Transport Chains and ratchet binders are heavy duty tie down equipment , both chains and binders are made of carbon steel, their working load limits are higher than their straps counterparts , say we compare grade 70 size 5/16” binder chain(which has 4700lbs WLL) to WLL 3333lbs 2” ratchet tie down straps , 6600lbs 3/8” transport chains vs. 5400lbs 4” tie down straps , the grade 70 chains are stronger than ratchet tie down straps and the grade 70 load binders are stronger than grade 70 chains, 3/8”-1/2” chain binder has WLL of 9200lbs, which is much stronger than 6600lbs of 3/8” chains . Another reason chains and binders are considered heavy duty, is their design factor is 4:1 while webbing tie downs have 3:1 typical design factor, see “Design Factor” for reference .
According to NACM recommendations, the carbon steel used in making grade 70 chains should meet following criteria: no more than 0.35% Carbon, 0.040% Phosphorous and 0.050% Sulphur . When chain manufacturers make their chains to the specification of NACM, and these chains meet or exceed DOT(or CHP, or some other local requirements ) requirements, these chains can be used on the commercial truck to haul heavy loads, such as backhoe, forklift .
We use these heavy duty chains and binders to haul heavy equipment, for instance, backhoe, bulldozer, forklift, these big rigs are tough or straps, we have to use steel chains to tie them down , when we talk about backhoe, forklift, we need at least 3/8” grade 70 chains and binders to secure them, for something which has less weight we consider 5/16” chains are good fit, of course we still have 1/2” and up chains and binders, these chains will most likely be used to tie down something out of ordinary, such as battle tanks, or some other applications require super heavy duty chains.
As we stated above, transport chains , or say binder chains are used on a lot things except for overhead lifting. There are people who use these chains to tear trees, to tow mobile loading docks, a lot of forestry services use large quantity of these grade 70 chains and binders .
