January 31st, 2011

Close Examining of Popular Truck Tie Down Devices

Posted in blogging by JayceFuller

Here is the fact about tie down , they probably are talking about totally different things depends on the context, for instance, ratchet straps for truck are definitely 2 inches and ten thousand lbs tie down while ratchets for pick up will be 1” and 500 lbs tie down, we’re only going to discuss about truck tie downs here, more specifically, we are going to talk about flat bed truck this time, because we can see those tie downs on the highway.

When the jobs come your way, odds are you won’t be able to decide what kind of load will be put on your truck, the only thing you can do is to prepare for all the possibilities , {most of the time you don’t get to choose what you like or want to do. We are going to talk about truck tie down straps solely , since the are popular tie down devices on flatbeds, and it should be the most popular tie downs on all trucks as well. .

New flatbeds usually will have truck winches installed, this is a big plus for hauling stuff can be secured by winch straps . There is one thing indispensable for truck winch and winch strap tie down combination, winch bar, which is the tool to help you secure the cargo on the flatbed, since you can only tighten the winch straps through turning winch barrel, this only can be done by using winch bars.

Some flat beds come with weld on winches installed, not all trailers have winches installed. When the trailer have the winches installed, we can use winch tie down straps to tie down loads on the flat bed , usually we tie down steel coils, concrete pipes, skids, anything that not too heavy for the the straps’ working load limit. Both flat hooks and wire hooks may be used on 2”, 3” and 4” winch straps, but flat hooks are more popular than wire hooks, you may see flat hooks on all size winch straps while wire hooks mostly on 2” straps. For most flatbeds there are two inches and 4 inches wide truck winches , but winch straps have width of 2”, 3” and 4”, it’s obvious you can put 3” winch straps in 4” winches, when we look at the length of the winch strap, the range is pretty wide for regular use, from around 20 feet to more than 60 feet, 27′ and 30′ being the most common length available.

OK, now let’s talk about ratchet strap are the most popular tie down devices for all kinds of trucks or hauling  businesses. Common wisdom indicates that the ratchet straps are assemblies of ratchet buckles and nylon or polyester webbing tie down strap, there are fixed end straps with ratchet buckles and loose end straps.

Ratchet straps are most recommended tie down equipment due to their flexibility , you can put them almost anywhere when it’s applicable. With flat hooks, wire hooks, cloth loops, chain anchors, even endless, ratchets just can’t have enough variety, how can we don’t love these ratchets? And it’s width can be 1” through 4”, length can be a few inches to more than 50′. When you have winches installed on your truck you probably still need to keep some ratchet straps handy, imagine following scnario, you lose a winch while you’re on a tight schedule, and it’s midnight and it’s impossible to find a new or used winch, then ratchet straps come to your rescue!

Now let’s see where can we get these nice truck tie downs , local stores or online sellers? Depends on your available options , sometimes acquire them in local store is a pretty good idea , sometimes online deals are much better. Nowadays there are a lot of forums, blogs and online opinion sites out there, you just need to read some reviews, customer feed backs to figure out the product and service quality of the vendors, there is no need to take chances.

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