Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[bcp]

Why cross straps in an x?

www.pirate4x4.com

Bruce

 

[K5lwq]

Looks crossed here to me?

 

[notaz3]

View attachment 773637
Looks crossed here to me?

Crossed only to allow the proper quantity of tiedowns per load.

 

[two_bit_score]

View attachment 773637
Looks crossed here to me?

Yeah, and they have more than enough to keep it still.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

When we used to fly our mission trucks (18 wheelers) on C-5 Galaxy's back in the 80's, we crossed the tie down chains all up and down both sides of the rig. The tie down chains on front and back were not crossed.

Crossing the straps on a vehicle either on a flatbed tow truck, or a trailer prevents the vehicle from walking back and forth while going down the road.

Stiff flat bed tow truck suspensions, bumpy roads, hauling cars without wheels or tires, I can promise you, those cars (loads) will "walk around" if you don't. Sometimes even vehicles with wheels and tires will also walk around if the road is rough enough. The vibration between the flat "bed" (either truck or trailer) and the load (in this case vehicle) is what causes it (assuming the straps are tight to begin with).

Properly secured and crossed straps will not fail, and will not walk around. The guy in the video claiming crossing the straps is what caused the strap to fail is dead wrong.

What he's really saying is that he failed to use his straps correctly and failed to anchor his load correctly.

 

[Grumpycat]

Run a strap from the safety chain attachment point on the trailer hitch around the side of the pile, over the top and back down to the other safety chain attachment point, like the red line here:
View attachment 773604
That will pull the pile together, pull it forward and hold it down better than a strap over the top would.

Aaron Z

You still would have very little holding the boards on the top in the center.

Next time you do that pull the top center board out to prove it to yourself. It will come out as easily as if there was no strap.

 

[deezler]

One more legitimate question: why do some people use X strapping?
View attachment 773620

It's a good question, and the physics in my engineer brain suggest this is a bad idea. Picture hitting a bump that induces a counter-clockwise lean/roll in the vehicle - you've just undone the straps. Granted, they would have to be loose enough to allow some movement. But there's just no good reason to do this. I would use the stake pockets on the outside of the trailer instead, and not cross them.

 

[coldsteelva]

And if you pass an unprotected strap over a sharp edge or angle, you WILL WEAKEN IT. Retired/surplus fire hose cut into lengths works well to protect chafing, but chains and binders are better.

 

[deezler]

You still would have very little holding the boards on the top in the center.

Next time you do that pull the top center board out to prove it to yourself. It will come out as easily as if there was no strap.

This is why I stack my board in a semi-pyramid shape - it gives your strap some "purchase" on all columns of boards.

Here is my 1 minute sketch from paint.

 

[civilian]

If you look at log trucks, they have to hump the logs to match deezler's picture. If not, they can be stopped for a misload.. Jon