Flatbedding Tips
 

Let's share some ideas from our flatbedding experiences to help each other out.
Keep it please to securement, loading, and tarping.

Thanks!

When using chains on coil loads, bring a few bungees on the deck to keep the chains tight and under control while you are attaching binders and rachets. This helps keep the edge protectors on the coill until you are ready to secure the chains.

I don't know how helpfull, or doable this is, but in load securment class, they showed a video from the mid 80's and there was one patrt i found cool... The guy put 2 2x4's in two of the holes in the back of the trailer, and used them as a handle to pull himself up steppin on the ICC bumper, and license plate step, so basicly he pulled himself up like it was a ladder, holding on to the two 2x4's.

Just a thought. Probably workable on the sides too, over a tire.

When climbing onto a tall load position your 4 inch strap close enough and leave it loose enough so that you can get your fingers under it. This will make a convenient handhold for climbing up, and even better when climbing down off the load.


On a load of Styrofoam insulation use the black plastic edge protectors. Do NOT use the cardboard ones provided by the shipper. My trainer and I learned this the hard way. Last time he hauled insulation he lost a couple of the black plastic edge protectors on a rear x strap, so we experimented with the cardboard that the shipper provided. As we were travelling through high winds a few of the simple pieces of cardboard blew away leaving us with no edge protectors, and a couple of straps started to saw downward into the insulation at an angle. Fun fun.


When folding tarps: Do not fold it so that all the buckles and folds are lined up on one edge. It may look sloppy while folding but if you space out the seams and folds over the entire length of the roll the complete roll will be much smaller.

make sure that you fold your lumbers so that the tongue is on the end and roll away from it. it sounds silly but it happens all the time that folks forget where the tongue is and the tarps are bass akwards and then they have to be turned around.

for your edge protectors, get a 1 or 2 inch pvc pipe about 4 feet long and cut a slit in one end that is 4 to 5 inches long. you can put the edge protector in the slit and hang it under the strap without climbing on the trailer/load or paying $50 for the one that is sold in the truckstops.

Buy a strap winder. They are a Godsend for speeding up the process. Winding a wet, cold strap by hand is a pain and takes too long.

But be careful with the strap winder once it is secured to the rub rail. They can break easily if you are too tough on them.

I cracked the weld on a cheap one the second time I tightened it to the rub rail.

There is a nice strap winder that is made from an steel alloy instead of the cheap pot metal ones that are in most truck stops. It has 4 prongs instead of 2, machined bushings where the winder shaft turns - instead of just a hole, a solid aluminum guide that winds the straps up even and tight, and is of very high quality. I can't remember the brand but the ONLY place I could ever find one is at the Duke Travel Plaza on I70, exit 129, in Ohio.

I have not used this strap winder, but it is advertised as a Heavy duty version to last for a lifetime. It is about 4 times more expensive ($50) than the cheap ones sold in truck stops.

Here is the link to their site. There is a video demonstration on the link as well.
http://www.talcospecialties.com/strapwinder.aspx

To climb on top of high loads of lumber use your toolbar as a step by wedging it into the front bundles and stepping up from the catwalk. Another tip I found useful is to mop your tarps with a mixture of 50/50 antifreeze water to keep them from freezing all winter long. If you have ever had a tarp froze solid this is the way to keep that from happening. Another tip ever had to pick up a preloaded trailor with a high load that needs tarped? carry a rope about 30 feet long, tie it around your tarp, pull your tractor to the side of your trailor and use your tractor to pull the tarp up, this also can be used as a way to climb up just leave excess in the rope and tie footholes in it. When building a bulkhead use bungee's to hold the lumber in place while you chain it down. When loading Vinyl in the wood crates, the ones you can only throw straps across, use metal edge protectors with the straps, you will be surprised how well this helps keep your straps in place and also allows you to put some more umph in winching. Save everything you can, everytime a shipper gives you cardboard edge protectors dont throw them away recycle! When you load rolled paper save those little boards you will find a use for them sooner or later I promise. Thats all I can think of at the moment but will come back with more.

Hmm... wonder where you got that idea? :wink:

Even with that hunk of plastic I still find it faster to hop on top of the load and put on the corner protectors. Some guys I've met just can't do that, but it's so much easier. Another good thing is having about a four or five foot hunk of iron pipe to attach to your winch bar for when you really need some extra leverage on the chains.

My trainer showed me the thing with metal edge protectors on vinyl loads. The first time I ever loaded out of a place in Holly Springs, MS That was as awful place to load, at one time we had dedicated out of there but we dont anymore I dont think. I believe that place bought thier own small fleet of trucks.

Ive gone through 2 of the cheapWinders.

I think the good one your talkin about is the actual Kenedyne brand. thats what I have and I love it! I picked mine up at the Bosselman T/S on I-80 in Altoona, IA
Yeah it was like $50. but WELL WORTH EVERY PENNY!..

I hava a nifty tool I made. it looks like Fith wheel pin puller youl see in Truck stops (a T shaped rod with a hook on the end ya know?)

But I made mine about 5 feet long.
I use it a lot to pull my chains through small coil eyes/ cable spools, ETC, and to pull straps inbetween layers of the load (Belly straps)..

Im still tryin to find a chicken farmer so I can get some old Chicken crates. You cut them in half( longways) and make real big Edge protectors. mostly used when hauling shingles. so you only need 1 starp per pallet.
(2 straps per pallet in front and back of course, no matter what)

Trailer shops sell real big protectors like that but there kinda pricey compared to Free Old worn out chicken crates.

For alot of the new guys out there plastic pipe loads have to be smoke tarped. but the DOT only are concerned that where the height of the pipe is equal to where the stacks are. take a 2" strap and throw across the top front of the pipe and when you get up on top take the smoke tarp throw over the front and tuck under the 2" strap. get down tighten the strap and finish up with bungies.


Secret here is before you leave the terminal make sure that they make you a smoke tarp just for this kind of load

Tip to get the bungee onto a D-Ring that is too high to reach:

Shove part of the rubber bungee into the hole at the end of most cheater bars, then lift the bungee up to hook onto the D-Ring. Pull gently and the bungee will release from the cheater bar and hand down from the D-Ring for easy access.

When untarping, to unhook the bungee from the same D-Ring, just pull down on the bungee a little bit and quickly release. The snapping release action will send the bungee upward and out of the D-Ring. Then all you have to do is catch it as it falls to the ground.

I also use 5th wheel puller has a hook in one end that you can set the bungie on cost me like 20 bucks got it at sapp bros

An easy way to pull a tarp off of a tall or unstable load is to tie the end of a 2 inch strap into a d-ring on the end of the tarp. Throw the hook over the load. On the other side of the trailer you can pull the strap and the tarp over the load. If the tarp gets stuck run the strap behind your butt and hook the hook on the strap and back away from the trailer. Your weight will pull the tarp over the trailer.

I haul a lot of steel drill pipe for the rigs and the biggest problem is that pipe will slide forward if you hit your brakes too hard. Some drivers have their box doors damaged by the pipe sliding forward. I tell people that more straps is better. On average I use 2 belly chains and 10 or 11 straps.

Secure your loads and don't let them slide. It's your career. It's your accident. It's your life. I've seen trucks destroyed by pipe sliding into the cab during an emergency stop.

When I started, I had trouble throwing the 4" strap over the top of high loads and onto the other side of the trailer.

A driver showed me a few tricks to help.

1.) Stand further away from the trailer. If you stand right beside the rub rail it will be much more difficult to get the strap over to the other side.

2.) Roll off 6 feet of strap and let it hang in your non-throwing hand. This will make the rolled-up strap smaller and easier to throw.

Yeah, try throwing straps that are frozen and covered in ice and snow over an 8' load! Had to do that last week in Colorado. Felt like I was trying to throw my whole right arm over the load!

Shadowsknight is right about the drill pipe. The more securement, the better. Really, any steel load will shift in a hard braking situation, but many loads are too high for bulkheads to make any difference. Those straps and chains can never be too tight!

Especially, throw it so as it lands it will unroll itself rather than just land and stick.

Squatting and rolling a lumber tarp in the winter at a job site with gravel, snow, and mud can be really tough.

I bought a pair of knee pads from Sears (Lowes, Home Depot, Menards sell them also). What a difference. My knees did not get banged up, my pants stayed dryer, and it was a lot easier than squatting.

And knee pads can REALLY help in some truck stops when you find yourself a little "short" on money. HAHAHA (just Kidding) :lol:

Good God, man, I hope you're kidding! :shock: :lol:

Fred, Those shower floors get a little rough after a while... :lol: NO J/K!!

For those companies that keep their straps rolled to the winches at all times, take a piece of rebar or steel bar similar size, sand bend a 90 deg a few 2-3 inches from the end, then go back aprox 7-8 inches, and make 2 more bends to resemble an old style hand drill.

Stick the 90 deg part in the hold for your bar, and crank away to roll your straps back on the winch

after watching a driver fight with a tarp for 5 min in 50 mph wind, that almost lifted him like a like a few times. he stopped thought a minute & instead of the tarp blowing over his head & body like before, he just focused on wich way the wind was blowing & drugged the tarp so that when he got it up on load the wind just about did the tarping for him. i didnt think of it til after i noticed him change to have wind work for him instead of against.

on eye to the side steel coils... take one long chain. 16-20 ft & put both hooks on the same side rubrail 1-2 ft apart or so, & throw other end loop thru coil & use 2 binders to secure to other side. this way you only use one chain instead of 2 & it's legal & no compromise on safety. once you think about the method, you'll say hey yeah, I never thought of that.. :D

For those pesky loads of lumber or other bundled product that have pieces that want to slide out the front or rear... get a couple of bottles of 7up, pour over the ends, wait for it to dry/evaporate or whatever it does. The sugar/syrup is just sticky enough to keep stuff from sliding under normal driving conditions.

Hey nrvsreck,

I haven't seen you on here in a long time.......where you and what's been going on?

I asked this in another thread but I didn't get very many replies. Is there a video that shows how to tarp and chain a load on a flatbed on the internet?

No videos that I know of. It would be quite hard to do the work justice as each load is different with both securement and tarping. Doing a generic video wouldn't be helpful in learning most loads. The exception being a steel coil; that would be a good one to make a video of.

Good luck.

my company uses 2x6s over our loads for protectors that cross completely over the loads from side to side. I don't like heights, so I have a 6 foot length or 1/4 inch rebar that I bent into a hook on one end. I'm able to reach up and hook it into the boards and pull them towards me until I can then hook it from the side and get it to tilt and slide down.

tarping tip.... go buy a roll top!

Trailors with cutainsides are nice but pricey. I heard from one o/o that he paid $10,000 on top of the price of his trailor to get the rolling tarp system as he called it. More than a lot of companies want to pay, but some do offer it.

Trailors with cutainsides are nice but pricey. I heard from one o/o that he paid $10,000 on top of the price of his trailor to get the rolling tarp system as he called it. More than a lot of companies want to pay, but some do offer it.[/quote]


more like 20,0000 i paid 57,500 for a 2007 reitnouer with a roll-tite kit.

but it pays for it self fairly quick. plus i can get in and out of a drop or pickup pretty quick.

I have had several shippers tell me "when I pay for a 48' flatbed, I want 48'.

more like 20,0000 i paid 57,500 for a 2007 reitnouer with a roll-tite kit.

but it pays for it self fairly quick. plus i can get in and out of a drop or pickup pretty quick.[/quote]


I remebered it was really high. It may have been more than 10,000. I know it would be easier and it saves some time but it seems like it would take a long time to pay for itself.

I have had several shippers tell me "when I pay for a 48' flatbed, I want 48'.[/quote]

What would the difference be? It's still a 48' trailor, there isn't much difference one you get the top pulled back right?

I saw a guy pull up with one of those trls and it had the straps on sliding winches, he didn't have to anything but throw the straps over and tighten them down and pull back the top. He was done and getting his paperwork by the time I had pulled my straps out of the side box and had only thrown about half of them over. And I still had to tarp the whole thing!

What would the difference be? It's still a 48' trailor, there isn't much difference one you get the top pulled back right?

I saw a guy pull up with one of those trls and it had the straps on sliding winches, he didn't have to anything but throw the straps over and tighten them down and pull back the top. He was done and getting his paperwork by the time I had pulled my straps out of the side box and had only thrown about half of them over. And I still had to tarp the whole thing![/quote]

Maybe we are not talking about the same thing. I am talking about the one that uses slats on the side and a rolled tarp on the top. Even so I thought when the tarp is pushed forward it takes up about 2". Maybe you get that back when the tarp is folded out, but then it is already loaded and short 2'. Maybe I am showing my ignorance here, I have never looked closely at one before.