Length of chain

[Billc]

MarkC,

Have followed your posts for the past year about chain quality. Before I had always bought chain at Home Depot. Now when we're at the local hardware store and my wife says, "Honey, we need some more logging chain." I say, "What, that crap? Are you kidding?" There is usually someone looking at chain when I say that. I feel very proud as I walk away. The fella looking at chain looks at me, looks at the chain, looks at me, looks at the chain... Anyway, you've said there are different grades of chain. What are the different grades or is there a web sight that explains the different grades? The other day one of those guys in the chain aisle asked me, "What's the difference in chain quality?" I looked at him, looked at the chain, looked at him, looked at the chain.....

One other question. When I'm towing my tractor I use chains to hold the tractor to the flat bed. I'm not sure what they are called, I've always called them chain tighteners, have also heard them called "bull dogs", anyway the bull dogs are used to take the slack out of the chain to hold the tractor tight to the flat bed. It has a chain hook on either end, you hook to the chain, pull the handle on the bull dog 180 degrees, and it draws the chain tight (sorry, that's the best discription I can give). Anyway, I'm going to replace them very soon because if I'm going down a bumpy road the handle holding the tention pops back 180 degrees. All of a sudden I have lots of slack in the chain holding the tractor to the flat bed. Not good! To solve this problem I normally use a small piece of wire to hold the handle in place. It does the trick, but I've seen bull dogs that use a ratchet system for tightening. Looks like it works a whole lot better. Does it, or am I better off using what I have?

Thanks for the info, as always, Mark.

Bill Cook

 

[stevepio]

Bill C - That's why I use rachet straps to tie stuff down. Each of my straps is rated at 6000 lbs working and 10,000 breaking, and I use 4 straps. They don't come loose.

 

[keitho]

Here's a reminder not to do something stupid that I did this weekend! I was working with a chain and had it sitting in the FEL bucket - I forgot about it and went mowing and when I stopped a few hours later there was no chain to be seen! I guess I hit a bump, one end fell out and the whole thing snaked out. I'm sure it's lying quietly somewhere under the grass in the pasture. Now maybe I should get one of those super big magnets and hang it from the loader and drive around - or maybe now I'll be able justify a nice new chain /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif - it was an old chain anyway.

Keith

 

[Richard]

Interesting how much can be said from 4:00pm eastern to 9 am.

Harv,
ITCHING in my pants to scream my REAL thoughts, but again, the wisdom of others here influence me to calm down and rather than "tell you what to do" maybe state what I would do.

Chunk them. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

In another life, worked roughly 10 years retail. A surprising amount of the stuff started to come in made in China. As it (over the years) came in the back door and out the front door, I started to notice a larger volume of returns/defective items (primarily of the Chinese/Taiwan make rather than Japan)

In the watch catagory, if you were sizing a Seiko (hate to pick on them, but this is true story) the Seiko watches (over the other brands) REALLY snapped apart and back together with authority. VERY well made. Fast forward several years and I started to find certain bands were ABSOLUTE pain in @## to size. What once took 5 minutes, could now take literally an hour FOR A SILLY BAND. Being slow to notice trends, I finally saw the correlation. Virtually EVERY band that was a pain, was made in China. All the "easy, snappy" ones, were made in Japan. Proved to me, there is some engineering difference, materials difference, and or other. In the end, the customer sees a pretty watch that of course (since "I" sized it /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif), fits beautifully. I on the other hand, see something that is far inferior to the "origional" made to less standards and of lesser (softer) materials.

Does this translate to chains/hooks/cars/women/other???

I don't know and I don't consider myself racist or other. That said, it's going to be a COLD day somewhere, before I own ANYTHING made in China if I have a choice about it. I would much rather pay the higher price and in fact get, or perceive to get higher quality.

Something the above 10 years taught me was, as a society, we Americans want the look but aren't always willing to pay the price for the "real" item.

Rhetorical question:

How many times have you bought something cheap and regreted it? (and it therefore cost you MORE than buying "right" in the beginning)

How many times have you regreted buying quality?

I understand there are exceptions to all the above, just relating some of my experiences.

/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[dullpain]

BillC - What you call "chain tightners" or "bull dogs" are commonly referred to as "Load Binders" in all the catalogs I have. Of course here in the South we have a habit of naming everything ourselves. We call em Chain Booms or Boomers. I only own the type you have (180deg) but they do make a racheting load binder. I have some friends that have them and they are nice. No possibility of flying open. I will buy that type in future.

 

[Harv]

Keith -

You bring up a subject that might be worth a new thread -- forgetting you have something in the bucket.

Already, with only 22 hours under my belt, I have twice pulled a boner by forgetting I had tools in my bucket (good incentive to keep working on my ROPS rack). One time I was heading across the property to pick up some gravel from a small pile about 200 yards from my current work site. Since the pile was small I tossed a shovel in the bucket in case I couldn't get a good "scoop" and needed to do a little shoveling.

As you might have guessed, my short attention span was exceeded by the 200-yard trip and when I got there, I just lowered the bucket and plowed into the pile. Picked up a pretty good load, drove it back to the site, dumped it and got off to shovel it around a bit. Couldn't find my shovel. It took several minutes before I remembered that I had put it in the bucket. Had to to paw through the load I had just dumped to find it. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

Another time I was finishing up for the day and was carrying all my hand tools back to the shop in the bucket. Got to daydreaming again, and when I passed my pile of crushed limestone, I thought maybe I'd dump a scoop of it on a troublesome low spot I had just passed. Fortunately this time, as I leveled the bucket to make my approach, I heard the clatter of the pick, shovel, prybar, sledge hammer, etc. falling out. "Oh, yeah!", I sez to my stupid self. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

I know this never happens to anybody else -- just thought I'd share.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Billc
The McMaster-Carr ( http://www.mcmaster.com/ ) catalog beginning on page 1176 has good descriptions of the various grades of chains and there intended uses. On page 1206 is a good outline of the various types and grades of hooks. Just type the page number in their search window and it will take you there.

They make a load binder that has a "security" hole for attaching a padlock to prevent the binder from being opened. Northern Tools sells at least one version, look for item 152981.

WVBill and McCallum
On page 1211 of McMaster-Carr there is a hook designed specifically for welded attachment. It is a slip hook. If you want a grab hook, I believe you will have to buy an "eye" hook and grind off most of the eye.

 

[Harv]

Richard -

Thanks for remaining calm -- I can just imagine if you had responded in the heat of passion. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Sounds like I've gotten what I've paid for. Of course, they already cost more than I thought a simple hook should cost, but I see from some of the catalogs and web sites mentioned on this board that quality equipment just plain costs money.

I'm not compelled to junk them yet, but I will be cautious when I use them. Now I'm concerned that my chain is a little on the chincy side, too. I could have gotten the fancy "system 7" stuff, but I was more concerned about my wallet at the time.

Which reminds me, oh learned ones -- when I do get more chain I probably will get the "system 7" this time, but should I stay with 3/8" or could I then drop down a size?

 

[Harv]

ClayG -

Wow! That's a great resource for all kinds of stuff!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[WVBill]

ClayG:

Bingo! That's what I had in mind for a mounting method, although I was picturing a grab hook. Also, at $64.41 it's a bit more pricey than I had hoped. $128 could better be spent on something else.

I think I may go with the grind-down the eye part approach.

Thanks for the McMaster resource, though - I'll be looking at it closely.

WVBill