a hole to be able to set pins through underneath the rub rail.

Flatbed is an interesting gig. What you can haul will depend on what securement and tarps you have. There are loads I can haul easily, that drivers that haul general freight either struggle to load and secure or simply can't load (I've seen drivers turned away at a shipper because they don't have the right equipment). There are loads I can't haul, because I don't have the equipment.

You can't haul EVERYTHING. Focus on what you can do. Buying lots of equipment to haul a load once isn't a good investment. Only buy equipment that you know will pay for itself because you will haul that kind of load time and time again.

Good luck. You will have some fun times and a learning curve. Watch LOTS of YouTube videos and read through the volumes of load pictures and advise on this forum.

You will have a LOT of rookie moments, even after years of running open deck. I ran nearly a year before I booked a load of lumber. I watched plenty of tarping videos and settled on a technique that made sense. What an embarrassing run that was, tarps billowing across the next lane! I learned. I studied some more. I'm getting better.

Last is borrowed from the THREE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN MANUFACTURING:

1. PROCEDURE
2. PROCEDURE
3. PROCEDURE

The same applies to flatbed. Think through how you organize your straps, chains, binders, dunnage, etc. Seek to become more efficient. Watch other drivers. If you see a method that looks faster, easier, with good end results, then adopt that method. Don't be afraid to completely reorganize your equipment, I have a couple times in the last couple years and I continue to think about it and seek to improve.

 

I'm going to add one more thing in regard to dunnage for pipe loads. Get 4x4's that are long enough to go "rail to rail", not just across the deck itself. If you have boards that only cover the deck, there's a good chance a pipe on one side or the other will drop down, not supported by the board. With my heavy duty pipe pins and 40' straps that's not a big deal, I can belly wrap the layer or entire load and the pipe pins contain it laterally.

I've seen some pretty dicey setups for hauling pipe. The worst was a guy offloading at a pipe yard. He didn't have heavy duty pins, just 4' pipe stakes and dunnage that didn't go rail to rail. About three layers up the 4" pipe had moved off the board, pushing hard against the pipe stake inserted into the aluminum rub rail. The socket for the pipe stake was torn and the pipe stake was leaning out a good 25°! The pipe yard was trying to jury rig a setup to hold the load so he could unstrap. He had a total of six winches and six straps. No belly wraps (I'm assuming he only had 30' straps). His setup was inadequate for the job, yet he was leased on with a company that I see frequently at pipe yards. My company has minimum requirements for straps, winches, dunnage, etc. that by far exceed what I see on their trucks.

If you are going to haul pipe, do it right.