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The importance of a clean deck and proper chains & tiedowns

stumpjumper83

stumpjumper83

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So Saturday I was on my way to a job and I come upon this load pulled over, naturally I parked and offered assistance.

Apparently they hit a bump in the road and the dozer relocated itself. The pic doesn't do it justice as in the front the tracks are clear of the trailer, and the center of the track is over the side in the rear.

When the dozer moved they couldn't get enough chains to keep it from moving, I don't think they had a single chain on it when they started.

Lookin at the trailer, its no wonder it slid, we had a light coat of ice, then a couple of inches of snow / sleet, then more ice, and the trailers wasn't cleaned off at all. I would not have loaded that dozer, a 650h without cleaning the deck properly let alone haul it unchained...

Moral of the story, no matter how short the trip, chain it down like your headed cross country.
 

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2stickbill

2stickbill

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Wouldn't want to straighten that out.Looks like one little slip an over she goes.On its side.
 
stumpjumper83

stumpjumper83

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they talked like they were going to go get a 40k pound wheel loader that was nearby and shove it back on the trailer with that or at least put the forks under the track and back it off... I had work to go do and couldn't stay for the fun & games. Something tells me it would have been faster to chain it down from the get go
 
RonG

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I would be tempted to pull up parallel to the high snowbanks beside the road there and consider my options.If the machine has a 6 way blade you might very well be able to reload it using the tilt and angle functions and worst case depending on how it looked just unload it on to the snowbanks and reload again.Ron G
 
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Randy88

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Yea but the first 200 times they hauled it they never had problems? Just think of all the time they have saved over the years by not chaining it down and now they get to pay the piper. See it a lot more than one would think, the real heart stopper would come when you think what would happen if your loved ones would have been in an accident with them and the dozer fell off the trailer onto them because there were no chains on it at all?

Local guy did it here without chains and it came off the side and tore up the d6 undercarriage, totalled the trailer and did major damage to the highway with the blade the county made him pay for, in all it was a 100 grand mistake, luckily nobody got killed.

If it slid that easily they should have used a chain and binder to winch it back ont the trailer one link at a time
 
fast_st

fast_st

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RonG said:
I would be tempted to pull up parallel to the high snowbanks beside the road there and consider my options.If the machine has a 6 way blade you might very well be able to reload it using the tilt and angle functions and worst case depending on how it looked just unload it on to the snowbanks and reload again.Ron G
Click to expand...

I'm with you on that one Ron, bury it into a snowbank with a sharp backing turn, dozer off, adjust, dozer back on, boogie down the road.
 
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koldsteele

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In the words of my Dad ..All the chains and binders in the headache rack aint doin no good when your loads comin off the trailer ..Learn it Live it DO IT..
 
fast_st

fast_st

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I've never been to trailer tiedown school but generally do a few things. Rubber tires or tracks on dry clean deck, 1 chain front and 1 back, looped through tie-down points on the equipment, hooks dropped through stake pockets and looped up to hook downward from the top (can't bounce free) binders put on with 4' pipe and handles lashed to the chain, excess chain around binder, one extra chain to tie the backhoe bucket forward just in case.. Wet deck or hauling over 20 miles, separate chains on all 4 corners. I like my binders snug enough that I'm certain I'm going to loose teeth when releasing them.
 
mitch504

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fast_st said:
I've never been to trailer tiedown school but generally do a few things. Rubber tires or tracks on dry clean deck, 1 chain front and 1 back, looped through tie-down points on the equipment, hooks dropped through stake pockets and looped up to hook downward from the top (can't bounce free) binders put on with 4' pipe and handles lashed to the chain, excess chain around binder, one extra chain to tie the backhoe bucket forward just in case.. Wet deck or hauling over 20 miles, separate chains on all 4 corners. I like my binders snug enough that I'm certain I'm going to loose teeth when releasing them.
Click to expand...

That's what wwe all did for years, but under the new cargo securement rules, 4 chains minimum to be legal, plus one on the bucket.
 
fast_st

fast_st

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mitch504 said:
That's what wwe all did for years, but under the new cargo securement rules, 4 chains minimum to be legal, plus one on the bucket.
Click to expand...


Is that a DOT requirement? not hauling commercial but like to keep it safe first then legal. Always thought you should be able to invert the trailer and not loose the equipment. No beef here with using four chains, might want to get ratchet binders as they allow a lot more adjustment.
 
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R

Randy88

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Commercial has nothing to do with requirements, if its hauled on anything and pulled on any road by a licensed vehicle your under the dot rules and are required to know the rules and laws. Mitch504 has it right providing you use at least a grade 70 3/8ths chain and binders, anything less than grade 70 or smaller than 3/8 and you'll need a lot more chains and binders, you also need a binder for each chain.
 
fast_st

fast_st

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It looks like 49 CFR 390.5 might exclude it but 393.130 would include it. All my chains are stamped 70 and are 3/8 CFR's require a lot of reading and going back and forth. Also the trailer chains don't get used for anything else such as skidding or towing. They only have one home.
 
RonG

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The easy way if he can disconnect the gooseneck from the trailer is to park beside the snowbank,drop the trailer,drive the dozer off and reload it.If he cannot detach from the trailer it can still be done without much risk but that snowbank is just crying out to be taken advantage of there.Just make sure that there are no guardrails hidden in that snowbank.:)Ron G
 
stumpjumper83

stumpjumper83

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There is a 2' deep ditch hiding under the snow... the truck was an older ih & trailer was a 10 ton pintle pull. When I came back by 4 hrs later it was all taken care of and they had went home, but it would appear that a wheel loader was used to shove it back on or to suport it in backing off.
 
2stickbill

2stickbill

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fast_st said:
It looks like 49 CFR 390.5 might exclude it but 393.130 would include it. All my chains are stamped 70 and are 3/8 CFR's require a lot of reading and going back and forth. Also the trailer chains don't get used for anything else such as skidding or towing. They only have one home.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean by chain and binders stay on trailer.The bosses brother in law got one of my 5/8 chains and brought two back real sneaky.Told the boss and he said blanky blank.Well go buy a new one.The operators got tired of me griping about them getting chains when I wasn't around.They went an told the bosses dad.He chewed them out and told them if you touch a chain on that low boy your fired.
 
RonG

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I have more than once gone to make a move and found some chains and binders missing.The worse culprits are the leaders/owners/bosses in my estimation.Once you get caught that way you check for pilferage before you leave the yard.LOL.Ron G
 
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bobcatmechanic

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yeah nothing worse than loading up the machine start pulling chains out of the box and you are a chain or two short. Then you skower the truck and trailer and find a few broken chains that are about 3 foot and try to make do with what you have. Then if that doesn't work call and yell at the boss drop the machine go home drink some beer and try again tomorrow
 
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