It has straps, it has chains, it gets the approval of the watchful DOT folks, and best of all, it doesn't move from where it's supposed to be. I sound lazy? How so? I didn't say how I'd secure. Just said that it could be secured with straps. Nothing magical about chains. Straps and chains work better in different areas, to be sure, but that doesn't mean that things like this can't be made secure with straps. In order to have friction you do not need to have movement. It's called static friction. It's what keeps the vast majority of flatbed loads on the beds. When a load, say a load of lumber, has straps over the top of it, what do you think keeps it from sliding forward when the brakes are pressed? That's friction. The friction between the load and the bed, or the dunnage, and the friction between the load and the straps. Different types of materials have different coefficients of friction. Some are better suited to more direct tie downs, but there is very little that can not be safely strapped down and made secure. Unfortunately DOT regulations were designed for the dumbest possible person to be able to understand them. Then they went and let the bureaucrats screw em up so no one can understand them properly. But yeah, the DOT has oversimplified a lot of stuff to where sometimes DOT compliant is overkill and sometimes it is pretty darn inadequate. Yeah, he wants to get there before the sod falls of the truck.
That oversized on a unattached spread flat is not for the faint of heart. I would need a few drinks before taking it on. Ive been known for doing things most wont do. But this one makes me think twice.
I think the guy in the scale house checking over the permit would have had something to say about the smell of a few drinks on me.... It's not so bad. A bit of work to set things up, then it runs like a pole dolly or a logging set up, just one without a steerable dolly. The benefit being that you can get backhauls that go on a flatbed instead of a dolly set up.
