Truck Tie Downs: What Truck Drivers Love To Use?
When it comes to accessories for truck, you have to keep in your mind that there are totally different things, there are different kind of trucks, such as box truck, pickup truck, flatbeds, etc., they use similar or different tie downs, even for same kind of trucks, people probably will use totally different tie downs, say e track straps or plain ratchet straps for box trucks, so try to talk about generic tie downs is not a good idea, more precisely, we will talk about flat beds only, probably you’ve already seen them on the highway or truck stop.
There are all kinds of loads on the flat bed truck, just because they can or they have to , the requirement for tie downs become complicated. When it comes to flatbed truck , the first thing comes up will be the truck winches, you can see those flatbeds with truck winches at one side on the highway all the time, with those winches it’s easy for the driver to tie down loads with just winch straps with the help of winch bar .
It’s well known that portable winch and winch strap with delta ring are most popular tie down devices for flat beds . There is one thing necessary for truck winch and winch strap tie down combination, winch bar, which is the tool to help you tie down the cargo on the flatbed, since you can only tighten the winch straps through turning winch barrel, this only can be done by the help of winch bars.
Some flat beds come with winches installed, not all trailers have winches installed. Winch straps with winches on the flatbed can be used to secure pallets, machinery, steel coils, concrete pipes etc., with 5400lbs working load limit and the protection of plastic corner protectors these winch straps can tie down almost anything threw at them. 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 2” and 4” 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 straps are the most popular tie down devices for all kinds of trucks or hauling businesses. Common wisdom indicates that the ratchet strap is 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 strap is most recommended tie down devices due to their capability , you can put them almost anywhere when it’s applicable. The ratchet straps may have flat hooks, double J hooks, chain anchors, cloth loops or just plain straps at both ends, probably some special made ratchets have some other funny ends, say, D ring? Width of the ratchets measured from 1” to 4” and the length can be anything from inches to more than 50 feet, the ratcheting mechanism really has it’s advantage. When you have winches installed on your truck you probably still need to keep some ratchet straps handy, just think about this scenario, 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!
Before you get out or get online to get these tie down straps , you will have to know how to get most out of them with less money , top priority is the strap quality , maybe you know the local store stuff quality, when talking about websites you should evaluate them by reading other people’s the reviews, trucking blogs, such as trucker’s deal , online feed backs, or by some other venues to find out whether their offerings are worth the salt.