When people talk about truck tie downs , they probably are talking about totally different things depends on the context, for instance, ratchet straps for truck are definitely 2” and 10000lbs tie down while ratchets for pick up will be 1” and 500lbs 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,
There are all kinds of loads on the flat bed truck, sometimes they just have to , the needs for tie downs can be complicated. When it comes to flatbeds , 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 .
For most flat bed trucks, truck winch and winch straps are what we usually use to tie down stuff, some trailers come with winches installed you only have to get winch strap . When you work with truck winches and winch straps, there is one thing you can’t live without: winch bar, these steel bars are necessary for your job, so get one if you don’t already have one.
Usually most flatbeds will be sold with winches installed, there are still some of them come without winches though, in this case the drivers may use ratchet straps or binder chains as alternative. When the flat bed 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 5400lbs working load limit. Usually we see flat hooks at one end of the winch straps, the use of flat hook sometimes is by convention, sometimes by choice, because the flat hook is easy on flatbeds, and double J hooks can be used as well, mostly seen on 2” winch straps. For most flatbeds there are 2” and 4” truck winches , while there are 2”, 3” and 4” winch straps available, if you were to use 3” winch strap you only can put it into 4” winch for sure, even the width availability of winch straps is limited, the length is not, though there are usually no winch straps shorter than 20′, these straps can be more than 60 feet long! And the best selling length is 27′ and 30′, 4” wide.
OK, now let’s talk about ratchet strap which is the most popular tie down devices for all kinds of trucks or hauling businesses. In reality the ratchet straps are just the assembly of ratchet buckles and tie down webbing, which can be nylon or polyester, the combination of different ratchet buckles and different straps gives us many choices.
The ratchet strap earned it’s popularity by being the most flexible, adaptable and capable tie down equipment , from sedans to eighteen wheelers , you can see ratchet straps anywhere cargo needs to be secured. The ending comes with quite some varieties, flat hooks, double J hooks , chain anchor , snap hooks, endless and more. The smallest width for ratchets is 1”, 4” is the widest, while the length of ratchets may be anything from inches to more than 60 feet. The reason we say that ratchet straps are most popular tie down devices for most trucks can be found in this paragraph, even for flatbeds which use winch straps extensively may find ratchet straps attractive if there are no winches installed on the truck.
Before you go out or visit the web to get these tie down straps , you should learn how to get more out of it while spend less , top priority is the quality , probably you know local store well enough, but for online stores you have to figure out by reading other people’s the reviews, trucking blogs, such as trucker’s deal , customer feed backs, or by some other venues to decide if the products and service are good or not.
