i buy stuff from government auctions all the time.

http://gsaauctions.gov/

and end up having to bring home odd/weird loads when i may not have all my stuff with me, like i left my straps at home this day.

and I ended up with 3 huge equipment racks, and only had 2 car straps, and one ratchet strap.



so i used one car strap to pull them together as a unit,



then put one strap over top of the middle one, then put the ratchet strap around the "belt" strap to hold from side to side.



they still swayed ALOT, but i made it home.








the rack fronts, facing the passenger side, are ALL GLASS.
and the strap going across the top broke a plastic trim piece.

whats best way to do this in the future.

 

I probably would have laid them on their sides on top of each other, maybe with some cardboard between them, or a blanket between them.

I always have a blanked or two behind the rear seat, I also carry cardboard behind the seat in case I need to get down on the ground.

I have a couple plastic containers (the kind kitty litter comes in) that I keep straps and such in that are always either in my trailer or in the truck bed. That way I never get caught without straps.

I put a landscaping box across the tongue of my 20' car hauler and mounted a pickup tool box above it. The toolbox is hinged, acts like a lid to the landscaping box, both can be locked and secured. I keep wrachet binders, chains, straps, extra jack, wheel chocks, etc in those, everything stays with that trailer at all times.


CD

 

i always have extra straps and chains but the tall loads i haul arent fragile

 

Looks like you did a good job to me, You could always weld in some vertical pockets into the sides of the trailer that extensions could be pinned into, then take them out when not needed.

 

i was not sure how i could unload them when i got home, if I had them 3 high.

i usually do have a LOT of junk in my truck. but had family visiting this week, and had cleaned it out to be the family truckster, then i got this deal,
and rushed to grab them.

i did have two large boxes (a daimond deck tongue box on the tongue and a large JobBox) on my last trailer, but it got reclaimed (had been storing for a buddy who lives in military housing for a year so)
so all my stuff was in dis array.

i did not realize how hard it would be to get tension on these without squeezing the glass, they were still wobbly, but the wifey was worried it was too tight on the glass.


just a nother reason to put all the towing junk back in the truck, like the boy scouts : "always be prepared"

 

That's the key. Seems like anytime I leave the house without everything back in the toolbox, that's the trip where I need what I left behind.

 

I always secure from the top down on loads like that. All the straps go over the top and pull down. Side-to-side and 1 front to back.

 

FMCSA regulations are clear about preventing movement either side to side or front to rear for commercial vehicles. Some loads seem about impossible to secure F/R (pipe, for example), so truck drivers carry one heck of a lot of equipment for securing loads.

Ask yourself: How was this load originally shipped? In wooden crates? How can I re-create this? With plywood sheets secured to the trailer bed (toe nailed, with blocks) that the straps will secure more tightly than the item itself? Etc.

May need some internal bracing as well (2x4).

It'll be your head if the load causes problems on the highway, as it should. Some expense in permanent and temporary load securement is normal. Take your time.

I, too, like the idea of stake pockets as a start. Look to installing D-rings or track on the trailer floor as well.

Don't forget, either, that a trailer with a tongue weight of 350-lbs requires a weight-distribution hitch. Dodge (and the courts) make no exception for trailer type.

I would also add shock absorbers to the trailer so that the tires are not required to absorb road irregularities. This will also add some load stability. Be sure that the axle is properly aligned, it often is not (a big truck tire service can set you right).

Take your time with catalogs. Northern Tool has a limited supply as well.

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/

I'd have a tarp or three to protect the load. Doesn't take much to strip paint or drive rain deep into something. (And, no such thing as too many tarp straps).

http://www.myteeproducts.com/?gclid=...FSRPagod9mY5Cg

Here's an example of what I'd be buying:

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/corner...5b8b815e9808ed

and avoid twisting those straps as in the photo's.

Good luck.

 

That's why you need to keep beer in the fridge, to get your friends to help you unload stuff like that when you lay them down on their side.