Chain size?

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
I know the strap vs. chain debate has been waged and no clear winner has been decided. Anyway, for you guys that use chain, what size chain do you recommend?
 
I use 4 3/8" chains to each corner of both axles, with ratcheting load binders on the front chains to pull it all tight. Make sure you get a high enough grade of chain I think 70 is the lowest grade to use for this purpose, but a quick Google should let you know if im wrong. I then throw a ratchet strap over the front and rear trailer hitches and pull the suspension on the truck down a few inches, but not all the way to the bumps, which helps reduce trailer bounce and sway.
 
i used 3/8 chain. grade 70. im sure that grade 43 would work no problem but I prefer grade 70. sometimes I will use 5/16 chain to the front tow hooks with a pull binder to cinch down the suspension or a strap. but my axle chains are 3/8
 
3/8 Grade 43 mostly, also have some 5/16 and 3/8 Grade 70. The WLL of 3/8 Grade 43 is around 5500 iirc. Two in the front and two in the back gives 11000 WLL in each direction.

Duane
 
FYI- Federal D.O.T. rules allows 10,000 lbs per 3/8ths grade 43 chain
 
I had to use grade 70 5/16 to haul military freight per DOT regs. for 48 states and Canada. Sorry but I was unaware that DOT would allow anything less that G70 Transport chain on a Commercial vehicle. All straps HAD to have the stripe also.
 
So it looks like 3/8" Grade 70 is the way to go, so where is the best place to get it?
 
Heres a handy link for all to use, I am not arguing with Hot Dog Guy but it references grade 70 as to how to identify chain,not what is required, I hauled over dimensional out of the ports of Boston and Newark as well as steel out of Sparrows point and the DOT were never interested in what grade as much as they were what SIZE you were using, 5/16 is a little small, we used 1/2 on a lot of the larger stuff we moved. Basically the working load limit of your chain or binder at EACH end of your tiedown should br 50% of what your load is.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/safety-initiatives/cargo/cs-manual-chap2.htm
I hope this helps out, again I'm not arguing with anyone here about this-keep in mind that unless you are 100% sure of each and every law and it's MANY INTERPRETATIONS BY DIFFERENT AGENCIES, you better always practice overkill in your securement techniques
 
Back
Top