Winch Straps

Which end fitting?

Only the loose end of a winch strap carries a fitting, so there is one choice to make rather than two.

Flat HookA flat plate hook that lies against the rub rail or hooks into a stake pocket. The standard fitting on a flatbed and the one to order if nobody has told you otherwise — it sits flush, so it will not stand proud of the deck edge and catch on something.

Delta RingA triangular ring instead of a hook, for shackling to a chain or to a fitting that will not take a hook directly.

Chain ExtensionGrade 70 chain with a grab hook on the loose end. Reaches an anchor point the webbing will not, and keeps the webbing itself off anything that would cut it.

Specifications

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The everyday range, on Kinedyne’s gold webbing with the black edge.

The same abrasion-resistant webbing used on the Rhino Max ratchet straps: about 30% thicker with a tougher surface, and about 30% more tensile strength left after severe abrasion. Worth it on steel, castings and anything the strap has to be dragged across.

Rhino Max winch straps are also made in 4 inch. Call for anything not listed.

How many straps, and how strong?

Two separate requirements have to be met, and most people only think about one of them. The federal cargo securement rules set a minimum number of tiedowns based on how long and how heavy the article is, and separately a minimum total capacity based on what it weighs. Meeting one does not get you out of the other.

For an article that is not blocked or braced against forward movement:

The working load limits of the tiedowns holding an article have to add up to at least half the weight of that article. How much each one contributes to that total depends on how it is run:

Over the load, anchored both sides

A tiedown that leaves an anchor point on one side of the trailer, passes over or around the load, and attaches to an anchor point on the other side counts its full working load limit.

Anchored one side, or hooked to the load

One that attaches to the article itself, or that comes back down to an anchor on the same side it started from, counts half its working load limit.

The working load limit of the assembly is the lowest rating in it — webbing, tensioner, hook, and the anchor point on the trailer. A 5,400 lb strap on a 3,000 lb rub rail is a 3,000 lb tiedown.

A 6,000 lb crate, 12 ft long, sitting on a flatbed with nothing blocking it forward. Count: it is over 10 ft, so two tiedowns for the first 10 ft and one more for the remaining two — three straps. Capacity: the tiedowns have to total at least 3,000 lb; three 2 in straps thrown over the top and anchored on both sides give 3 × 3,335 = 10,005 lb. The count is what decides it here, not the capacity, and that is the usual result — people size the strap and forget to count them.

This is a plain-language summary of the general cargo securement rules in 49 CFR §393.100–393.114. Certain commodities — logs, dressed lumber, metal coils, paper rolls, concrete pipe, intermodal containers, vehicles, crushed cars, roll-off containers and large boulders — have their own rules that replace these. The driver and the carrier are responsible for the load; if you are not sure, call us before you load it, not after.

Reading the strap

The tag

A Tyvek tag carries the manufacturer’s name and the working load limit of the assembly in both pounds and kilograms. This is the number that counts toward your aggregate working load limit. A separate trilingual tag carries the warnings.

The stencil

The same information is printed along the webbing every 30 inches, so the rating survives a tag being torn off. A strap you cannot read the rating on is a strap you cannot legally count.

The red lines

The pair of red lines woven the length of the webbing is the WSTDA capacity indicator: the two together stand for 6,000 lb of webbing breaking strength per inch of width. They describe the webbing, not the assembly — the fittings and the tensioner are usually what sets the rating.

Breaking strength

These assemblies are built to a 3:1 design factor, so a 3,335 lb strap breaks at about 10,005 lb and a 4,000 lb Rhino Max at about 12,000 lb. Breaking strength is a test figure. Never work a strap above its working load limit.

When to take one out of service

Inspect every assembly before you use it. Take it out of service — and cut it up, so it does not find its way back onto a trailer — if you find any of this:

Use edge protection wherever the strap crosses anything that could cut or abrade it — that is a requirement, not a suggestion, and we stock corner protectors and sleeves for it. Never put a cheater bar on a ratchet handle. Polyester webbing is rated from −40°F to +194°F; store straps out of direct sun and away from chemicals. We inspect cargo control on site and cover tie-down securement in our rigging training.