Chain Rating

[john in la]

I know several cops from city police to federal officers. They do have a “quota”, they just don’t call it that. Depending on what they are assigned to, they are “encouraged” to make at least an average number of stops. If every month or quarter a particular officer constantly falls below the average, he or she will be reprimanded.
You can’t tell me that if they send 2 cops to work a section of roadway for speeding and one cop has 50 stops and the other has 5, they won’t deal with the cop that only has 5. They are both expected to have roughly the same number of stops, that is a quota.
Just like truck inspections at a scale house. Unless something obvious is caught by the cop’s eye or the tech they use, almost all scale houses use a computer that “randomly” selects trucks to pull to the side for inspection. While it is somewhat random, the computer is still set to pull X number of trucks in for inspection for every X number of trucks that cross the scales. Even the inspector is required to to have at least roughly the average number of violation percentages. Even a layperson can go to the fmcsa website and see the national percentages for a particular violation.

When I was still working I had a DOT cop turn around and chase me down.
When he stopped me he said you are just what I need.
I asked what he meant.
He said I need one more haz mat inspection to make my quota for this month.

 

[showcrop]

Our local chief expects a fair amount of activity in the course of the day, and making stops is probably one of the easier ways to document some activity. It doesn't look good for any public employee to be sleeping out behind our church mid day.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Yes and just stopping a person so they don't look like they are sleeping in the median at night is not the way to do business either. As for the securement deal I was not meaning that you could short tie downs for friction on a load just that between the friction and the extra 400LBS rating on the chains of 5/16 being 5400 it would be in excess of the 20,000 needed to hold the load. Since it would amount to 21, 400 instead of just the 20,000 of the trailer. I got the 4-9000 from the rating of chains up to 1/2 inch. Now I still do not see nor really understand why if a chain is strong enough to hold a given strength why it should matter it is is hooked to both sides of the trailer or just one. lets take a 3/8ths G70 chain. IF it has a rating of 6600 then why should it be any less whether it is hooked to one side of the trailer or both since the rating is the single strand of chain. If you loop a cable through a pulley you now have 2 strands and now have more than just the one holding so would be able to up the lifting weight for it. So if a single is good for 6600 why would it not then be more for going across the trailer like from one side to the other through a drawbar or other such method except for the possible lower rating of the connection point on the load. Like going from the drawbar or around the front axle to the side of the traielr should still be the 6600 and if you go from one side around the axle then one to the other side it should hold nearly double or at least the same as the single.Since the middle is not tied at each side of the axle if it broke the whole front axle would e available to move around on the trailer where as if tied at each side to the trailer with separate binders it would not be able to move only in the direction of the still tied chain if both chains are at an angle from middle out or some such configuration. And if you hook to the load like an axle or drawbar I doubt they are rated at all even though the drawbar would be one of the strongest tiedown points on the load. Certainly not going to flop the chain over the hood anf pull it down tight so you can hook to both side of the trailer . Some might be that dumb though I doubt most would not do that. I did see one time at the Ritchey Bros sale one time driving by a guy had put straps over the cabs on a load of skid steers . Don't know if he left like that or not.

 

[Ray,IN]

Long ago I was taught to place ty-down chains in a X from the load to the front and rear trailer ty-downs. This restrained the load both sideways and end-to-end with the trailer. This often requires longer chains, I suppose which is why I have 6, 20'x 3/8" chains, that I'll likely never use again. They are generally too long for farming use or logging.

 

[Ray,IN]

He must be talking about direct securement vs indirect securement.
They do only allow you half the chain or strap rating for direct securement.

Bottom of pg 13, question 3: https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ppp/ppp-75.pdf

 

[caterpillar guy]

I have several that are cut down in length with an appropriate rated hook a fixed to them for going side to center no need for long chains on a lot of equipment and 10 feet will reach that or even in some cases to both sides across the trailer if hooking low down on the equipment or load. Like some skid mounted stuff the tie down point is almost on the floor.
Ray pg 13 just shows somew cable ends and how they are made in bundles.IS that what you wanted us to see?

 

[m16ty]

I have several that are cut down in length with an appropriate rated hook a fixed to them for going side to center no need for long chains on a lot of equipment and 10 feet will reach that or even in some cases to both sides across the trailer if hooking low down on the equipment or load. Like some skid mounted stuff the tie down point is almost on the floor.
Ray pg 13 just shows somew cable ends and how they are made in bundles.IS that what you wanted us to see?

I used to use 20 footers for everything, then I ran into a guy that had 8’ chains with big slip hooks on one end. I decided to get me 4 chains like his, and while I still carry the 20’ chains, I’d say at least 80% of the time I use the short chains with big hooks on one end. Much easier to handle and you don’t have a bunch of spare chain to do something with.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Yup and they work just as well for the job. Lighter to handle and no more work to use. And nobody is looking at that loose chain in the middle of the trailer deck wondering if it can get off the side enough to be a problem. I used to have worn or broken straps ersewn with new tags put in so some of them were only about 20-25 feet long. a lot of the time you only use about 15ft of the strap also with the rest looking for a place to go without flapping around .That worked well for just strapping crates of parts down that went with a piece of equipment. I used to haul a bunch od shaker screens foe gravel pits and they always had a crate of parts with them. Some times you could get them set in the top of the machine so they were out of the way for other additional pieces if I was loading partials with them. Made some good money putting a partial on with a lod or putting 3or4 pieces on together going a same or similar direction.

 

[trackrat]

I disagree with that in the fact that unless the stop is against a bridge or some other such solid object the friction of the tracks on the trailer deck will account for a lot of the holding in an emergency stop. And if against a solid object then it probably doesn't matter since the driver will most likely be dead from the impact before or just about the same time. As for the rest of the world it would be a looky lew deal as they drive by. Sorry to be quite so blunt about it but the facts are that. Also since you would need the appropriate amount of chain for the dozer in this example there would also be the chain over the blade which would also account for another 4-9,000 LBS of holding power against a lateral movement forward or backward . I have even had a few where by the time I got the thing loaded and went to put the blade chain on I had to use 2 to beable to reach something not in use to tie it down with. I usually also hooked to the drawbar in the rear rather than the track pad since it is part of the solid connection to the machine. Track pads are not rated nor that solid as far as I know for tie down use. If hauled on a Stepdeck trailer there is the step to hold it back if it didnot flip over endways on the trailer and with the best ride and balance point for loading on them is usually just behind the step if against it or real close like only inches I believe it would hold it. Now I loaded a partail of steel rod one time that if I didn't have some sort of Bulkhead on the lower level of my trailer I had to have one. At the rate of something like $25.00 now My discussion went something like with the step of the trailer and it being below the level of the truck frame or about the same level the cheap board bulkhead they were providing was little more than a laugh if you had an issue with stopping . The steel in the step would have held more than those 2 cheap flimsy boards they offered and charged for. IT would have been laughable on a regular flat bed. And the part that really got me was I had a bulkhead/Chain rack on the truck behind the cab/sleeper bolted to the frame of the truck. IT is still there to this day while I never use it anymore since I rarely load my flat trailers anymore.Back to the stop with the 20,000 in chain since most guys use 5/16ths chain and they are rated for 5400 each with 4 on it they would have in excess of the 20,000 on it plus the blade chain and in OH if the blade extend beyond the side of the trailer it has to be removed or loaded forward on the trailer or something like that since somebody couldn't see the blade coming up as they past and hit one with all the signs and flags and flashing lights required by law for it. IT has been a while since I was in OH with one but seemed like if it was over 6 inches wider than the trailer it had to come off. Sort of like the no escort car needed in IL if not over 14 foot yet IN and MO needed it just a State thing. Then in TX no need for one again going into the Dallas area.

 

[trackrat]

as an old heavy hauler i don't agree that track friction will help hold a dozer most of the time large machines are sitting steel to steel on the outside of the trailer frame, i have had the pleasure of riding a dozer sliding off the trailer almost turning over, did that don't want to again

 

[Ray,IN]

I have several that are cut down in length with an appropriate rated hook a fixed to them for going side to center no need for long chains on a lot of equipment and 10 feet will reach that or even in some cases to both sides across the trailer if hooking low down on the equipment or load. Like some skid mounted stuff the tie down point is almost on the floor.
Ray pg 13 just shows somew cable ends and how they are made in bundles.IS that what you wanted us to see?

Exerpt from pg 33 of https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/PPP/PPP-75.pdf

Question 3.
How is the working load limit applied?
The collective WLL for all tie-downs must equal at least half the weight of the
secured cargo; i.e., 10,000 pounds of cargo must be secured with chains and/or
straps with a collective WLL of at least 5000 pounds

 

[caterpillar guy]

Yes but in the direction of the loads travel in the stop. So if you have 10000 and the chains holding it back from a sudden stop are not of the strength to hold the 5000 then you need more or bigger chains. the ones in front would not count for forward load holding until it go forward of them. If it does that then all is probably lost by then. Same for rearward travel though usually less since you cannot take off with the jolt that can be seen from a sudden stop. Trackrat: What I was meaning was there is a certain amount of friction to the floor with any machine on the floor setting still not when driving on or off. Now I used tires for the break over when loading tracked equipment from sliding or twisting uncontrollably. They could also be used under the tracks of it setting to counter slip or slide on steel when loaded if you had enough to just drive on them when loading. My step deck had wood floor so I had no steel other than at the very back by the rear axle and over the front axle since it was a spread axle trailer it had wood between the axles. Biggest problem I had was as they broke over from ramps to the trailer deck. they could slip and cause a twisted position at that point. So the tires solved that problem. They could also be places on a detach so the tracks would be on the tires for loading and setting in load position to help eliminate slip. Or a wood plank for that. My detach has wood higher than the steel fraom on each side so the tracks would need to be wider than that to be on all steel.