Flatbed Load Securment Question

Last week I hauled a load of suicide coils. This place loads everything "eye to the sky" (aka stand up) on pallets, but the guy loading had a note that the receiver wanted them suicide. (He was wrong, the receiver said WTF?, but that's another story.)

Anyway, I was busy putting 14 chains through these things (2 each, 7 coils), and the guy next to me said I could put two on the front and the back and one straight down the middle on the other five, says he does it all the time. I don't feel comfortable hauling coils with less than two chains, one pulled forward, one pulled back, even if they "only" weigh 5,000 lbs. I thought the guy was nuts.

Pat / Old School / anyone else, what are your thoughts?

Pat / Old School / anyone else, what are your thoughts?

I think I'm glad I'm just hauling formed steel today! :D

The FMCSR is very clear on how coils are to be loaded and secured. I would check very carefully before I tied down coils any other way than how I usually do it. Beyond that, a wise person once said, nobody has ever seriously regretted using too much securement. ;)

I'm guessing load securing is probably the biggest learning curve in flatbedding. I'll keep my vans thanks

Last week I hauled a load of suicide coils. This place loads everything "eye to the sky" (aka stand up) on pallets, but the guy loading had a note that the receiver wanted them suicide. (He was wrong, the receiver said WTF?, but that's another story.)

Anyway, I was busy putting 14 chains through these things (2 each, 7 coils), and the guy next to me said I could put two on the front and the back and one straight down the middle on the other five, says he does it all the time. I don't feel comfortable hauling coils with less than two chains, one pulled forward, one pulled back, even if they "only" weigh 5,000 lbs. I thought the guy was nuts.

Pat / Old School / anyone else, what are your thoughts?

The ones that have the coils end up in the cab with them are the ones that get complacent. What ever you are comfortable with is the way to go as long as it meets the specs on securing them.

Bud, I used to get some loads from American Stainless that were similar to what you described. They were small coils, but several of them lined up together suicide style. I always used two chains per coil. If you have ever seen a photo of what happens to a load of coils in the unfortunate event of an accident you will always want to make sure you've gone the extra mile on keeping them secured. The stress of a jarring blow to your truck on those chains, in the event of a collision, can easily snap a chain. Two chains provide twice the protection, if it gets to the point where you really need it.

I've seen guys take all kinds of short cuts with their securement, but I would never recommend taking a short-cut with any type of coils.

Thanks guys, just needed the sanity check. I wouldn't and won't haul coils without at least two chains, even small ones, and more as needed. Whenever I'm in doubt, I add one. I just wanted to make sure I was thinking clearly - the guy said it so confidently, like I was a moron for doing all that extra work.

Thanks guys, just needed the sanity check. I wouldn't and won't haul coils without at least two chains, even small ones, and more as needed. Whenever I'm in doubt, I add one. I just wanted to make sure I was thinking clearly - the guy said it so confidently, like I was a moron for doing all that extra work.

One thing I've learned in the short time I've been flatbedding -- never let someone else tell you how to do your job! Make sure everything is done right, legally, and to your own standards. Recently, a guy at a receiver came up to "help" me fold and roll up a tarp. His greeting was "you can tell you haven't done this too many times," or something very similar. After thinking he was going to teach me something new, he was trying to pressure me into half-assing the job. I told him thanks, but I need to be able to get this tarp into that sidebox when I'm done. It took longer than it should have to do it right, and all I could do was "grin and bear it" as I fixed my tarp. Sure enough, the next load was a no-tarp load that took the whole bed, on a different trailer. I'm glad I stuck to my guns and did it right the first time!