dot florida regulations

I don't know if the individual states have rules different than the feds. I trucked for 25 years and was inspected several times and every state I was in went by federal rules. Unless it has changed the regs say how many and what load rating tie downs you must use, but I don't think they say what material they must be made of.
 
The short answer is YES nylon ratchet straps are approved for tie downs. You get 1000 lbs of tie down power for each inch of strap width.

The problem with straps are.....
You can not have knots so the strap end must have a approved hook.
Any cut (no matter the size) will weaken the strap so it is render no good.
Any corner the strap goes around must have corner protectors to prevent abrasion.
A strap must lay flat (in width) the whole way so it needs to pull on a straight plane for the most part.

Straps are great for what they were made for. Holding pallets of bagged material on a trailer.

For heavy iron and pulling around corners get you some chain.
 
It is ok to put a twist in them so they do not sing in the wind but it is not ok to have them bunch up as they bend around a curve because you are not pulling in a straight line.

You see this many times as they go around a tire.
They hook one end to the tractor axle and the other end to the trailer side rail. Only problem is the tire is in the way so they pull around the tire bunching the strap.
 
Straps are not legal for anything on wheels check the reg the fine cn be a bunch if you stay off Interstate you could slip by but its just not worth it too many on this site have posted in the past about the fines go with 4 chains and four binders and you will never have any trouble.
 
(quoted from post at 22:34:40 05/31/14) Straps are not legal for anything on wheels check the reg the fine cn be a bunch if you stay off Interstate you could slip by but its just not worth it too many on this site have posted in the past about the fines go with 4 chains and four binders and you will never have any trouble.

Is that Fla law or have the FMCSR laws changed? There is, or was, a list of approved tie downs in the FMCSR.
 

REDPOCADOT: please don 't use this forum as an authority on proper load securement just go to FSMCA driver load securement handbook.

Gene Bender: please give a reference for your rule about straps. The only place in the manual that I found a reference to needing chains is for large boulders.
 

REDPOCADOT: please don 't use this forum as an authority on proper load securement just go to FSMCA driver load securement handbook.

Gene Bender: please give a reference for your rule about straps. The only place in the manual that I found a reference to needing chains is for large boulders.
 
Also, chains won't deteriorate in the sun the way straps do. A couple of weeks ago I learned a lesson the hard way when an old strap holding my 27CFM air compressor with a 13 horse Honda engine broke setting the compressor free from the trailer while going down the road. The replacements for the broken parts are on order. Jim
 
List of approved tie downs per FMCSR unless excluded for particular items such as boulders or crushed cars.

Chain; Synthetic Webbing; Wire Rope; Manila Rope; Polypropylene Fiber Rope; Polyester Fiber Rope; Nylon Rope; Double Braided Nylon Rope; and Steel Strapping.

The one I can not understand is rope. The rules explicitly say no knots can be used. How the heck do you use a piece of rope without tying a knot in it.
 
I have hauled tractors all over Florida and into South Georgia using heavy duty ratchet straps and have never had a problem with the DOT. I always use 4 straps per tractor and my equipment trailer has added tie down points so that I don't run a strap over a sharp edge. Been stopped a few times over the years and never had a officer question how I had something tied down but I almost always use 4 straps per tractor. Got checked at a weigh station on 95 with my enclosed trailer and the officer complemented me on how I had the two tractors strap down inside. I told him they were mine and I didn't want them going anywhere. Watched a fellow bring in a tractor at one of our shows a few years ago. He had hauled it across 5 states with one chain across the middle of it. I couldn't believe he made without getting wrote up. I can't speak for the regulations just know I have never had a issue using good straps
 
(quoted from post at 06:16:31 06/01/14) List of approved tie downs per FMCSR unless excluded for particular items such as boulders or crushed cars.

Chain; Synthetic Webbing; Wire Rope; Manila Rope; Polypropylene Fiber Rope; Polyester Fiber Rope; Nylon Rope; Double Braided Nylon Rope; and Steel Strapping.

The one I can not understand is rope. The rules explicitly say no knots can be used. How the heck do you use a piece of rope without tying a knot in it.

I asked the exact same question some years back at a DOT school run by 3 members of the advisory board. What I was told was that the knot could not be in the running length of the rope. IOW, knots to tighten the rope- okay, knots piecing the rope together- not okay. I think that was in the interpretations some time ago, not sure what edition of the FMCSR.
 
All i know is what i have read on this site Interstate roads are different from what i hear. I would also say it appears on the man who stops you but i have seen it posted anything on wheels no straps i always use chains and never been stopped or checked. Local DOT IOWA did tell a friend here in the landscaping business chains and binders but like i said in the past i have read about guys getting fined about straps on this site.
 
(quoted from post at 19:32:31 06/01/14) All i know is what i have read on this site Interstate roads are different from what i hear. I would also say it appears on the man who stops you but i have seen it posted anything on wheels no straps i always use chains and never been stopped or checked. Local DOT IOWA did tell a friend here in the landscaping business chains and binders but like i said in the past i have read about guys getting fined about straps on this site.

Gene, it's entirely possible they got written up for straps on wheeled vehicles not because the straps were not allowed, but because the straps were full of cuts and holes. Straps are consumables. There is, or was, a guide in the OOS handbook outlining the max cuts a strap could have. I don't know if it's on like or not.
 
(quoted from post at 06:06:01 06/01/14) Crushed cars is another place you can not use straps.

With some of the tractors I have seen people haul home to fix up this rule might apply to those tractors. LOL

Look at the FMCSA site. You can use ANY securement on them. The key is that they also specify:

No knots or obvious damage
No distress
No weakened parts
No weakened sections

There is also a section on edge protection. I would summarize that they give the driver credit for intelligence and knowledge, and ability to read and understand the manual. They will however, cheerfully give the driver a summons if his load restraints loosen; get damaged on a sharp edge; or are not of a size and/or rating adequate for the load; They give plenty of information in the manual to enable the driver to select a chain or strap of proper strength.
 

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