Tiedown Ropes

Bedbuggers and furniture delivery used cotton straps tied off to interior rub rails.
No cinching methods other than knots that would tighten with tension and were released with a tug on the loose end.

 

Had an opportunity to move a few flatbed loads of plant materials being shifted from the closing plant and catalyst being returned to the manufacturer. With a borrowed flatbed and two owner operators that came from flatbeds to tanks. They loaded super sacks and put on the sketchy side kit and tarped the top.

I watched them re-doing the tarps placing a rope in every other eyelet and tarp straps in the others. I learned that the rope limited the over all movement of the tarp by limiting how much the straps could extend in the breeze.

Growing up, the town has a rope walk and dad always had a hank of 1/2 inch Manila behind the seat in the pickup.

He avoided it but we always ended up doing 'favors' moving stuff for friends. Dad's imagination would Tetrus everything in place and start in with that rope ending with a rolling hitch.

We never lost anything.

 

hauled sock machines in a van in the 80's, secured with rope, then I saw a competitor using straps and E-track.

I was like WOW, we need this.

talked the company into installing it. still carried ropes though up until they went under in 2000.

 

Used rope all the time on tile and rolled roofing early 80's

 

Containers have tie down points. I've see web strapping with metal tension clips, plastic banding and similar used when the container load does not cube out.

I used to manage a rail to truck yard where we received a lot of 20 foot cans loaded with a huge plastic bag of polystyrene pellets that we transferred into a customer's railcars before trans-loading and delivering the product.

The tie downs were connected to the bag by white nylon line around 1/4 inch and stainless steel 'clips' into the hold downs.

That was in the late 90's and despite giving hundreds of 'em away, I still have a bunch of those clips and if I look, I'd bet I still have some of that line too.

We had an old tractor with a Bartlett high lift. The guys cracked one door part open pulling the bag neck into a box and chaining the doors before cutting it and hooking up the hose. As the machine ran they would raise the front until the tail lights pointed down and the bag went empty.

Then we has to strip the bag, line and clips,

 

I bought like 300 feet of thick stretch cord 3/8” maybe and that’s how I did my flatbed tarps instead of bungees. Cut them into maybe 35’ sections and leave it permanently in the tarp d rings. Much quicker and easier.

Problems with rope is the WLL is so low even on half inch rope that a 2” strap is higher. Don’t know what ropes you’re talking about.

 

I always see guys hauling hay or pallets using ropes

 

LTL companies still use rope for securement in certain situations. With so many random products on a trailer, a strap or load bar isn't always the best choice.