Equipment Tie-down

[Bird]

Mrwurm, that's great!/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I hauled an upright freezer about 65 miles standing up in the back of my pickup Sunday, pretty darned securely tied with plenty of big nylon rope, still didn't like doing it, and drove extra cautiously.

 

[Golfgar4]

<font color=blue>"...standing up in the back of my pickup..."</font color=blue>

I hope that means that the freezer was standing up, and not Bird!!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>I hope that means that the freezer was standing up, and not Bird</font color=blue>

You better believe it./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Even though we tried to see if we could rock it or turn it over after tying it - and couldn't of course, I wouldn't have even ridden back there, much less standing up./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[hosejockey2002]

Anything with rubber tires will bounce around and move if it's not tied down. DOT says a minimum of two tie downs are to be used for any piece of cargo on a flatbed, and the combined strength of the tiedowns need to be strong enough to lift 1 1/2 times the weight of the cargo.

 

[Mrwurm]

It's a done-deal! Used the tie-downs and got my mower in for warranty service without any mishaps. Sure am glad it's warranty service and not the kind I have to pay for./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Jerry

 

[TonyC]

<font color=blue>I hauled an upright freezer</font color=blue>

I just did the same thing last week but for only 25 miles. I was plenty nervous too. It was taller than I expected and it's kind of hard to secure it like I'd like to. My driveway is 800' straight up so I had to ride back there with it while my wife drove it up. After all that it's brand new and it didn't work at all. They offered to send a service man in five days to look at it. I told them to come get it and give me my $$$ back!

 

[Bird]

Oh boy, I know the feeling, Tony./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[MChalkley]

Mrwurm - Now that everybody else has done such an excellent job of convincing you to tie your equipment down, I'll tell you about an incident I saw once: I was following a low-boy with a big Cat bulldozer on it around an Interstate cloverleaf, and when the trailer hit a really rough spot in the road, the trailer dropped out from underneath the 'dozer, and as the trailer went around the ramp, the 'dozer kept going straight. Fortunately, it was still over the trailer when they made contact again, but it had shifted toward one side a bit. I hailed the driver on the CB and let him know what had happened. He stopped immediately and chained it down. Somebody else had loaded it, he said, and he forgot to check.

I used to occasionally haul equipment short distances without tying it down, but not after seeing that.

 

[Phred]

Jerry,

One thing I find about those ratchet strap is that they wear out rather quickly compared to chains.
Not a bad idea to check them before each use just to be sure.

Good luck.

Fred

 

[Mrwurm]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I have some smaller ratchet straps and it's easy to get a nick in them that turns into a tear.

Jerry