8 Things You Need to Know Before Buying Ratchet Straps
How Long of The Ratchet Straps should I buy?
No matter you drive the moving van, pickup truck, or flatbed trailer, you have a lot of loads need to transport from one place to another and you need tie down straps to secure them on your vehicle, so you are facing a problem that how long the ratchet straps should be? A common practice in the industry is that you need to take a string to go around the cargo that you need to transport and then measure the length from one end to another, then you can know the length of the ratchet strap you will need.
But, please also consider that if you are working for different application and you need to transport different loads, you may need the longer strap than you measure, so take this point as the consideration before buying ratchet straps. Having a strap longer will not affect your cargo securement, but if your strap is not long enough, the loads can not be secured on the vehicle and will cause problems.
Finding the Ratchet Strap which has the Working Load Limit clearly marked on the Tag
Working load limit is a very important parameter for every transporter, because secure the cargo within the working load limit can ensure the safety when you face the sudden brake, sudden lane change and other emergency situations on the road. The breaking strength is always mentioned with working load limit, and this is always 3 times of WLL according to USA standard. Of course, this can be customized according to customer’s request or different country’s standard.
If you know the weight of your cargo, then it will be very easy for you to find the correct ratchet strap that match the weight of the cargo. But we always recommend our customer to use at least 4 tie down straps at 4 different securement points in order to avoid if any one of them is broken during transportation, the others can still help to hold the cargo in place.
If you are the new driver or not sure the amount of the ratchet strap you need to use, you can add more straps to ensure the safety. Please also remember to keep extra tie down straps along with you, in order to avoid you need to fix or replace the strap during transportation.
No matter you are transporting the personal effects or the commercial goods, the ratchet straps are always the first choice to secure them on the vehicle and each strap has a tag that sewn on it to mark the working load limit and breaking strength. You can also learn more cargo securement rules here.
Choosing the Proper Tie Down Webbing to Fit Your Application
After you get the exact idea of the length of webbing and the weight of the cargo, you will need to know the size of the tie down webbing you need to use for making the ratchet straps to fit your application. We have 1 inch polyester webbing, 2 inch polyester webbing, 3&4 polyester webbing for your choice.
If you are the moving company or trucking company, you will need different length of tie down webbing to secure different loads. So, we suggest you to use a slightly longer strap to get the job done.
As time goes on, the ratchet strap will get weak or damaged and normally the tie down webbing is weaker than the hardware, so choosing a heavy duty webbing is one of the way to extend the service life of your ratchet strap.
The color of tie down webbing can be customized according to your needs. For easy identification of strap length, professional trucker always like to purchase the 12 feet long strap in yellow, 16 feet long strap in gray and 20 feet long strap for blue, in this way, they do not need to waste time to check the length of strap.
Some companies also like to print their company name or logo on the webbing for branding purpose. If you’d like to, you can also consider it.
Choosing Proper Hardware to meet your Tie Down Needs
Different hardware combined with tie down webbing will have different working load limit, you can choose light duty, medium duty, or heavy duty hardware to create the ratchet straps to meet your tie down needs.
Some customers don’t know how to measure the strength of the ratchet strap. For example, if you want to get a heavy duty ratchet straps and using the tie down webbing with 6600lbs breaking strength with the 1500lbs hardware, then the working load limit of this strap you can get is only 500lbs. So, if you want a heavy duty ratchet strap, you will need all the accessories are heavy duty.
We have both 3 inch ratchet straps and 4 inch ratchet straps as the heavy duty tie down straps. If you do not find the heavy duty ratchet straps on our website, you can give us a Call/WhatsApp us at (0086) 1505 1705 238 or submit your request in the below form, we will get in touch with you within 10 minutes.
Custom Made Ratchet Straps to Meet Specific Application
If you do not find your ideal ratchet straps on our website and need a custom made ratchet straps, Webslingness must be a very great choice for you. As one of the leading manufacturer in China, we have the ability to create and custom ratchet straps for you to meet your application.
You will have various choice of tie down hardware, the length of webbing, the color of webbing, custom logo printing and custom packing. If you are interested in custom made ratchet straps, using our online contact form below with your detailed request, we will work with you to create your ideal tie downs.
Ratchet Straps Fit for Outdoor Use
In most cases, the ratchet straps are used outdoors and sometimes they may meet the extreme weather, such as the direct sunlight and the snow and ice, the metal ratchet become not easy to use, so they will need to add the extra grip. We have the type of ratchet straps that has rubber grip which is great to use, even the ratchet is under the direct sunlight or the freezing weather.
In the hot weather, the metal ratchet will be very hot if the hardware has exposed in the sunlight for a long time. In the freezing weather, the hardware will gets so cold when you touch it, so with the rubber handle ratchet hardware, you will be easily operate the ratchet mechanism and save time to secure the cargo.
We also have stainless steel ratchet hardware for customer who is serving for the marine application. Contact us with your detailed request, our sales expert will work with you to design the ratchet strap for outdoor use.
The Amount of Straps You Need to Secure the Loads
Before determine how many straps you will need to secure your loads, you need to ask 3 questions:
- The working load limit of the tie down strap you use is rated for the weight of the loads that need to transport?
- If one of the strap break, your loads will still be firmly secure on your truck?
- If few straps break during transportation, do you have extra tie down strap to replace the broken strap?
Using high quality ratchet straps are very important for each truck driver, because you will never know what will happen next second, so firmly secure the loads during transportation is the first priority.
The Color of Tie Down Webbing
Some customers who is serving in the hunting application will like to buy the CAMO ratchet straps, some customers who has the trucking fleet with the specific color and want to purchase the tie down strap to match the color of their trucking fleet. Get in touch with us if you want any custom made service.
