Ratchet binder-how tight/

[Edward Porter]

Tight as Dick's hatband, Crank them tight!

 

[suladas]

I go based on size too. For the 3/8", I don't put them nearly as tight as the 5/8" ones. I think the key is, if they are always tight when you go to take them off, they are fine, if they are always loose, they need to be put on tighter.

 

[Old Doug]

I was stoped by the dot i was hauling a junk combine and i had the cranked it down thinking it would losen they felt the chajns and one you could move. He said it wasnt to bad were he would write me up but wanted me to tighten it and i did with a cheater but theirs no way i could have made him happy with it unless it was at the point of to much. After that i got to thinking how would they judge straps.

 

[DMiller]

If the binder too tight on the load removes the chain potential then the chain is too small to start with. Load shock hit on a loose chain is going to snap it into weight and snap is the key term. Tight chain loaded and stop sudden all it does is shift weight into chain. You chain down a 20-30 ton load have to use enough equipment to make it safe enough to take accidents. Coil loads sucked worse. Not enough room to use more chains and the customers did not want damaged edges. Haul suicide the coil could roll thru cab, haul roll over and hit a corner too fast it would flip you in the ditch.

 

[hillbillywrench]

I used to work with an old operator that said he used to lock his snap binders down with the longest, heaviest cheater he could find. He wanted to be able to strum them like a guitar. Until he slid a D8 off the side of his lowboy in a busy intersection in Maryland. Said the local law enforcement wasn't too happy with him. "Have you ever seen what a D8 does to pavement turning, and walking it onto a trailer?" Haha.
After that he got them just Snug when hauling tracks. Rubber tire loads seem to need more, but the tires probably absorb some of the shock loads so the chains can handle a higher pre-load.
It seems to me that the ratcheting versions would work better on rubber tire loads because they should let you get more tension on the chains. I have a hard time getting the chains tight with snaps. If they are loose enough to hook on the chain, then they don't take up enough to be Tight, but you can't get another link of the chain to hook! The bigger the tires, the bigger the problem.

 

[Queenslander]

I have a soft spot for snap binders.
Nothing more frustrating than being fully stretched, standing on tip toes,winding away on a ratchet only to find it has run out of travel and the chain is still not tight.
It is probably covered in bull dust and not lubricated as well as it should be, so is binding up and twisting the chain as well.
Much easier to grab another link or two with a snap binder.

 

[redneckracin]

I have one snap binder in my trailer toolbox. It actually gets used to suck up slack so I can put a ratchet binder on then it goes back in the box. I know its been hashed, but I tighten till i can thump the chain and it sings on anything but rubber tired equipment. Rubber tires get tightened until the tires squat noticeably.

 

[cuttin edge]

Wow this thread was started in 2016. Snap binders remind me of the old jackall jacks. Get a good grip or pow right in the kisser. I prefer the snap binders with the hinged handle, especially when taking them off. A guy upset a float near here with a 400 Hitachi about 10 years ago. He wasn't going fast, but a car cut him off and he ended up in a duck pond on his side. The 400 never moved, and the only chain that failed had a ratchet tightener on it.

 

[92U 3406]

I hauled a complete rear snip from a tandem truck (tires and all) up from the coast a couple years ago. I forgot to grab a snipe and it took 2 of us everything we had to get the chains tight enough. Made it up the Smasher without it rolling off at least lol.