A word of caution to prevent damage....

[Red Rocket]

Pulled a real smart one today. Must be Monday. I was hauling 50 sheets of 7/16 OSB, not a real big load, kind of slidey, but got home alright, went to back in the driveway, heard a big bang, slammed on the brakes and from two mph the whole stack slid back out of the front strap, broke the back strap, load slid back and broke one of the tailgate cables..... There I was, in my own driveway, about 5 degrees outside, pile of osb, broken taillight and tailgate bent over the bumper. I know **it happens, but not tying in the end of the strap is a real rookie move on my part.



Moral of the story---"TIE UP THOSE LOOSE STRAP ENDS"



Anybody have an inferno red tailgate they'd like to part with. Oh, and I'm in construction, so money is tight at the moment.



Thanks for listening. I'm an idiot some days.

 

[rbattelle]

I did the same thing a few years ago. Fortunately I was using one of those el-cheapo Chinese 1" straps and rather than breaking anything on the truck I merely snapped the strap.

Ever since then I've been careful to tie up the loose end. I guess it was your turn to learn that lesson!

Ryan

 

[EDankievitch]

Which side tail lamp you need I have a factory drivers side

 

[steved]

Zip ties are your friend...

I always fold my loose ends up and zip tie them to the main strap (sort of look like a multi loop bow)... just looks neater if anything else. I have never had a loose strap flying around... in fact I have driven several hundreds of thousands of miles using zipties with good success.

I keep a bundle of zipties in the driver's door pocket... use one tie to hold the bundle together, and you can tighten it as you use them up.

 

[Red Rocket]

I keep zipties in the truck too, what can't you use them for? I do need a driver's side taillight... ... pm me and thanks.

 

[CDonaldson]

I use zip ties for tying up the excess strap length as well. What would we do without zip ties and duct tape?



CD

 

[LBARTLETT]

I use strips of velcro, I roll allo my straps up and wrap them with velcro to store in my tool box, then when needed they aren't all tangled and I use as many as I need, once the load is secured then I use the same velcro strap to secure the ends that are not used after folding them back and forth, I used to tape them but I have 9 of the 27' 2" straps I use when hauling hay and they were always a tangled mess until I got to rolling and securing them when not in use

 

[steved]

... they were always a tangled mess until I got to rolling and securing them when not in use

This also keeps DOT at bay... they target guys with sloppy looking tie downs.



My coworker found this out more than once... driving identical trucks with identical, he would always get pulled over and spot checked (the only difference between us was the fact my straps were neat, and his were haphazardly tied/looped around stuff). Cost him $3300 one day...

 

[brods]

Zip ties work great. Even better when you get the big releasable ones with the levers so they are a cinch to remove and can be used over and over again. Something like this:



#ad

 

[LBARTLETT]

hadn't seen the reusable ones, I'll have to get some of those!!!!

 

[Paddy McMahon]

"Pulled a real smart one today. " Don't feel bad, I've been there too. If you make your living as a wood butcher long enough this type of thing happens. I've lost count of how many decks of OSB ended up looking like fanned out cards in a giant game of "52 pick up" on my jobsites over the years.

 

[bighammer]

Zip ties are a good idea.

I always roll up the loose ends and bind them between the strap and the load. (some place where I can see them in the mirrors if possible)

 

[Grizzly]

Pulled a real smart one today. Must be Monday. I was hauling 50 sheets of 7/16 OSB, not a real big load, kind of slidey, but got home alright, went to back in the driveway, heard a big bang, slammed on the brakes and from two mph the whole stack slid back out of the front strap, broke the back strap, load slid back and broke one of the tailgate cables..... There I was, in my own driveway, about 5 degrees outside, pile of osb, broken taillight and tailgate bent over the bumper. I know **it happens, but not tying in the end of the strap is a real rookie move on my part.

Been there, done that. Exact same thing happened to me about 3 years ago. I had about 20 sheets of 7/16" slippery OSB, which was well tied, I thought. Lucky for me some good samaritans jumped out of a truck, blocked the intersection of heavy traffic and helped me reload my truck. I pulled over and did a better job of tieing the load.

 

[bighammer]

Been there, done that. Exact same thing happened to me about 3 years ago. I had about 20 sheets of 7/16" slippery OSB, which was well tied, I thought. Lucky for me some good samaritans jumped out of a truck, blocked the intersection of heavy traffic and helped me reload my truck. I pulled over and did a better job of tieing the load.

I've stopped on 7 or 8 occasions to help people who have lost their load in the road. Of course, the one time it happened to me, I was all alone trying to load it back in. I had some OSB below then framing lumber on top with progressively longer lengths piled on top. It didn't really fall off the truck, but I couldn't slide the whole stack back on either. Got some really odd looks as I'm UNLOADING my truck (so I could re-load it) in a busy road. :-laf

 

[rbattelle]

Got some really odd looks as I'm UNLOADING my truck (so I could re-load it) in a busy road. :-laf

That would've been the perfect time to take out a bright orange vest and put it on. Everyone would assume you were supposed to be doing that. :-laf



Ryan

 

[Grizzly]

I've stopped on 7 or 8 occasions to help people who have lost their load in the road. Of course, the one time it happened to me, I was all alone trying to load it back in. I had some OSB below then framing lumber on top with progressively longer lengths piled on top. It didn't really fall off the truck, but I couldn't slide the whole stack back on either. Got some really odd looks as I'm UNLOADING my truck (so I could re-load it) in a busy road. :-laf

I was really lucky that the three guys stopped to help at a critical time at that busy intersection. My only regret was that I didn't get their names and phone number to invite them for a beer. It all happened so fast and all these cars trying to get through the intersection. I did thank them however.

 

[tempforce]

That would've been the perfect time to take out a bright orange vest and put it on. Everyone would assume you were supposed to be doing that. :-laf



Ryan

with the orange vest on, they would be looking for the other 3-4 workers and drive slower.