Strapping a Load

Most trucks I see and / stop have the straps in side the rub rails (commons sense). Although there was a regulation of requirement to have them inside. Last year it was rescinded but I believe it back. I have to check again. Currect FMCSR states they must be INSIDE.

The BIGGEST problem I see is the load securement of heavy machinery. I would have to say 90% of all heavy machine transports are OOS. The biggest problem is the two (2) single chains looping thru from one side to another, whereas there should be at least 4 individual anchor points. The other is funny: There can be a 80K Lb excavator on there and the driver or loader used a 4200 lb binder (can you say weakest link)

 

ya its crazy what flatbedders will do to save time. The biggest thing i hear them say is, "i been doing this x amount if years i know what im doing and i wont get into an accident." Well ok u may not get into an accident but A LOT of semi accidents are caused by cars, so what then? ur gonna be screwed becuase ur load is coming off and if it doesnt kill you its gonna kill someone else. Im all set with spending the rest of my life in jail becuase i didnt wanna spend 10-15 minutes extra securing my load.

And as the other poster stated the straps are rated at 5400 lbs NEW when the get older and dried out there much weaker, and i also over secure things. Its so much more comfortable to drive down the road KNOWing that nothing is gonna move back there, rather than saying, geez i better slow down some more for this corner or ramp cuz that might shift.

Ive had drivers get mad at me while helping them strap cuz i do it my way, and they want it done thier way which is that quick release crap. I tell em good luck and have fun strapping by urself cuz i only do it the right way.

I really wish DOT would crack down more on it, theres no excuse for not doing it the right way, its so much safer and if everyone did it load drops and shifts would be way down. Ive actually had people tell me their scared to drive around flatbeds because they've seen things fall off, that pisses me off. When a 4 wheeler tells u that, cuz they dont even know me and its making me look bad because some other jerk wants to save a few minutes.

Anyways, hope some of you out there are getting the picture of how to and not to do it.

 

Like I put in the other posting .... I over strap .... when I do the straps in the winch .... I run it behind the rub rail .... run it ALL thru the winch .... then fold it and set behind the strap and start to tighten

Takes a little bit more time to do and undo .... but at least i know its safe .... and if by chance i do go over that load wont be coming off the trailer .... you have an accident and your load is all over the road .... they will know right there that you didnt secure it properly .... then you get a ticket for that also along with whatever else they can find

Here is a short example of OOS violations from Safestat for Maverick .... these are only a couple of them .... there are plenty more on there

Here is the link also .... the pic didnt come out to good ....

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/VehicleSEA.asp?ais=&dot=178538&WhichForm=&PageN=OOSDetail

 

right behind all those tire violations, lol, seems to be load securment issues. I thought maverick was better than that, they seemed to be a good flatbed company from appearences. But i also havent seen our sheet like that from Melton, so i probly can't say to much before seeing ours , how would i go about gettin the sheet there for melton? i was looking around and couldnt seem to get off maverick stuff lol.

 

This is the main search page .... if you have the USDOT # you can enter that at the top left and search .... it will pull up the information

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/SafeStatMain.asp?PageN=results

Here is the link to vehicle from safestat

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/VehicleSEA.asp?ais=&dot=34666&WhichForm=&PageN=OOSDetail

 

I'm lost on this one you might have to explain it differnt to me. the part
where your not suppose to fold the strap in half and wind it in the winch
thats how i've done for about three years now. Maybe were not taling about the same thing?

 

Thanks I'm om medical leave now but when i'm back in the truck i'll try it
that way see if I can make it work for me(learn something new everyday)

 

OK, as a new driver, hungry for info(GOOD INFO!) I find myself both thankful and angry. Thankful for hearing how to strap properly and a bit angry at my trainer for only showing me how to do the straps the "quick release" way. I use quotes because I wasn't told any other way. If I am understanding you all correctly, I am doing the straps the wrong way. I will have to try the other way, but it may take me a while to get it down. My question is this though, if I feed the strap back in on itself, isn't that the same as the quick release way? If I make sure and wind the strap the 2-3 times? Don't get mad, just want good info and to understand the theory as well as the practice. As to the rub rail question, I was told in procurement class that you could go outside of the rail. My VERY limited experience has shown me a few times where this wasn't possible or practicle(on the same trailer). Here's something for those who get mad at drivers. I know a guy who was hauling a large forklift(construction kind) on a straight truck. He unfortunately fell asleep and hit the ditch with the cruise set. Witnesses said the truck was airborn. No-one was hurt. When DOT arrived, they shook his hand. The load never moved. I'll have to ask more specific questions, how it was secured exactly and what tickets he did get. But it does show that #### does happen and not when we expect it. And there are drivers that try to do it right. As well as those of us wanting to learn HOW to do it right!