Securement (chains specifically)

I have seen several posts in the past about this and we have all seen accidents where the securement did not hold. I am of the belief that you need to use the strongest thing available to you. You also need to throw enough to more than cover the minimum.

Yeah I know it is more work and you have to throw more chains but that is better than the alternative. Personally I really don't like using grade 70 chain. Just too weak for my tastes but until I am supplying my own then I have to deal with it.

I have had several people tell me that I am way over securing. I tell them that nothing is ever coming off my trailer unless I want it to. Or, I get hit by a train, then he can have it... LOL

My securement desires will vary depending on the type of trailer. I want to use the lightest chain possible with the largest strength WLL I can get.

Flatbed or Stepdeck - It is just stupid and wasteful to carry 1/2" chain for this trailer. There are no securement points that have the WLL rating to handle the WLL of the chain. For me the ideal chain is 5/16" grade 100 chain. Why not grade 80? Because the WLL limit is 200 pounds lower than grade 70. Grade 100 has a WLL of 5700 pounds. This gives you a light weight chain that exceeds the highest WLL of 5500 pounds on most trailers. If you want to use 3/8" chain you can but by the time you get to the end of the load throwing 20' of chain over your tall load your arm wants to go home.

The only exception that I have for this is a dovetail or sliding axle trailer that have higher WLL anchor points and are use to move heavier single piece machines. Then I want to have some 1/2" chain with me, at least 4 of them.

This is a load of pipe I hauled recently. I am not going to count the straps because the only reason they are there is to secure the dunnage I am using to keep the pipe from walking on me. On this load I used 8 each 5/16 chain because of the 10' securement rule and I always use one in the end pipes on both layers. That alone uses 4 of them. So with this grade 70 chain I had 37,600 pounds of securement. Then you add in the 2 cables over the top and you have 43,600 pounds of securement for 63k of pipe.

Now I don't mind having more securement than needed, I am not that lazy. But had I used grade 100 pipe I would have had 44,000 pounds of securement (8x5500 average securement point WLL on trailer) then add in the 2 cables (still need to have those) and I would have had 50,000 pounds of WLL securing 63k load. Not going to lose any sleep going down the road with this.

Lowboy/RGN trailers - Because of the weight of the machines and other stuff that you move on this type of trailer, it would be stupid of me to carry 5/16 chain for this trailer. With this type of trailer I want to have 1/2" grade 100 chain. Unfortunately until I have my own equipment I have to settle on this too for the moment. Right now I have grade 70 chain that is rated at 11,300 pounds but because the boss is cheap he only bought 3/7-1/2" binders and the WLL on those is 9900 pounds so that is what I have to work with.

The other thing is that most of the securement points on a lowboy (at least ours) are rated at 15k pounds so we are underutilizing the equipment that we have.

Let's take this CAT 330c excavator. It says that this thing should weigh in at 77,400 pounds. We all know how this is accurate, right???

On this particular load I have 8 direct tie downs. At 9900 pounds per chain/binder divided by 2 that comes out to 39,600 pounds of securement. More than enough to cover the 50% rule. Then you add in 2 each 3/8 chain that will be going over the boom and you come to 52,800 pounds of securement but we were told by the FMCSA guys that they would not count the chain over the boom because that was supposed to stop articulation. So we are back to the 39,600 pounds. Had I had grade 100 1/2" chains and binders, I would have had 60k of securement. Over 20k more. Or I could have used 2 fewer chains and had 5k more in securement over the grade 70 chains.

I know that there will be some that say that is too much or the chains are too expensive. But for me this would make me more comfortable with some of this heavier stuff.

Yes I did say 2 chains over the boom. When the FMCSA guys came out they had one of our drivers secure an excavator to the trailer like he normally does. Then they went around and pointed things out to us. Like the boom, they measured from the chain to the end of the stick and because it was more than 10 feet long he needed another chain. The kicker was that it was told to us that the placement was "where practical". So in this particular case both chains would cross the boom down near the bucket. Kinda like carrying a large beam where you can only chain the ends where the dunnage is.

Anyhow, if I had my own equipment this is what I would do. Oh, and don't forget the shackles.

 

I forgot to add that the chains would be carried on the trailers themselves and not the truck. Lose some weight when you have to switch trailers. No sense in carrying what you are not using or going to use.. I also want about 4 each 3/8" chains on the lowboy for all the things like booms, buckets and rippers etc.

 

Ain't that the truth. Where we load the concrete products there is one guy that will not move until he is completely secured.

Me? With those boxes it is set them and check the air gauges then pull up front to secure them. 6' wide they are not going anywhere moving out of the way. With the pipe, 2 in front and 2 in the rear then the cables over the top and I am out of the way again.