Load Securement / Rubrails

Seen alot of that too. Straps are not legal to touch crushed cars even with edge protection. They have a special designation in the green book
Have to use chains. You can use strap d rings to attach your chains so u can winch but they cant touch any part of the load .. lots of laziness out there on the roads anymore

 

Be fibbing if I said I had that answer without having checked my homework. Rounding up so to speak. 22 foot item gets 4 not 3. That last remnant of two feet puts it over and on to one more. Thanks for taking the time, you folks are a great resource

 

Some will tell you that you should have a strap at every 10 foot. The regs say FOR every 10 ft because you don’t want to secure a long structural load every 10 ft. Why not? Structural loads do not flex. The trailer is designed to flex. So, if you have a 50 ft structural piece on a 53 ft flat, how would you load it and secure it? Keep in mind, an empty flat will have an arch in the middle.

(BTW, I am not trying to trick you, just wanting you to begin to think outside the box.)

 

I’m thinking you would use a double block on the ends , to a single to nothing in the middle, mirror that going to the back to even out for the arch. Then a minimum of 6 straps, preferably over or very close to your blocking. I’m curious on this one, didn’t check anywhere

 

I’m rereading and thinking those straps will be a little more to the two ends as well. Perhaps the middle ten get bare and then the three each way starting from that center ten foot (5 feet each way from centre)?

 

“A strap for every ten feet” means the FMCSA does not dictate where you put your straps latterly.

 

Easier to do really rudimentary drawing,

 

Dunnage in the center has a really good chance of walking out while you’re driving. Imagine an 8 ft piece of 4x4 lumber coming off of your trailer at highway speeds. If that structural piece isn’t heavy enough to flatten out the trailer, the dunnage in the center may walk.

A 40ft container, empty, will not have enough weight to take the arch out of a trailer. A heavily loaded container will.

On your illustration, I would put 1 dunnage for each end and securement on either side of the dunnage, enough securement to cover the regs for the length. Also, your securement in your drawing, is it direct securement or indirect? Don’t just answer, find out…you will have to know.

Carried a 60ft light pole on a stretch RGN. A structural piece. The base was 10ft diameter. The end was 7ft. Because the pole was round, I set the dunnage in coil racks, set vertical to the trailer. Any securement in the center will be flung off. Any dunnage in the center will walk. There’s so much flex in a stretch trailer that it’s almost impossible to secure the center.

 

Ideally indirect, over the top and back down to the trailer if something like I beams with gussets and joining flanges. As I understand it direct would increase the amount of effective load by reducing the effective wll of the securement, requiring bigger/more chains.
Also tricky to do direct with a few pieces on there, would imagine it being easier to go over the load provided the layers are properly blocked upon each other.
Thanks again for taking your time/sharing your knowledge

 

Very good. Easiest way to think about it is Direct=Direction. For example, heavy machinery over 10000lbs requires a minimum of 4 points of securement. If you pull all 4 points forward towards the front, is there any securement preventing the machine from shifting forward? The reason why direct securement has 50% less WLL than indirect is because without the opposing pull, you only have half the securement needed to prevent shifting.