E Track tie down system usually has two separate functional parts, the E Tracks and the logistic straps or hardware connector, aka E Track straps or tie downs. The E Track will be installed inside the semi trailers , the most used are 2 settings , horizontal E Track and vertical E Track, the sizes usually are 5′ section and 10′ section. E Track tie downs have some varieties, there are e track cargo bars with e fittings at both ends, ratchet e track straps, cam buckle e track straps, rope tie offs, wood beam socket, they all have e fittings at the ends, and on the floor we have chocks for stop vehicles from moving. Of course all of these need to have E Tracks installed and secured on the trailers, let’s see how do we do that.
Here we will discuss E Track Installation and safety tips, though some trailers come with the E Tracks installed .
When you mount the E Track you will have to look for the wall studs on the trailer, we will focus on doing it on the wall but the same principle applies to the floor as well. The wall stud is basically a big channel with a couple of flat spots on top to attach the plywood to, we just have to do the same to the E Track and bridge two of them somehow, when you figure that out you can use screws to hold the E Track up, you will need deep threaded wood screws or tec screws to get the job done. Basically this is all about installing E Tracks on the wall, and you will have to make sure the E Track sit as flat as possible on the wood. For Safety reason, you’d better use deep threaded screws, put one screw into each hole on the e track, and run the track as possibly far as you can, the will spread the load across long distance and it’s safer. Remember that the there are only about 2 inch to outside wall, so don’t over assert the screws.
Before you call it a day, you will have to test your installation out a bit , just hook a 2”x16′ ratchet e track strap in the e track, use your hand or some other stuff to drag it hard to see if there are any loose spots or soft wall mount , if you do find problems please get them fixed before hitting the road.
The ratchet straps we usually say is the assembly of straps and ratchet buckles, also known as ratchet tie down . The straps part of the assemblies can be made of nylon or polyester webbing , and the working load limit should be a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds , the width of the strap can be 1 inch to 4 inches , usually we can see hooks, loops or chain extension at both ends of the assembly .
The ratchet buckle is primary made of steel, some buckles have plastic handles, some have aluminum handles, and there is one kind of buckle called one piece ratchet buckle, the handle is steel. The steel ratcheting mechanism help to secure the load easily and efficiently.
Both nylon and polyester webbing are used to make the straps, but they have different characteristics, for shock absorption, we need nylon webbing and for tie down bulk loads we need polyester webbing straps, nylon webbing has better elongation than polyester while polyester webbing are stronger than nylon ones, in real world applications we need different straps for different situation , that is to say we need both nylon and polyester webbing straps for different needs.
Coated with suitable material, we can change the characteristics of the webbing , we can make more abrasion resistant, seal the straps to prevent corrosion, increase ultra-violet light resistance, increase or decrease coefficient of friction and more .
Of course the quality of the tie down straps is the most important characteristic, to use these straps properly and safely is a must . Now we need to find low price yet high quality straps. Your local store will probably have most straps you need, but the price to quality ratio probably will be pretty high, but this is not always true. And don’t forget the online store are the best place to find a lot of products, include tie down strap, but there is a problem, you can’t touch the real products before they got delivered, it’s almost unrealistic to have vendors to send you a sample when you only need a few straps, here we can go online to read product and service reviews of these online stores, usually you can read a blog, such as Running Tire, or specialized online opinion sites.
Truck tie down means totally different things to different applications , we will focus on big rig tie downs in our discussion, specifically, we are going to talk about flat bed truck this time.
Since people put all kinds of stuff on the flat bed truck, just because they can or they have to , the needs for tie downs become pretty complex .
We are going to discuss truck tie down straps exclusively.
For most flat bed trucks, truck winch and winch straps are what we need, some trailers come with winches installed you have to get winch strap.
Some flat beds come with weld on winches installed, not all flat beds have winches installed . When the flat bed have the winches installed, we can use winch straps to tie down articles on the trailer , usually we tie down steel coils, concrete pipes, skids, anything that not too heavy for the 5400lbs working load limit . Winch straps usually come with flat hooks, because we usually hook the straps on the edge of the trailer , of course the wire hook can be used too. There are 2” and 4” winches and 2” and 4” winch straps , depends on different applications , the length of strap can be 20′, 25′, 27′, 30′, 35′, 40′ or more than 50 feet.
Of course we just can’t leave out the most used tie down device, ratchet straps.
Ratchet Tie Down is most used tie down equipment due to their adaptability , you can use them almost anywhere when it’s applicable. The ending comes with quite some varieties, flat hooks, double J hooks , chain anchor , snap hooks, endless and more. And it’s width can be 1” through 4”, length can be a few inches to more than 50 feet . On commercial trucks ratchet tie downs are the most popular tie down devices for shippers , those trailers without winches installed will look at ratchet straps seriously.
Before you get out or get online to buy these tie down straps , you should learn how to get more out of it while spend less , first thing to consider is the quality , probably you know local store well enough, but for online stores you need to find out by reading other people’s the reviews, trucking blogs, such as trucker’s deal , customer feed backs, or by some other venues to find out if the products and service are good or not.
