The job of securing a load with a ratchet strap isn’t done until the excess strap (“tail”) is secured as well. Here is the best method we’ve found so far, and we really like it. We think you will too.
It’s easy to focus on the “business end” of a tie-down strap when the load has been secured by the ratcheting action of the handle and hub. However, the job isn’t done until the surplus end is gathered and secured.
Flapping loose ends not only fray and wear the strap, but it’s dangerous. One of my family members failed to secure the end of the strap that was securing a load in his pickup truck. On the freeway, going about 75 mph, there was a sudden explosion of glass from the back window. He thought they had been shot at - no joke. The tail had flapped its way under the truck and got wound up on the drive shaft. The strap wound up and snapped while pulling the metal hook loose off its connection to the truck bed and turning it into a projectile that went through the cab’s back window. The load was now loose as well.
One of our viewer family members also related observing a large flatbed trailer with the tail end flapping off the side. It wound up under the trailer’s tires at high speed, snapping the strap in two and displacing the load. Again, it could have been really bad.
Lesson learned? Securing the end is part of securing the load. In fact, it’s usually the law. Load securement includes tail end safety. In the U.S., the DOT (Department of Transportation) takes this very seriously.
DirtFarmerJay shows you his favorite method to stow the tail end securely, but easily undone when it comes time to release the load and stow the ratchet strap set.
Here’s DirtFarmerJay’s favorite method for stowing a ratchet strap set: COMING SOON!
Don’t be embarrassed if every time you use a ratchet strap, you have trouble threading it property ,
Don’t you just love being able to do stuff? JUST DO IT YOURSELF!
You can help support this channel by buying our merchandise or supporting us on Throne or Patreon
Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here from DirtFarmerJay.com. Well, you've got your load all secured.
It's going to get there safely, but not if this is whipping around in the wind. This is really
dangerous. Let me show you the best and fastest way to secure this. Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here
from DirtFarmerJay.com. Ratchet straps are unbelievably handy and have really bumped up
the safety of transport for objects in the trailer or a back of a truck or a flatbed.
However, there's always a little bit of confusion for many people about what to do with this tail,
and a lot of people just try to do things like this and tie it all up, and it gets loose in
the wind and then starts flapping down the highway, and that's really dangerous. It can
literally go under a tire on the back of your truck or the trailer and get caught and then
yank apart the whole system, and your load can become unsecured, and if it comes off the trailer,
calamity, okay? Or it can actually go under a vehicle and get wound up in the drivetrain,
and I know someone personally that had that happen to them, and actually the hook that got pulled
loose blew out their back window. They said it was like someone shot a shotgun through the back
window. How would you like that experience driving down the freeway at 75 or 80 miles an hour? Well,
let me show you the best way that I've found to secure this kind of strap. Now, these kind of
straps are not the heavy duty, although you can use this technique. These are mostly used for
homeowners, transports for recreational vehicles, and that's our ATVs and so forth, and this is the
most common size, but here's the way to do it. You've got this tail sticking out here. All you
need to do is keep this flat, come to the other end, and then simply roll it up using about that
much space in the middle, and then just start rolling it up. When you get about that close
to this, simply take some of that material, push it through like that. That creates this loop,
and then put the loop back through it, and then pull it, and when you do, that loop is secured.
It cannot come undone, and as you drive down the highway, it's going to bounce around a little bit,
but that's it. This will not come undone. Now, when it comes time to get to the other side and
get this whole thing undone, then simply you reverse the step. You take this, where you
tightened it, open it back up, undo it through there, and there you go. You're back right open,
ready to open the strap, and ready to go to work, and if you found this video to be helpful, why
don't you like it, and better yet, subscribe to our channel, and when you do, ring the bell, and that
way you'll be notified approximately every Saturday of great content that you'll find helpful, and
speaking of helpful content, check out this video where you can learn some more helpful tips about
using ratchet straps, and check out this other episode also that we've created for you that we
think will interest you. Until the next time, this is Dirt Farmer Jay from DirtFarmerJay.com.
