Check your load often

[Barnyard]

On our way to Cubarama we stopped at every rest stop to make sure our load was secure. On the way home we did the same until we stopped for a short rest at the rest stop just inside Indiana about 170 miles from home. About midnight we started on our way after I checked each tie down point and all was well. I drove straight through from that point on without stopping. We pulled in the drive way around two a.m. and went to bed.

This morning I saw this.

[Ken (48 Cub)]

Yep Bill, when I checked my load on a gas stop one of the straps was full loose. Amazing how they can work loose with all the bouncing. Glad you made it home safely.

[Indy4570]

did you lose anything?

[Barnyard]

did you lose anything?

No, it doesn't look like it.

[Indy4570]

did you lose anything?

No, it doesn't look like it.

well thankful for that, I have had a strap cut before, but I tend to over strap/chain loads so I have been lucky.

[T-Mo]

Speaking of straps coming loose......

https://www.wfmachines.com/forums/showt ... he-trailer

[Rabbit Holler Flash]

Just FYI the rule for commercial vehicle's is you must check ever 3 hours or 150 miles which ever comes first.

[MiCarl]

After our last Plow Day I checked the straps on the Cub at about 5 miles and again at 30 when I stopped at an auto parts store. All were nice and tight. Drove the last 5 miles to my destination and in a tight turn noticed in the mirror that several were flopping loose.

You can never predict when things will shift.

That's why I use 8 1,000lb tie downs on the tractor and two additional 500lb tie downs on the plow.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Was in St Charles several years ago when a truck went by pulling a trailer with a loader and smaller road roller on it. He went past, and headed toward an overpass that had an incline to get over it, and just as I turned away, I heard a loud bang, and the road roller was setting in the street. He stopped the truck and ran back to the roller, and as he drove it back to trailer it was going thump, thump, thump, as the rollers turned. Bet that was fun when the front and rear got out of sync. I could not see any sign of a tie down on the trailer, either for the roller or the loader, though I was about 40 or so yards away. If that was an employee rather than owner I bet he did not have a job afterward.

[T-Mo]

I have passed several trailers, especially ones carrying zero turns, that don't have their load tied down. I believe Missouri state law requires all loads to be sufficiently tied down.

[Mrblanche]

It's probably a good idea to follow the commercial laws for securement.

Unless an item is completely held in place by other secured freight, every item must be covered by at least two straps. If an item is held in place by other items, it still needs at least one strap.

While it's probably not an issue with this stuff, an item that is heavier than 10,000 lbs requires a third strap, and one more strap for every additional 10,000 lbs. So an 11,000 lb item would have at least 3 straps.

The capacity of all the hold-downs should be marked on the hold-down, whether it's a strap, cable, or chain.

Something like a car should have at a strap or chain at the front that exceeds the weight of the vehicle, and two at the rear of the same capacity. More straps/chains is a good idea.

[Barnyard]

Unless an item is completely held in place by other secured freight, every item must be covered by at least two straps.

These had two straps on them when we left Missouri. They still had them when we last checked two hours from home.

[Mrblanche]

Were the straps gone, or had they just slipped off?

On the way home with my new Cub yesterday, I had a strap come loose by moving just enough to slip out of the pocket. Two inches, or so. Because of how the parts were on the trailer, I couldn't get it any tighter than that.

But when they do the annual DOT crack-down for trucks, the inspectors go heavily for flatbedders. The rules are so difficult to follow that almost every trailer has some violations. I never did much flatbedding. It's a good way to die, if you aren't extremely picky.

[Jim Becker]

. . . The rules are so difficult to follow that almost every trailer has some violations. . . .

I'd agree about 50% with that statement. I think a lot of the confusion comes from taking others word of mouth opinion on what the rules are. (Some of those questionable opinions come from DOT inspectors.) If you read the rules, they aren't that hard to understand. You only need to read the sections applicable to what you are carrying. However, there are some places where it says for XXX type of load you can use this section or use the rules for YYY type of load. Light tractors like a Cub are an example. They can be tied down as heavy equipment or as an automobile or as general freight.

Most states have directly adopted the federal DOT rules. Some states rewrite their own versions. Some appear to have been to clarify but managed to change them in the process.

Here are the actual regulations.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulati ... policy.htm

[Barnyard]

Were the straps gone, or had they just slipped off?

Slipped off.