Ratcheting tie downs BROKE in transit!

[GaryE]

One thing to consider here guys, tying down a tractor is going to put more stress on the tie downs than a car of equal weight. Some if not much of the stresses in the car are absorbed and or dampened by the springs of the vehicle. A tractor is unsprung and will tend to pull harder and quicker with greater accelerations on the hold downs. Not to mention the higher center of gravity (on larger tractors) is only going to make matters worse.

Just something to think about when looking for hold downs.


Gary

 

[kmdigital]

Where did you have your straps attached? Just curious, and wondering if that could of somehow increased the pressure on them via some sort of leverage.

I haul my L4150 by putting the chain through the 4" hole in FEL arms and then down and forward to the D-rings on the trailer. On the back I loop the chain through the swing bracket for the drawbar, (if the backhoe is off) or through the backhoe lower pivot area if it is on. The chain then goes down and back to the rear D-rings.

I haven't had any problems, and hope I never do, though I don't go that far or fast. Usually under 10 miles, and under 45 mph.

About 20 years ago I saw what can happen with a travel trailer on a short wheel-base towing vehicle. Someone was towing a 20' (app) bumper pull travel trailer in NE AZ, when a herd of sheep (open range country) ran across the road in front of him. He was driving a full size Chevy Blazer, and hit the brakes and couldn't control the swinging that resulted. The trailer just yanked him around and into the ditch, where it jackknifed and flipped the truck and trailer their sides, all while still hooked together. Destroyed the trailer, and not sure the truck was drivable anymore. I helped him get them unhooked, and the truck back on its wheels, but it was pretty banged up. Not a good thing to have happen on the Navajo reservation, about 200 miles from anything of any size.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

One of the best things about TBN is learning from other's mistakes. And just like you, I use 2" 10,000# rated straps, 2 on the front, 2 on the rear. I'm thankful you ended up OK, and I'm also glad I looked at this thread. I'm buying chain before I haul my tractors again.

 

[btolle]

A little "theorizing" on my part.

When you ratchet the strap down you put tension on it. How much tension? I would guess the leverage of the ratchet would apply at the very least several hundred pounds of pressure. Hence, the strap is already "loaded" before we look at the tractor weight.

Try dropping, say a 5 pound weight on a scale from 6 feet up and I think the scale may register something greater than 5 pounds.

Given that there are 4 straps on the tractor/trailer none of them has the exact same amount of pressure as the other 3 so that strap will take the full load if even for a fraction of a second or a fraction of an inch until the other 3 start to assist. In the case of horizontal movement only 2 straps would be holding, either front or rear.

At this point, if my theory is correct, you could have several times the weight of the tractor applied to the strap when you hit a hard bump, and when you start/stop ("A body in motion tends to stay in motion"). There would also be an extreme amount of pressure in the horizontal plane as the tractor moves back and forth on the trailer.

"Shock loading" is the death of a rope and, I suspect, a strap. A shock load may damage one or more of the threads in the rope or strap. That makes it weaker and more subject to damage with the next shock load and so on.

Once the first strap broke the second one had to pick up the load by itself and it broke too.

Have you ever tried to cut a rope and had a hard time? The way to make a rope easier to cut is to put tension on it. With the tension each thread you cut allows more tension to transfer to the remaining strands and they cut easier.

Was the break in the straps perpindicular to the length of the strap and did the break appear to be clean, as if cut with a knife?

Anyone is free to shoot holes in my theory.

Bill Tolle

 

[Dargo]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Please don't think that I'm trying to tell everyone how to tie down their tractors. It's just that I would have never believed that those 10k straps possibly could have broken. Not at all. I just wanted to tell of what I definitely thought could not happen, but did, to everyone's attention. I can't be the only person who thinks (or rather thought) that 2 of the 10k straps on each end would be plenty. By the way, I attach my straps to the front bracket on my tractor that holds my front weights when the loader is off, and to the D ring on the nose of the trailer. My bucket sits on the front rack on the trailer, so the bucket does not rub on or ride on my straps.

Yeah, I'm still a bit rattled. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Besides of the obvious danger of injury that existed, if it would have gone over and taken my truck over, it would have been an extremely expensive trip.

 

[Dargo]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Was the break in the straps perpindicular to the length of the strap and did the break appear to be clean, as if cut with a knife?

Anyone is free to shoot holes in my theory.

Bill Tolle )</font>

No shooting holes from me. The breaks were both rough ragged rips in each strap; like it was simply pulled apart. Even if your theory is completely correct, it would not be realistically possible to get the exact same pressure on each strap at the same time. Thus my decision to go back to chains. I've already placed my order with AW Direct for the Grade 100 chains, two new boomers, and a 8700 pound 6" wide strap.

 

[johnday]

Dargo; I don't think your telling anyone what to do. I appreciate you posting like you did. I have a real tendency to get irrate about unsafe conditions caused by other so-called drivers, I don't want to be one of them. How is AW Direct to deal with. I think I'll be looking at chains and boomers myself. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[billfires]

Dargo, what caused the tractor to start coming off the back of the trailer? I use 3 chains and 2 ratchet binders to hold my 6000# tractor but always leave it in low gear and apply the parking brake. Bill C

 

[Steve_Miller]

Is it possible that something flew off the road and hit a strap to start the sequence? With that much tension it would probably not take that much to damage some of the threads.

Steve

 

[jim_wilson]

Thanks for the post. Sometimes it is good to put up stories like this to remind people why there rules and regulations around things like this. I seem to remember some other postings here on tractorbynet about proper tie down procedures of tractors and construction equipment on trailers and one of the things I remember being mentioned was that tying down a tractor on a trailer with straps would earn you a citation in many states from the Highway Patrol. I guess this is a good example of why that regulation exists.
Some of the other posters here mentioned cases of mishaps with towing and trailers where accidents occured and damage occured to the towers vehicles and trailer. I have another good example of why trailer safety is important - but this one concerns the damage you can do to other people by making a towing mistake. Back when I was in college I was a member of the university sports car club. The president of the club was a good guy who was one these people who was always involved in campus activities and student govt. and stuff like that. He was a great guy. Well one Friday afternoon he left school to drive home and his car broke down on the highway (this was in the days before everybody's parents bought them new cars to go off to school). Well as he was walking down the breakdown lane to find a phone somebody coming down the highway had their camper trailer break loose from their pickup. The trailer sailed down the highway and hit my friend who was walking down the breakdown lane and killed him. Turns out the trailer had safety chains but they were inadequate and just broke right off when the trailer bounced off the hitch. If you think about it there was a long string of coincidences that happened to make this event occur- time he left to go home, where the car broke down, how fast he was walking, trailer hitting the bump just right, chains breaking, trailer could have gone 3 feet this way or 3 feet the other, etc. and this never would have happened. But it did - and if that trailer had adequate safety chains the trailer would not have separated from the tow vehicle. The driver of the tow vehicle and got cited and charged. I don't remember what happened with the case but I always remember that incident when I am towing something. Count yourself lucky that your broken straps only caused a incident that will sit in your mind to remind you of proper procedures and not something worse.