Proper method to tensioning chain binders?

Discussion in 'Flatbed Trucking Forum' started by bp88, Nov 23, 2013.

  1. bp88

    bp88 Light Load Member

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    Hi, I'm a new LTL flatbed driver that hauls steel bars and beams that require the use of chains and binders if the load is heavy enough; as most of you guys here know it doesn't take too much steel to require chains. Our company uses the lever-style binders, not the ratcheting type, so what's the proper way to tighten the binders down?

    We normally use winch bars but I've read that you aren't supposed to use them as cheater bars for binders because they can whack you in the face or get flung around if it slips from your hands. I've talked to a few other flatbed drivers with more experience under their belt and most of them have been hit at least once by using the winch bar as a cheater bar; one guy lost some teeth! I really wish my company would purchase some ratcheting binders (I'm a skinny dude) but I don't mind using the lever-style binders if that's what they give us. I just don't want to get hurt and miss work... :biggrin_25512:

    Thank you!
     
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  3. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    just focus on forming good habits. learn to put your body in position where if something slips or breaks you aren't going to be whacked. If you don't know how to adjust the chain 1/2 link at a time vs. 1 link at a time ask someone to explain it to you.

    If you are jumping on the bar or straining to lock your binder you're doing it wrong. That's how most accidents happen, I was training a guy once (big ol' boy). His idea was to get all his weight on top of the bar and he actually moved a 36k generator on the trailer when he would snap them shut ! I told him there is no way it needed to be that tight and he shouldn't be slamming them that hard. He wouldn't listen, and sure enough, he slipped and fell off a trailer using the smack-down technique about a year later. If you absolutely cannot get it tight without straining and it's too loose when you reduce 1/2 link, then what you do is find a pipe to fit over your bar to extend it another couple feet so you can close it without straining, or just go ahead and invest in some ratchet binders.
     
  4. bp88

    bp88 Light Load Member

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    Yeah, most of the time I'm pretty sure I'm straining too much... how exactly do you adjust a half link at a time? Is it something you can explain online?
     
  5. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    I'll try, but it's easier to understand if you can see it.

    Let's say you have some beams on your trailer, you put your chain around a stake pocket and hook the chain to itself, then you throw the chain over the beams. Go around to the other side and put the chain around a stake pocket and hook it to itself. So the chain is over the load with a little loop around a stake pocket on both sides.

    Now you put on a snap binder, you can almost close it by hand, it's too loose. So you take the top hook of the binder and move it up a link (you just made the whole scenario one full length tighter). But now you go too close and you realize it is too tight, you would have to really strain to close it and that is unsafe.

    How you adjust 1/2 link is to move the hook on the chain one link. Although you are still moving a hook one link 1/2 of that change in length gets added back in the loop around the pocket. Make sense ? So now you should have the happy middle between too loose and too tight and can shut your binder without busting a nut in the process or being unsafe.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2013
  6. bp88

    bp88 Light Load Member

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    Gotcha. I'll give it a shot on Monday morning when I tie down and see how it works out. It sounds a lot better than what I've been doing so far...

    Thanks, Danny.
     
  7. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

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    snap binders cost half as much and work 10 times faster.
     
  8. rank

    rank Road Train Member

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    I agree with snowy. I get along fine most of the time without ratchets. Are you using the proper bar to snap them shut?
     
  9. special-k

    special-k Road Train Member

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    How I did it was pull the handle towards you before you put the bar on it. It should be about 90 degrees to the chain. If it's less it will be loose and more will be hard to snap over. Buy a generic load bar with the hook type end not just a round end. You'll find it easier to get the bar off the binder. Hopefully you'll get safety binders instead of the old fashioned ones. If not be careful when taking them off
     
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  10. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    Can't stress safety enough. don't rush and check everything.

    For the last few months I have been working at different jobs doing mostly flat bed work. I have one long term customer who deals with dies and molds, they make them. A lot of times I am sent out to grab a couple dies which have goop or grease on them and they are slippery. I only use chains as my primary while other drivers love to use straps and that leaves the straps full of grease and crud which I have had to clean off them a bunch of times to the point I now take the straps off the truck and lock them up. I make sure the chains are straight, not twisted or tangled before I put the binders on - I use ratchet binders - and tighten them up without aid of a pipe.

    A couple weeks ago I had one bad load of greasy dies, it wasn't going on the truck right and finally I got the rookie idiot forklift driver to get it on the truck right. I pulled the chains over it, straighten them up and then started to bind them down. Stupid me I normally stand in such a way that if something slips I can catch myself quickly and without falling or banging into something. I was in a hurry, didn't put my feet in the right places and then the chain moved letting the binder loose ... WHACK I hit my arm just above the elbow on the die's edge. It hurt, I mean it really hurt and I still have a BIG bruise from it, it was black for a week and still hurts. The doc said I really banged it up and nothing that can be done to ease the pain.
     
  11. Wings2Wheels

    Wings2Wheels Medium Load Member

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    Ratchet binders can get you, too, if you don't watch what you are doing.

    Second drop of the day...undoing chains and ratchet binders...admittedly was rushing.

    That's when my thumb got caught between the ratchet handle and the trailer deck.

    I didn't lose the thumb nail, but it looked very ugly for about two months.

    The key to everything, as several posters already said, is SLOW DOWN and stay safe.

    This is a lesson I learned both in the military and aviation...and I usually apply to trucking...but the one time I hurry, it bit me!
     
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