THSCC Forums

Anybody use or have thoughts on using tie back straps like these on one end of the car, with "standard" ratchet straps on the other? For the moment, lets just assume we're talking about a relatively simple crossed-strap front mount and straight strap rear mount.

My first thought is that a pair of tie-backs may be a touch difficult to get the right length for near equal tension. On the other hand, it seems less moving parts may be better. Anybody have thoughts on this as opposed to a 4-corner ratchet setup?

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

I tried it and it didn't work. Maybe you're better than me or more willing to fiddle with them, but like you said, getting the length right is the problem. Since you never generally get the car dead centered and all that, you'll spend way too much time fiddling for it to be worth it.

I thought, like you, that less moving parts would be better. It wasn't. My best recommendation is to use four ratchet straps. Bigger than that is to make SURE you get at least a wrap and a half around the ratchet, preferably two full wraps. I noticed that when I first got mine that you could do maybe one full wrap and they wouldn't come loose. Then as they broke in, that wratched piece got "polished" and would let the strap work loose unless you had several turns on it. Once I adjusted my technique to put just a bit more slack in the straps before I started cranking, everything has been golden.


--Donnie

First, forget the fixed length straps. You will never have the car perfectly centered so one will always be the wrong tension.

Mike's rules and techniques for car strapping:

1. Use real car straps, not the junk from Home Depot. Shop at Racer Wholesale or Pegasus
2. Make sure straps have closed-end "C" clamps not the bent-hook design
3. Keep at least one pair of ratchet straps with the built-in axle strap like this. Even if you don't use the axle strap regularly, eventually you will tow something without a good eye hook

4. Try to use at least one pair straight and one pair crossed
5. Use 6 straps if possible. Have several lengths available.
6. Try to use the straight straps in the rear for braking/crash worthiness
7. E-brake on, tranny in neutral
8. Double check the tension at the first stop.
9. Lube the mechanism with TriFlow when it gets sticky, usually 2x per year or more if towing in the rain a lot.
10. Inspect the straps occasionally and toss anything that's fraying in a section where it's under load.

I have never, ever, ever had a strap come loose, nor have I ever had any issue or problem on the road. When I'm towing I am quite confident about the car on the trailer. Peace of mind means a lot to me!

One rule I'm going to add soon is -- find some "reusable" zipties - the kind with the little tab that you can press to undo the zip, like found on some car electrical harnesses. Use these to bundle up loose/extra straps.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

I'd also add to Mike's suggestion about straps...keep at least two standalone axle straps. They are the small ones that are like 18" long with large flat metal "loops" on each end. I've had a couple cars where I couldn't use the big straps with the integrated axle straps because I couldn't get the bigger hook to fit through a suitable hole, but the flat metal loop did. As long as you follow Mike's strap suggestion about having *locking* hooks on the end of your strap (like the one he pictured, which is exactly what we use), strapping to those metal loops on the smaller axle strap works great. I wouldn't trust a simple hook around them since any bounce and they can pop loose.

Also, I have had to borrow a trailer before that didn't have D-rings and only had stake-sides. Those G-Force strap hooks won't fit through the holes. You can just hook them on the bottom, but then the hook isn't latched, which means bounce can cause them to come loose. Having *four* of those short loop axle straps can fix that since they will go through there fine (it's the fact that the big hook on those pictured straps is bent like they are that make them not go through).

Also, you can almost always get away with *just* owning the big straps with axle loops (and a set of small axle straps just in case) since you can adjust the "loop" almost away anyway. It's only when you'd need a *really* short strap that the loop gets in the way (assuming you aren't using the loop because you have tie-down hooks). But in an ideal world I'd say having four straight big straps, two big straps with axle loops, and four of the short axle straps is a good minimum. With all of that you can do just about anything and be incredibly safe doing it.


--Donnie

Actually what is easier than the removable zip ties is a velcro strap that is easier to undo. It is basically used for the same purpose as zip ties but you loop it around the cables/straps etc then through a ring and then velcro it to itself

The straps I use wind the "extra" length inside the ratchet drum. There are no loose ends. I use axle straps with D rings at each end for the actual connection to the car and connect one hook of the ratchet strap to both D rings of the axle strap. The other end of the ratchet straps hook to the D rings on the trailer. For the front of my car the axle straps are too long so I simply wrap the axle strap one extra turn around the point on the car I connect to in order to use up the extra length. I've towed the formula ford over 70,000 miles this way with the same 10K# rated straps. Note that the straps live inside the garage except when towing so they have relatively little exposure to sunlight over the last 14 years or so. Of course, with a 950# car, straps rated 10K# each does leave "some" safety margin . . . especially with one assembly at each of the four corners.

Edit to add: Racer Wholesale parts GF 3506 and GF2502 appear to be the same as what I have EXCEPT it appears the ratchet strap has a loose end which mine do not have.

Dick

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

Good suggestions guys, and along the lines I figured this would go.

So, my trailer was ordered Saturday - spec'd it with most options. I had the standard outer 4 corner rings angled in 45 degrees, and stake pockets added for the "just in case" usage. The only thing I'm second guessing is additional D-ring placement. Given this is such a minor addition, my guess is I could have more added if I called soon.

So, outside of the standard 4 corner rings, ever find you really wished you had another good anchor point? (like maybe directly rear of the car's rear hooks might be good, or utility hooks near the center of the fenders, etc...)

_________________
Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

My 16' trailer has two full front and two full rear, and I had 2 added about 2' from the front. I have never used those inboard ones for a car -- always use the 4 outboard ones. In the rear sometimes the strap length is too short -- if I could go back I would have 2 more added at the very rear corners of the trailer. The 2 standard ones are about 1' in from the sides. Make sense?

Now I have used the inboard d-rings for towing other stuff - couches, fridge, lift, etc.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Hmmm, I THOUGHT the Kraftsman's I looked at had those rings in the outer corners, but I may be wrong on that one.

So, when you say you put your straps "straight" in the rear, they are actually angled out somewhere in the 30-45 degree range to hit those outer D's, right? Something like this:

Front
-o---o-
--\--/-
---\/--
---/\--
--/--\-
*o**o*
(*****)
|*****|
(*****)
*o**o*
-/-----\-
/-------\
o------o
Rear

Assuming this, wouldn't it be better to bring the rear D's in, such that angles remained the same, strap length remained the same, but the straps crossed? So the above diagram would change to this:

Front
-o---o-
--\--/-
---\/--
---/\--
--/--\-
*o**o*
(*****)
|*****|
(*****)
*o**o*
---\/---
---/\---
-o---o-
Rear

Edit: ASCII art sucks....

_________________
Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

My d-rings are about 1-2ft from the sides of the trailer. I prefer not to have crossed straps front and rear because it doesn't provide as much roll stiffness, and I like straight in the rear for braking performance. In the rear, the straps go almost straight back and down to the d-rings. Depends on the car but there is rarely much of a "yaw" angle but probably a 30-45 degree pitch angle from horizontal.

I'm sure you'll be able to work with whatever their standard config of 4 is. If you wanted to add some, I'd recommend asking for 4 drings on the front edge of the trailer -- two at the corners and two 18" from the sides, and the same in the rear -- two at the corners and two 18" in from the sides. IMO that would give you lots of options when strap lengths and or car part interference becomes a problem.

I looked but I don't have a good picture of a car strapped on a trailer. If I run across one I'll let you know.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Found some old pics, I hadn't looked back far enough. Here's the location of my front d-rings. I think Kraftsman has changed their standard config somewhat since 2002 when I bought mine:



Hard to tell but you may be able to see the 2nd front d-rings about 2' back which I never use. Also note that on the E30 I used straight front straps because that's what worked best -- pickup points were really far back:



Here are the rear d-rings. Like I mentioned once in a while I wish I had a second pair at the corners:



Here's a good example of why I would want extra rear d's -- I usually like to run 4 rear straps -- 2 straight and 2 crossed. With the OBS on the trailer, the rear pickup points are so far back that there is not enough room for the straight straps -- which would go almost straight down. Need a few feet clearance for the ratchet and the short fized strap. I have gotten around this recently by hooking my 2 straight straps under the bottom edge of the trailer instead of the d-rings.



And just to make this conversation more interesting here are some pretty sparks:

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

If you think you will use the trailer as a utility trailer on occasion- then you might want to add a couple (4-6) rings on the deck just inside of the fenders. I have often hauled something smaller than a car on the deck of my trailer, and it usually ends up being centered right above the axles- maybe a little towards the front, and I find myself running way more strap to secure it because there are no tie-downs where I need them.


BAsically, if you look at the pic of Mike's trailer with the pine straw bales on it, I'd put a tie-down ring on each side of the trailer deck at the front, rear and center of the fenders. They don't even need to be the really big rings since you probably won't be using them to tie down a vehicle.

Bret.

Good idea! I have had that problem also -- usually I get by using the stake pockets. But there have been times I wanted to lash something right where the fender is -- at a minimum I'd agree, add 2 on the deck right in the middle of the fenders...

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Ok, had 4 D rings added. 2 in the middle of the fender area, and 2 more on the back edge. Kraftsman now places the "stock" ones right near the outer corners anyway, so I had 2 more added at 20" in from each side. They may not get used, but at least I'm covering the bases.

Thanks for the input everybody!

_________________
Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --