When people talk about 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, to make things simple, I’m sure you’ve already seen flatbed tie downs on the road, we will only talk about flat beds for the time being.
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. Talking about flat bed trucks, a lot of the flatbeds come with winches installed, or you can install by yourself at a later time, then you can use winch strap to do the job without the hassle of having to tie down both ends of the ratchet straps.
New flatbeds usually will have truck winches installed, this is a big plus for hauling stuff can be secured by 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 required for your job, so get one if you don’t already have one.
If your flatbeds come with winches installed, you only need to get some winch straps for most of your work, of course you still need to keep some chains, binders and ratchet straps handy. 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 secure almost anything threw at them. 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 wire hooks can be used as well, mostly seen on 2” winch straps. Truck winches come in with two different width, 2” and 4”, 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 straps which are the most popular tie down devices for all kinds of trucks or hauling businesses. In fact that 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.
Ratchet straps are most popular tie down equipment because of their adaptability , you can use them almost anywhere when it’s applicable. The ending comes with quite some varieties, flat hooks, wire hooks , chain anchor , snap hooks, endless and more. 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. On big rigs ratchet tie downs are the best tie down devices for truckers , those flat bed trucks without winches installed will look at ratchet straps seriously.
Before you get out or go online to purchase these truck straps , you will have to know how to get most out of them with less spending , first thing to consider is the quality , most likely you will know the quality of local store stuff, when talking about online stores you need to find out by reading other people’s the reviews, trucking blogs, such as trucker’s deal , online feed backs, or by some other venues to determine if the products and services offered by the online retailers worth their price tag.
