Stake Pocket D-Ring

[timswi]

The neighbor hauled a small skid-loader on his car hauler...He put giant "d" rings with bolts through the stake pockets to attach the binders..Worked really well...I don't like tying off on stake pockets, the chains/straps like to slip unless binders are used...And as was said, not all chain/strap ends fit inside the pockets.

 

[oldtractors]

How are you guys tying down that destroys stake pockets? I always chain to the pockets. All my 3/8 chain hooks drop through just fine. I dro the chain through and come back up and put the hook over the top of the pocket. I have never bent a stake pocket doing this

 

[Sterff]

How are you guys tying down that destroys stake pockets? I always chain to the pockets. All my 3/8 chain hooks drop through just fine. I dro the chain through and come back up and put the hook over the top of the pocket. I have never bent a stake pocket doing this

Same here. I've hauled my 10K skidloader using this method and haven't had any issues.

 

[lilranch2001]

not all people have smaller chains
There are some very large chains and hooks out there, I have a couple that will not go through a stake pocket, and I have quite a few that will.

 

[Sterff]

not all people have smaller chains
There are some very large chains and hooks out there, I have a couple that will not go through a stake pocket, and I have quite a few that will.

If you have a rub-rail then go around the stake pocket and hook the chain to itself.

 

[meburdick]

If you have a rub-rail then go around the stake pocket and hook the chain to itself.

Chaining to the rub rail is [I believe] against code. I know it is against best practices. Hooking the chain to itself is also a no-no.

 

[schmism]

A primary reason that I could see using the stake pocket rings instead of the stake pockets themselves is to prevent ripping the stake pockets up by bending them and scratching off the paint with a chain.

Dont know what kinda sheet metal your stake pockets are made out of but you'd rip the top of the D ring off before you bent/mangled/ripped the stake pockets off my equipment trailer....

 

[oldtractors]

I don't think it is against the law to tie to a rub rail, but I personally wouldn't tie a tractor to it. I couldn't find any actual laws against it during an online search. The DOT does not like to see chains wrapped around the rub rail. However, most loads I see have the chain dropped through the stake pocket and then back up inside the rub rail. The chain is either hooked to itself or to the top of the stake pocket? Why cant you hook a chain to itself?

 

[meburdick]

I don't think it is against the law to tie to a rub rail, but I personally wouldn't tie a tractor to it. I couldn't find any actual laws against it during an online search. The DOT does not like to see chains wrapped around the rub rail. However, most loads I see have the chain dropped through the stake pocket and then back up inside the rub rail. The chain is either hooked to itself or to the top of the stake pocket? Why cant you hook a chain to itself?

My understanding is that the chain going a little slack can cause it to more easily come undone versus having that same hook being held to the stake pocket by gravity. Consider this scenario... You hook to the tractor, bring the chain down to deck level, come back up and over something like the rub rail, then hook back to the chain. If you hook toward the deck, gravity will force the hook off of the chain with any amount of slack.

 

[oldtractors]

I copied a few pages from the Fontane semi trailer manual, which shows all the ways of fastening to the trailer. I can definately see the point in not hooking to the stake pockets of an aluminum trailer, but steel trailers with welded pockets should be fine. I noticed that some of the WLL rating got cut off on the attached PDF. You can see it on page 32 of the pdf link. WLL limit when hooked to the stake pocket is quite a bit less with aluminum. (4000 lbs vs 5400 lbs in this case)

http://www.fontainetrailer.com/pdfs/trailer-operator-manual.pdf