Snap binders

Anybody that can't figure out how to release a snap binder safely... Doesn't need to be flatbedding... Or trucking at all for that matter. Same goes for Handy Man or High Lift jacks.

 

I've known of guys that have worked in the patch for 30 years that have gotten injured by snap boomers. a moment of inattentiveness can result in a shattered jaw or broken arm. if not seated all the way down from debris or a rusty hinge etc, they can snap open as if on a hair trigger. god help you if a part of you is in the way of the handle when it snaps open.

 

I know guys that spent their entire adult lives running a flat or step. Somehow they managed to make it through without shattering a single bone.

 

I've managed to make it 35 years so far without getting clobbered by one, but I rarely use them anymore. only time I ever use them is for shrapnel loads of bundled tubing or pipe. ratchets suck in that application.

 

I just run a length of chain through all the lower hooks when they're in the rack.

 

the newer Crosby ratchets have a detente smashed in the threads to keep them from unscrewing and falling out of the threaded body. takes away a couple inches of useful length. I put them in a vice and thread them out and use a die grinder to remove the detente.

 

When I was a kid taking educational vacations with my dad, I adopted this method after my macho preteen self tried to stroke my ego and got my arm jerked out of socket.

The ratchet bar for the straps. Open the snap, swing the bar at the handle like a bat.

 

I like trapper keepers

 

Can you give me some insight on why using a ratchet binder sucks with bundled loads of pipe? I'm looking into this for my company right now. Had a guy get hit in the head releasing a snap binder, considered going to ratchet only, but that is a complaint I have heard that ratchet doesn't work well with bundled pipe. I'm curious why, or maybe an example?

 

If you get hit in the face with a snap it's kind of your own fault. The nice thing about the snap binders is they're quick to get a lot of force down on the load, where as ratchets (in my experience) are really finicky. Are they putting chains over unsupported spans of the load? That could cause an issue of the pipes bending and acting like springs.