Securing Cargo

[Ajax MD]

Soon, I will use my M813 to pick up 2 tons of palletized wood pellet fuel for the coming winter.

Obviously this is well within the truck's capabilities. I picked up one ton last year. I used a heavy duty ratchet strap over the top of the pellets, hooked to the exterior sides of the cargo bed. During transit, the pellets settled somewhat and the strap was loose by the time I arrived at home.

I was wondering if any of you trucking pro's had any advice for me on how to better secure this type of cargo. Obviously there are no anchor points in the bed or I'd use them. I feel that chain binders might be overkill but you may feel differently.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Mullaney]

Soon, I will use my M813 to pick up 2 tons of palletized wood pellet fuel for the coming winter.

Obviously this is well within the truck's capabilities. I picked up one ton last year. I used a heavy duty ratchet strap over the top of the pellets, hooked to the exterior sides of the cargo bed. During transit, the pellets settled somewhat and the strap was loose by the time I arrived at home.

I was wondering if any of you trucking pro's had any advice for me on how to better secure this type of cargo. Obviously there are no anchor points in the bed or I'd use them. I feel that chain binders might be overkill but you may feel differently.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Hi, I'm not a long haul guy or anything but I generally will secure a load, then drive a few thousand yards, pull over and check strap tension. It really sucks in a box truck, but things need to be tied to the E-Track so they don't come through the front of the truck bed or trailer "to get me". Bags of stuff will definitely flatten. Especially on a rough road as they shake to conform to a flat bed.

Just an idea. Always good to get somebody else's perspective...

 

[Ajax MD]

It's a short drive, only 7 miles one way. Still, I want to be a responsible operator. Not a lot of good places to pull over but you're probably correct that the only way to really secure this stuff is to shake it up on the road to encourage settling and then re-tension.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Invest in some packaging plastic wrap (industrial Saran Wrap) from Harbor Freight, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.

By wrapping your bagged pellets they will be less likely to be able to settle.
Also, if wrapped, even if your straps lose tension, your pallets of pellets would simply be two big blocks and unable to become unstacked.

 

[Ajax MD]

Invest in some packaging plastic wrap (industrial Saran Wrap) from Harbor Freight, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.

By wrapping your bagged pellets they will be less likely to be able to settle.
Also, if wrapped, even if your straps lose tension, your pallets of pellets would simply be two big blocks and unable to become unstacked.

Howdy Padre,

The palletized wood pellets come wrapped in heavy duty plastic already. They will either be in clear Saran Wrap as you mention or sometimes they are shrink wrapped in an even heavier plastic with the manufacturer's logo on them.

 

[tobyS]

The problem with a load that can become "fluid" like pellets is cornering. No further than you are going, the plastic should hold fine (single stack)(2 pallets). Double the straps.

 

[G744]

Pallet jack them up as close to the front as possible: you may be stopping quickly, but sure aren't gonna take off that fast...

 

[CMPPhil]

Pallet jack them up as close to the front as possible: you may be stopping quickly, but sure aren't gonna take off that fast...

Good point about keeping it from sliding, once hauled 50 sheets of sheetrock flat on the floor of radio box of my 3 ton CMP no place to tie down. Only 10 miles trip to home, on the way guy ran a stop light in front of me, no big deal stomped on brakes truck stopped. But then it jump forward 6 inches when the sheet rock hit the front wall of the box. Since then anything that might slide is against the head board and ratchet strapped in position. The big military ratchet straps not the "500lbs" hardware store ones.

Cheers Phil

 

[simp5782]

I have 5 of these I picked up awhile back for cheap. They are collapseable and drop down to only 6in tall.. Mine are 48x40x34 and I paid like $40 each for them used. They are great cause they don't give when strapped down in the bed and have anti skid pegs on the feet
Just simply drop your pellet bags into it Before loading. I haul all loose items in these on the flatbed

 

[Ajax MD]

Yeah, I'll insist that the loader shove the pallets as far forward as he can get them. He can use an empty pallet or even use a loaded pallet to shove the load forward when he runs out of reach.

I like Simp's cargo boxes. I might not find them before buying this load but they'll be great to have, regardless.

 

[teletech]

Good point about keeping it from sliding, once hauled 50 sheets of sheetrock flat on the floor of radio box of my 3 ton CMP no place to tie down. Only 10 miles trip to home, on the way guy ran a stop light in front of me, no big deal stomped on brakes truck stopped. But then it jump forward 6 inches when the sheet rock hit the front wall of the box. Since then anything that might slide is against the head board and ratchet strapped in position. The big military ratchet straps not the "500lbs" hardware store ones.

Cheers Phil

We used to have a military surplus water tank truck of about 1950 vintage for our local volunteer fire department, stopping the truck was interesting. One of my co-workers described it as "the truck would stop, then about two seconds later all the water would stop."

 

[Mullaney]

We used to have a military surplus water tank truck of about 1950 vintage for our local volunteer fire department, stopping the truck was interesting. One of my co-workers described it as "the truck would stop, then about two seconds later all the water would stop."

Dang right!

Have a friend of mine who drives a milk tanker. They have NO BAFFLES at all. Just a big thermos bottle on wheels... I remember years ago riding on the milk run one morning, had to make a quick stop and it felt like we got rear ended. The front and back of the inside of the trailer are curved like the inside of a thermos (curved on both ends). Milk ran to the front, then to the back, then slammed really hard into the front. It would have knocked me out of the seat if I hadn't been wearing a seatbelt! That was an experience for sure.

I asked why there weren't baffles in the trailer. He told me to wait and see when we got to the milk plant. We got there and he took his wire rack of sample bottles into the lab. They verify samples from each dairy before the milk can be pumped out of the trailer. When the Lab clears the tanker, he backed inside the building, one guy hooks a hose to the valve on the bottom back of the trailer and another guy climbs up top and opens the hatch on top. Takes only a few minutes to empty the tanker with a 4 inch hose. Guy on the bottom disconnects the hose from the receiving tank - and the guy up top slides something that looks like a dishwasher down into the tank. It goes through a rinse, wash, rinse and sanitize cycle.

It was amazingly COOL to see all that. Picture below is representative of how it works...



And that my friends is why the milk tanker has no baffles!

 

[Ajax MD]

@Mullaney You're saying there are no baffles to so that the tank will empty faster and for ease of cleaning the tank?

I'm glad I'm not hauling liquids.

 

[Mullaney]

@Mullaney You're saying there are no baffles to so that the tank will empty faster and for ease of cleaning the tank?

I'm glad I'm not hauling liquids.

Morning @Ajax MD,

I am with you 100% - Tanker Hauling would be better than no job at all - but not by much! Reminds me of a CW McCall song that mentions a "suicide jockey"...

The no baffles setup is so the inside of the trailer is very easy to clean. At least that is what the guys at the milk plant told me. And the washer / sanitizer station can access all surfaces with no baffles. That made good sense to me at the time so I didn't question the logic. The curves at the front and back on the "bottle" inside the insulated shell help control that forward and backward motion by forcing the liquid up.

 

[teletech]

Morning @Ajax MD,

I am with you 100% - Tanker Hauling would be better than no job at all - but not by much! Reminds me of a CW McCall song that mentions a "suicide jockey"...

The no baffles setup is so the inside of the trailer is very easy to clean. At least that is what the guys at the milk plant told me. And the washer / sanitizer station can access all surfaces with no baffles. That made good sense to me at the time so I didn't question the logic. The curves at the front and back on the "bottle" inside the insulated shell help control that forward and backward motion by forcing the liquid up.

If you are FULL it's not so bad, since then the water can't get any interesting wave effects. If you are mostly empty, the weight isn't enough to mess you up too badly. I don't know where along the line between those two things get nasty, but I'm with you in being glad I don't do tanker hauling. My thanks to those brave ones among us who have the skills and nerve to make it a living and it's also a good reminder to the rest of us to give the tank trucks a little extra space!

 

[tobyS]

Lots of loads can shift and become fluid. I cleaned up a semi load of OSB sheets that went into a field on an S curve. I did it for the salvage....sheets that were laid out like a deck of cards.

 

[msgjd]

Lots of loads can shift and become fluid.

Perhaps the most dangerous trailer or truck to haul with is one without a substantial bulkhead, such as any bare flatbed trailer, or even our 6x6 cargoes for example . .. During AIT in the 1970's the most-sobering movie shown to us (forget the name) at the time was full of fatal truck wrecks with no editing of what was left of bodies being recovered .. You name it. Pipe loads, culvert loads, lumber, logs, steel sheet... No amount of strapping or chains across the sides and over the top is going to protect a driver and stop a load from sliding forward during extreme braking, or sudden stop, or impact .. A young acquaintance of mine learned it last year when a 48ft trailer-load of lumber wiped out the back of the cab and came through the back window when some donkey ran a red light in front of him.. The trailer he was given did not have a bulkhead and he did not provide any type of containment/securement across the front since he was just hauling it about 25 miles and going 40 in a 40. He was lucky to walk away with some bad bruises and a broken shoulder . Of course the jerk who caused it kept on going and never caught

 

[fasttruck]

If your trailer has no headboard then your tractor needs a headache rack behind the cab. Have neither and prepared to be violated by hungry DOTs. If you think milk is frantic try hauling either liquid sugar, orange juice concentrate or liquid chocolate in a smooth bore trailer. Some farm pick-up trailers have 2 compartments which slightly reduces the excitment when stopping. Petroleum trailers are all baffled front to back but not side to side so tanker rollovers are common.

 

[simp5782]

If your trailer has no headboard then your tractor needs a headache rack behind the cab. Have neither and prepared to be violated by hungry DOTs. If you think milk is frantic try hauling either liquid sugar, orange juice concentrate or liquid chocolate in a smooth bore trailer. Some farm pick-up trailers have 2 compartments which slightly reduces the excitment when stopping. Petroleum trailers are all baffled front to back but not side to side so tanker rollovers are common.

Incorrect. The regulations on headache racks and head boards was lifted about 2005 with the new load securement laws with the penalty strap

 

[charlesmann]

With the short distance, try a cargo net strapped the pallet, plus the pallet/s as far forward as you can get them.
You say you dont bed tie downs. Why not install them?