Anyone still use rope to tie things down?

[RobertBrown]

Rope.
Ratchet straps are for girls and bungee cords are for losers.
:thumbsup::newhere:

 

[Looking4new]

Up here, bungie cords are NOT legal for primary tie downs. Ratchet straps MUST have the working load limit clearly visible on them.

 

[tcreeley]

My ratchet straps always loosen up. I like nylon rope. It is always in the back of the truck, dirty, grimy but strong. I learned to tie hay bales down as a kid on back of an old chevy truck with sideboards. Used a truckers hitch- easy, quick release. tight and reliable.

 

[dmccarty]

I prefer rope for the most part.

Frustrating thing for me, is most pickups do not have hooks, or good places to bolt them on the newer curvy thinner sheet metal. ...

Yep, I had to spend a small fortune on ratchets to secure all of the stuff we were going to buy at IKEA. I was able to use some rope, which I prefer, but I knew to really tie down the tarps and load I would have to use ratchets since they could attach anywhere under the bed rail. It is really frustrating that the truck makers can't drill some holes in the underside of the bed rails to help tie down loads.

If only wants to learn about the knots, this is The Book, The Ashley Book of Knots: Clifford W. Ashley: 9784259: Amazon.com: Books, it has over 3,000 knots. :thumbsup::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Be very careful with bungie cords. Those things can slip and fling back at you. Have a family member that almost lost and eye because of a bungie cord.

Later,
Dan

 

[aczlan]

My ratchet straps always loosen up. I like nylon rope. It is always in the back of the truck, dirty, grimy but strong. I learned to tie hay bales down as a kid on back of an old chevy truck with sideboards. Used a truckers hitch- easy, quick release. tight and reliable.

If your ratchet straps (note, ratchet straps, NOT "cinch" straps) loosen up, you aren't putting them on right and a rope would have loosened up as well.

Aaron Z

 

[IslandTractor]

If your ratchet straps (note, ratchet straps, NOT "cinch" straps) loosen up, you aren't putting them on right and a rope would have loosened up as well.

Aaron Z

Agree. Cinch straps are hard to get really tight and they do seem to loosen though. As you noted, a properly set up ratchet strap really cannot loosen unless it is not uniformly tight when you start off.

 

[aczlan]

Agree. Cinch straps are hard to get really tight and they do seem to loosen though. As you noted, a properly set up ratchet strap really cannot loosen unless it is not uniformly tight when you start off.

Or your load shifted and became a little bit shorter so the strap is now loose.
On cinch straps, I was helping someone move once and they had a dirt bike held down to a trailer with four cinch straps. Over the course of 10 minutes driving down the road, the bike bounced enough to loosen the cinch straps and the bike was starting to wobble side to side.
I started flashing my lights and laying on the horn and he eventually got a hint, pulled over and we retightened the straps. We tied the loose ends on the straps around the buckles and also added a couple of ratchet straps. The remaining 20 minutes of the drive were uneventful.

Aaron Z

 

[CajunRider]

I always have 75 ft of 1/2" rope and about 200 ft of paracord in my truck. I use them for tie-down for all light weight stuff. For my tractor I have chains and heavy ratchet straps. I still don't trust the ratchet straps and mostly rely on chains. I hardly use bungees at all. They are so hard to inspect for integrity and are prone to unexpected failures.

 

[k0ua]

Be very careful with bungie cords. Those things can slip and fling back at you. Have a family member that almost lost and eye because of a bungie cord.

Later,
Dan

And when the little rubber end cap falls off of the hook, they are deadly sharp too. They will jam into your "meat" pretty deep.