Post flatbed load photos here V2.0

393.110 Covers number of tiedowns required on a load.

Specifically section 393.110(a)(3) is what you guys are talking about.

People commonly misread it as requiring 2 tiedowns within the first 10 feet. It actually says you need 2 for the first 10 feet of length and then 1 more for every 10 feet or fraction of 10 feet beyond that.

The best part of 393.110 is part (d) at the end of it. That part basically says you can just ignore the rest of 393.110 before it if your freight is "special" and has to be secured a certain way. Just says you have to have it secured in a way that will prevent movement then.

I've hauled a 40ft steel spreader beam for a rail car manufacturer that was only 3,000 lbs. It sat on 2 4x4s spaced 20ft apart under the lifting eyes. I tied it down with 2 x 2" ratchet straps through the lifting points on top. If I had tried to put straps anywhere else it had a high chance of bending the beam if the trailer were to flex. Under 393.110(d) I was legal.

 

A good example of specialized stuff for above would be the generator rotors I haul. This one is 117,000 lbs. Not allowed to secure it anywhere but between the 2 main rings. 9 x 1/2" chains over the top for a total of 101,700 lbs of WLL. The rotor itself is about 45ft long and all 9 chains are in the middle 15ft.

 

Anyone else look at this and hear TQL in their fresh out of college voice "yeah, uhm my man, it's steel tubing, 117k whatever that means, strap an go, paying $1275. That's like.... wow $6 a mile."

 

Not going to drag this out, but if you read the regulations, you will find a section that covers the 2 in 10 foot part. The reg states that if no headboard is mounted, then you need 2 in the first 10 feet. Read the regulations, pretty clear.

 

Saturday gravy run

 

Number of tiedowns with or without a headerboard or bulkhead is covered in 393.110 that I quoted above.
Section 393.110(b) covers loads without a headerboard or bulkhead.
Section 393.110(c) covers loads with a headerboard or bulkhead.

It says that without a headerboard or bulkhead you must have 2 for the first 10 feet and 1 for every 10 ft after.

With a headerboard or bulkhead you only need 1 for the first 10 ft and then 1 more for every 10ft of length past that.

No part of the laws say where on the piece or how close or far apart the tiedowns must be placed.

 

Going to have to defer to your expertise on the subject.

 

The problem, of course, is that Booley's load, has the dunnage in front of the strapping, where at the least, to keep in the spirit of that reg, perhaps he should have strapped those two straps forward of the dunnage, or moved the dunnage toward the front of the trailer, considering the over length, engaging the steel sooner within those trailer boundaries and that would have removed some of the possiblity of being gigged.

Most of the time, the rules are there for guidance, with the exception of the load specific regs, but...even those can be used on similar types of freight that could qualify for that style of securement, and of course, as you point out, the catch all of specialty freight and securement guidelines as is practicable. Which goes back to the point that often, we over secure, to be sure.