Strapping a Vehicle Down

[Guest WALFY]

After my trip to 7S this weekend, I towed a trailer with a veh on for the first time in ages. But it seems there are differing views on the strap cofiguration.

I used 2 straps, 1 each end tying the the axle down, veh in 1 low difflock engaged handbrake on.

On the way back I tried another method as suggested by others on here whose opinion I respect. They said I should strap the body down. But idealy use 4 straps.

My theory was that by fixing the body to the car as rigidly as possible it then raises the CofG, therefore making it a bit more of a handful. Also when I seen recovery trucks with any cars or LR on them they only strap the wheels down.

So which is the best method and why. If it makes any difference the trailer had the load bed over the wheels, the next trailer I'll tow with will have the bed between the wheels.

[discojmz]

i run two straps, one down each side of the vehicle. each with a pair of wheel choker straps slid onto it. each of those get dropped over the wheels and I secure the ends of the strap towards the centre of the trailer front and back to make doubly sure the vehicle doesnt shake its way to one side or other. This has never caused a problem and always stayed rock solid for however length journey.

[GBMUD]

It does not matter where you tie it down, the CofG is the same. With the wheels or axles tied the body can wobble about on bumps or bends whereas with the body strapped down to compress the suspension you get less of the instability caused by the load wobbling about. IMHO (as a retired recovery driver) cars are tied down on trucks by their tyres as they are easy to get to, one set of straps fits all cars, there is almost no chance of damaging the car and it works well because most cars have very little suspension movement and stiff suspension... unlike a challenge truck!

I would not use less than 4 straps by choice (ideally one at each corner pulling down, sideways and forward or back) and if I can I always have a strong connection holding the truck back on the trailer - it avoids the chance of having one truck planted in the back of the other if you have a sharp stop!

Chris

[discojmz]

my reservations re: strapping the body/chassis have always been every time you go over a bump and the suspension on the trailered vehicle compresses, the straps go slack, possibly very slack, enough to fall off, quite a risk!! and then as the suspension elongates, it shock loads the straps, not terrible, but a consideration over a long period of time perhaps? with the wheels this doesnt happen

[GBMUD]

Further to my last; It is no coincidence that a standard Defender/Disco etc. have 4 lashing rings located each end of the chassis rails.

Chris

[Guest WALFY]

To reply to that with a LR you have a transmission brake and unless you chock the wheels it WILL move fore and aft on the suspension/drivetrain. Therefore by tying the axle tight to the trailer it's the best effort without chocks.

I had my 90 pulled down very tight and the trip home I felt the trailer move sideways a lot more than on the way up. In a straight line it was fine.

[GBMUD]

my reservations re: strapping the body/chassis have always been every time you go over a bump and the suspension on the trailered vehicle compresses, the straps go slack, possibly very slack, enough to fall off, quite a risk!! and then as the suspension elongates, it shock loads the straps, not terrible, but a consideration over a long period of time perhaps? with the wheels this doesnt happen

Good point - the way I do it though there is not much room for bounce! Of course, we all check our straps regularly, dont we?

Chris

[Guest WALFY]

YES. Straps checked 3 times on the way home. Just because there are 4 lashing points doesn't mean that it was designed for 4 straps. My straps were down that tight I couldn't get it any tighter. Even pulling on the ratchet handle with both hands I couldn't get another click. So I was confident you couldn't get it any tighter.

[western]

Tie it down same as the AA & RAC do on their transporters, park brake on, difflock engaged & ratchet strap on each wheel with a slide choker strap, so each wheel is trapped by a strap across the inside & outside. when my 110 has been on a big yellow truck & tied down like that it's never moved.

similar to this

[western]

Further to my last; It is no coincidence that a standard Defender/Disco etc. have 4 lashing rings located each end of the chassis rails.

Chris

I suugested to a AA recovery driver that he used my jate rings, he said 'not allowed to' got to be done by the wheels, as the can see all round the wheels to check for proper siting of their straps & no hidden fixings they can't see, i.e. lashing ring or jate ring bolts.

[TJ101]

Mark,, after many years of towing, one one way i do it,,

4 straps, one each end of the chassis rails, strapped down hard, very near to the bump stops, never lost a strap yet !! Then attache the trailer winch wire as a safety, You now have no where for the body to roll, come the first corner

Only ever use wheel choker straps when have a rally car in the race shuttle, for the front wheels, only because of lack of access to the front,, rear is still strapped to the body,

[nas90]

I know it's not a Land Rover but I had the same dilemma with my Quad. Mr Honda is quite explicit that the Quad is strapped to the trailer through the front and rear luggage racks, one strap each end. I have, however, lost a strap and now I always wire the hook end of the strap to the loop on the trailer chassis, since large bumps going into and out of 4x4 sites seems to let the suspension compress and the hook jumps out of the loop.

The next straps I buy will have loops and fix them using shackles

[Guest WALFY]

(as a retired recovery driver)

Chris. Was it a big recovery company that you worked for. RAC/AA/GREENFLAG etc or a smaller family style business. Also the tying down method you used was that your choice as a driver or was it company policy? If it was yours would the company of stood by and supported your method of strapping down if the need had arisen?

[muddy]

I use 4 straps one on each wheel with a choker, this means that the axles aint going nowhere and thus (hopefully!) the rest of the motor isnt either, and there is no risk of a bump snapping or unhooking the strap, I then put one through the pin in the front bumper and one through the loops in the X-member pulling it down on its haunches making sure the body cant roll or bounce thus making the trailer handleing much better.

Belt and braces

Will.

[Mark90]

The method I use is 4 straps one round front axle pulling down and forwards, one round rear axle pulling down and backwards then one each end on the body (usually attached to tow points or bumpers) pulling down to compress the suspension. With enough compression there is no worry about the straps coming loose or snatching. You really don't want you load swaying and bobbing about. A car I would tow with just wheel strapping, but not a 4x4 especially a lifted challenge truck. I use the above method even when towing my mates racer which is low and with very little bounce/roll in the suspension. I would substitute the axle staps for wheel straps with chokers but would still strap the body down. On the back of a flatbed is a little different, load stability is more important when it's on a trailer and snaking is a possibility. Believe me you don't want that happening, I ruined a perfectly good seat and set of pants

[GBMUD]

Chris. Was it a big recovery company that you worked for. RAC/AA/GREENFLAG etc or a smaller family style business. Also the tying down method you used was that your choice as a driver or was it company policy? If it was yours would the company of stood by and supported your method of strapping down if the need had arisen?

I worked for an independent contractor to RAC and Greenflag - they later had an AA contract too and had the police contract to collect crashed/stolen/suspect cars as well as working for car main dealers including the local Landrover dealer Harwoods - so not a Mickey Mouse operation. I was entirely new to the job when I started so I was taught how to strap a car down on the truck.

With safety in mind, it started with the winch cable before the lift. As well as hooking the hook to the front recovery point there was a second connection, a chain round the front suspension or similar back to the winch cable - just in case the eye broke. Once the car was loaded the winch cable remained tight and a strap was connected from the rear suspension/subframe etc. back to the rearmost eye on the truck bed - either side but usually NS for safety of working. The reason for using this rear-most strap was so that in the event of a crash or emergency stop the car would not join the driver in the cab - a loose car jolting against a strap in such an event may easily break free.

After that it was acceptable to move from the scene (if on a main road, dangerous position etc.) to a safe place to finish the job. Then there were three remaining straps which went to each of the three wheels on the corners not already covered by the first strap. In the case of a Landrover I was recommended to use the proper lashing points on the chassis, obviously strapping well back.

I only used sliding/tilting bed trucks and never received training on trailers and have only my own experience to go on.

Chris

[Guest WALFY]

OK. Many thanks for the detailed strap cofig. I think I might go and ge a couple more straps and play about with different ways of doing it to find the best way that suits me.

[JST]

If what i am towing has suspension i use 4 straps to ratchet the body work down to compress the suspension. therefore no body roll and no lateral movement if the straps are pulling against each other.

If the vehicle doesnt have suspension then i go for the chockers on the wheels option.

[Guest weeble]

Suspension on most trailers tends to be a little stiff so in my opinion the best way to secure any vehicle is to use either 2 long or 4 short straps on the wheels with wheel slings. This way the suspension on the transported vehicle is able to absorb some of the suspension shock that the trailer suspension is unable to absorb.

After 4 years as an apprentice mechanic (all be it a very long time ago!!) it was down to me to do all the vehicle recovery with a 109 V8 and a Lampert recovery trailer and this was found to be the best and easiest way.

I can see that different types of car would be best secured in different ways i.e. track or rally cars with stiff or little suspension movement, but transporting a Land Rover with fairly soft suspension I feel the method I use is best for me.

[Escape]

I had a go at towing LRs for the first time last Sunday.

First load was a Defender 90 with 4" suspension lift. We used one strap to secure the front axle and 2 others to tie the body via the treesliders down to the rear of the trailer. This worked great, almost no body roll or tendency to snake. On the return, the Defender was put a bit more the front of the trailer and this was even better regarding bumps transmitted to the Range towing it.

I then had to go back to collect my friends Classic. We strapped it down exactly the same way, but it felt a lot less stable, with a noticeable tendency to rock and the trailer sometimes trying to steer the vehicle, especially downhill on highways with deformed surface (we've got a lot of them over here....).

Weight distribution was probably not as good as with the Defender, but I think the softer suspension was the main cause. COG was definetly lower, but this was less of an advantage then I had expected.

So I will be following this thread with a lot of interest, as I'll be doing a lot more trailering in the future and would like to keep it as safe as possible.

Greetz,

Filip

[Orgasmic Farmer]

For a comfortable tow the position of the truck is of paramount importance when trailering (less so on a recovery truck). As a rule when we load Steves truck behind the Discovery I am watching the gap at the rear wheel arch and when this drops by about 5 cms then that's where we park the truck. Any more nose weight just puts stress on the towbar and rear tyres of the truck and makes the steering light. Any further back and there is not enough drawbar weight and a tendency to snake. This all presupposes that the height of your tow-ball relative to the trailer drawbar is set correctly. We used to have a mark on the trailer where to park but when Steve removed the bumper and went for a Y front he lost about 40Kgs of nose weight and it was necessary to park about 4 inches further forward to get the same loading on the tow vehicle!.

To strap down we use 4 short straps from each of the front/rear recovery points on the end of the chassis, around the tyres and back towards the centre of the trailer. We then crank it down with a strap either side over the rock sliders to remove the suspension roll. We have never lost a strap yet and the thing tows sweet as a nut even from S Wales to Scotland and back.

Mark

[Mark90]

I am watching the gap at the rear wheel arch and when this drops by about 5 cms then that's where we park the truck.

That's about the same as I aim for. Reckon it's probably around 100-150kg nose weight. Really must measure it sometime, can't be ar$ed doing the sums with spring rates and levers etc.

[ozzie1989]

There are easy ways to measure nose weight, either using a dedicated tool avaliable from caravan shops (though I don't think they go over 100kg), using a jockey wheel with built in nose weight calculator, or using some wood at the height of your towbar with the vehicle loaded and some bathroom scales that support the weight

You could also buy your own weigh bridge... no really, like one of THESE. I don't know how well those 'Weight Controls' work but people in the caravanning world seem to rave about them and it'll weigh your nose weight too apparently!

[Escape]

That's about the same as I aim for. Reckon it's probably around 100-150kg nose weight. Really must measure it sometime, can't be ar$ed doing the sums with spring rates and levers etc.

That's one disadvantage to EAS: with the engine off, the rear drops rather quickly when loading, but when you restart, it always levells out. Not very usefull for guessing nose-weight.

[Orange]

This may seem like a stupid question, but..........

I initially connect any trailer with the towball/trailer level, then after adding weight the nose drops, as does the rear of the tow vehicle.

Are we better to set the tow bar so that the trailer and tow vehicle are level once loaded?

Told you it was a stupid question!!