Ratcheting Tie Straps

[plain garage]

Hi, I'm in need of long lasting quality ratcheting tie down straps to haul some bulky furnitures on the roof/outside trunk, etc. I see things anywhere between $10 to $50+ a set, obvious they're made differently. What do you got, and do you recommend them?

 

[Cameo]

Quick ties I thin is the name of the the rope staps I have and love. 1/4&3/8" rope

 

[Danglerb]

Tons of stuff all the same cheap from China, sold at various prices, most actually seem to work fine up to my limited rigging ability. Bought on sale at HF and HD I have a bag full of 1 and 2 inch straps and ratchets.

NOTE a really good ratcheting strap in the hands of a non pro can do the bonus two in one trick of tearing up your truck bed attachment points and failing to secure the item.

 

[sometoyotaguy]

Get the 12' or longer straps. They are all made in china these days, but the quality of the ratchets seem to vary. Check for ratchets that move easily and appear to be made of reasonably thick steel. I bought some nice ones at Lowes awhile back. 4-pack for $25 or so.

 

[justme-]

There are several good US suppliers and quality is everything.
I used to buy my straps from a husband/wife tool vender down at the Carlyle/Hershey PA car shows. They were PA manufactured and cust around $14 each, rated at 1500lbs on a 1 inch strap.
Still have them with regular use 5+ years later. Just bought some Ergodyne for real short money.

Thickness of the strap is important but the most important I have discovered is the ratchet assembly - solid half moon spindle pieces not stamped and you'll notice the thickness of the side plates. I used to toss a couple cheapies annually - cost me more than investing in the good stuff. Did the same for my ol man and my father in law - no more cheapies and no more tossing/replacing them annually.

 

[tarbellb]

Costco carries some pretty nice SnapOn branded ratchets.

_ 1 1/2" straps
_ 16' length
_ 1000lbs work load/3000 break
_ Obviously made in China
_ $25? IIRC. qty 4

Im NOT a Snap On fan boy, only other SO is a screwdriver. But I recently did a extensive search for some decent ratchets. HD and Lowes are expensive for what seems OK stuff. HF is super cheap and will likely do the job, but its also your stuff.

There are some good, reasonably priced USA manf out there. I just didnt want to drop to much coin.

 

[vjquan]

I bought the Costco SnapOn ones in the summer and they were $20. I haven't seen them for a while, so it may be a seasonal item or no longer carried. They work well if can be found.

 

[Jack3]

I like Cargobuckle straps. I have switched to bolt on 2" Cargobuckle on all my flatbeds and trailers. Well worth the money. Our crews lose tie downs frequently. Bolton solved that problem. http://www.immioutdoors.com/products/cargobuckle/

 

[e30bradley]

My friend who tows cars for a living always has the nicest US made straps and ratchets. I don't know who makes them but I've asked the price one his latest set and I can't remember what it was, but I remember being amazed at how cheap it was. The newest set is 4, 2" straps and 4 ratchets. Might have been $80? Probably less. He may have got them at a flea market though.

 

[stevep1954]

i just received 2 from Ratchet Straps USA and they make them up according to your needs. very nice quality product.
http://www.ratchetstraps.com/?gclid=COXBjJG7w8ICFetDMgod0mQAIg

 

[ladrones]

I like Liftall products the best.

 

[plain garage]

Thanks for the replies so far. Is aluminum ratchet better than steel? I'm looking at the SmartStraps from Northern, I'd rather spend twice the money once than one time the money multiple times.

 

[gungatim]

I consider ratchet straps consumables
They will fray, get wet and dirty, and get stiff if you use them in the real world. Buy em cheap and toss em is my method

 

[ttpete]

I've used these people for years. Made in USA.

http://mrproducts.com/collections/tie-downs

 

[Fugio]

Thanks for the replies so far. Is aluminum ratchet better than steel? I'm looking at the SmartStraps from Northern, I'd rather spend twice the money once than one time the money multiple times.

Steel has a load rating. Aluminum does not, unless you consider "zero" to be a rating. As long as you never exceed the max load rating for steel, it will remain as strong as the day you bought it. A bicycle frame made a century ago and ridden all day, every day, will still have 100% of it's strength as long as it's never been overloaded.

Aluminum forms microscopic cracks the moment ANY load is applied. So that same bicycle will have MUCH less strength. It will develop more cracks and becomes weaker every time the pedals go around, even if the rider is no bigger than a house cat.

This is why aluminum bikes are built with MUCH more material than needed. If they weren't, they would fail very soon. My aluminum frame might last 50 years for me, but might fail in 2 years with Lance Armstrong riding it. But make no mistake, it WILL fail in time. And when it fails, it will be sudden and catastrophic. Steel will usually just bend.

So with aluminum strap hardware, they are probably over-built and fine. But there will come a day, no matter how light their use has been, when they will fail with little or no warning. It might be tomorrow or it might be 500 years from now. But it is inevitable with aluminum.

This is why I only restore steel/cromo bikes. Too much liability with aluminum because there is no way to know how close it is to failure.

Just something to consider.

 

[mechan]

Steel has a load rating. Aluminum does not, unless you consider "zero" to be a rating. As long as you never exceed the max load rating for steel, it will remain as strong as the day you bought it. A bicycle frame made a century ago and ridden all day, every day, will still have 100% of it's strength as long as it's never been overloaded.

Aluminum forms microscopic cracks the moment ANY load is applied. So that same bicycle will have MUCH less strength. It will develop more cracks and becomes weaker every time the pedals go around, even if the rider is no bigger than a house cat.

This is why aluminum bikes are built with MUCH more material than needed. If they weren't, they would fail very soon. My aluminum frame might last 50 years for me, but might fail in 2 years with Lance Armstrong riding it. But make no mistake, it WILL fail in time. And when it fails, it will be sudden and catastrophic. Steel will usually just bend.

So with aluminum strap hardware, they are probably over-built and fine. But there will come a day, no matter how light their use has been, when they will fail with little or no warning. It might be tomorrow or it might be 500 years from now. But it is inevitable with aluminum.

This is why I only restore steel/cromo bikes. Too much liability with aluminum because there is no way to know how close it is to failure.

Just something to consider.

Wtf .... That is the most whacked out thought on material science I have ever read. Please don't go into the design business.

 

[SchuLace]

I have used Smart Straps with good luck.

 

[Fugio]

Wtf .... That is the most whacked out thought on material science I have ever read. Please don't go into the design business.

Would be nice if you explained what you feel is incorrect.

 

[mechan]

Would be nice if you explained what you feel is incorrect.

http://www.aluminiumdesign.net/why-aluminium/properties-of-aluminium/

Those darn areoplanes and their use of materials with zero load rating.

 

[Airframer]

Wtf .... That is the most whacked out thought on material science I have ever read. Please don't go into the design business.

How I learned it, aluminum has a definite fatigue or endurance limit regardless of stress, while steel is negligible if kept below a certain stress level. Hardly a scientific explanation, I know.

 

[Fugio]

I use terms like "load rating" because not everyone knows the ins and outs of metallurgy. Same with using "micro-cracks." Clearly you're a material science guy and know all about stress risers, dislocations, stress fields, grain sizes, etc... So please accept my apologies. But I just assume most people don't want to read a 25 page thesis paper when I could just say "micro-crack" to get a point across.

Yield strength and fatigue resistance are two very different things and so very unfortunate for Aluminum that they are. This is the primary reason many Al-tubed frames have massive diameter tubes...fatigue resistance. With steel there is a fatigue limit, a stress level that if not exceeded will NOT contribute to the eventual failure of the material through repeated loadings. Aluminum does not have this limit. With Aluminum every single stress applied eventually contributes to the failure of the material. Small loads contribute a little, big loads much more, but eventually it will fail if ridden enough.

Airplanes are overbuilt to withstand huge numbers of stress loading. They also use many different alloys. They will not fail during their service life. But they DO have a service life and would eventually crack and fail if flown long enough. That might take a hundred more years, but it would happen at some point.

The point is that yield strength and fatigue resistance are two very different things.

 

[mechan]

How I learned it, aluminum has a definite fatigue or endurance limit regardless of stress, while steel is negligible if kept below a certain stress level. Hardly a scientific explanation, I know.

The fact that ferrous alloys have a threshold that if one stays below is believed to not produce a failure regardless of the cyclical rate / load does not mean that aluminum does have ANY load rating (which is what he said).

 

[Fugio]

Brevity is the soul of wit. Airframer I bow to your superior intellect! And I agree. You are 100% correct!

 

[Fugio]

The fact that ferrous alloys have a threshold that if one stays below is believed to not produce a failure regardless of the cyclical rate / load does not mean that aluminum does have ANY load rating (which is what he said).

Well, maybe you'll believe my "whacked out thought on material science" coming from those "whacked out" guys at Harvard:

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/opinions/frame-test.html


Paragraph #8, I believe, says "For aluminum though, the endurance limit is always asumed to be zero (if it is non-zero, it is too small to be useful). "

This is my point, agree or not.

 

[mechan]

Well, maybe you'll believe my "whacked out thought on material science" coming from those "whacked out" guys at Harvard:

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/opinions/frame-test.html


Paragraph #8, I believe, says "For aluminum though, the endurance limit is always asumed to be zero (if it is non-zero, it is too small to be useful). "

This is my point, agree or not.

So gigacycle fatigue isn't real for ferrous alloys? (Even mentioned by the author of your article.)

Endurance limit != load alone

 

[AlexNGreen]

The 1,000lb keeper straps are by far the best straps that I have had from a retail store. The ratchet mechanism is way better than the Costco SO ratchets or Northern ratchets.

The hooks are also great. I hate S hooks and these have D rings on the strap that allow you to make a loop with the hook and ring if you have an odd or extra large anchor point.

Buy these and you will not look for other straps-
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Keeper-1...-Camo-Ratchet-Tie-Down-2-Pack-03548/202065668

 

[Fugio]

Gigacycle fatigue, to my knowledge, wouldn't be an issue in steel under normal operations such as ratcheting straps. I'm sure that metals behave differently on the surface of Jupiter as well. But maybe you use them differently than everyone else. I have no idea.

I'll stick by every assertation I have made up to this point. I'll leave it to others to judge the validity of the points made in the link I provided in my previous post. If they deem my postulations to be "whacked out," then so be it. But I will reserve such pejoratives to you and just accept that we disagree.

 

[mechan]

Gigacycle fatigue, to my knowledge, wouldn't be an issue in steel under normal operations such as ratcheting straps. I'm sure that metals behave differently on the surface of Jupiter as well. But maybe you use them differently than everyone else. I have no idea.

I'll stick by every assertation I have made up to this point. I'll leave it to others to judge the validity of the points made in the link I provided in my previous post. If they deem my postulations to be "whacked out," then so be it. But I will reserve such pejoratives to you and just accept that we disagree.

I'm hoping on the surface of Jupiter bicycles and nylon ratcheting straps are a thing of the past.

 

[Fugio]

At 2.3 times more gravity, I don't know if you need straps. Things probably just stay where you put them. Maybe not though. There's some pretty good wind gusts over there.

Also I think the on the real "surface," at the core, nylon, aluminum, and steel all turn to liquid, which might be an important factor in their strength.

 

[Vvmvbb]

Gigacycle fatigue, to my knowledge, wouldn't be an issue in steel under normal operations such as ratcheting straps. I'm sure that metals behave differently on the surface of Jupiter as well. But maybe you use them differently than everyone else. I have no idea.

I'll stick by every assertation I have made up to this point. I'll leave it to others to judge the validity of the points made in the link I provided in my previous post. If they deem my postulations to be "whacked out," then so be it. But I will reserve such pejoratives to you and just accept that we disagree.

Your assertions may indeed be true, but without hanging numbers on it, it is of little engineering interest.

Lord Kelvin says this best and most famously:

I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind.
Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1st Baron) (1824-1907) English physicist and mathematician. In: Popular Lectures and Addresses, London, 1889, v. I, p. 73. See also: Life of Lord Kelvin, by S. P. Thompson, 1910, V. 2, p. 792.

 

[IOWNJUNK]

Some pretty deep thoughts on a topic as simple as ratchet straps.........

Have a dozen or so, never paid for any of them, just end up with them. Kinda like bungee cords.

I'm gonna have to google gigacycle, you guys lost me there.

 

[BlackTalon]

I have to admit I have never thought of Harvard as a source for structural/ materials science info. Not sure I do now, either

 

[Fugio]

FYI I just use the cheapest straps. If I need them to be stronger, then I just use more of them.

 

[gearhead1]

So what is fatigue strength and how is it different than 'regular' strength? We don't use the term 'regular' actually it's tensile strength, which means being pulled apart. That's because a metal will fail by bending or tearing apart which is basically separating, hence tensile strength.

When a object is loaded and it stays there, it is called static loading. When the load is removed and repeated it's called cyclic loading. Cyclic loading is where fatigue strength comes into play. Basically a part could withstand a static load forever and be below the tensile strength of the material. But if you take that load, apply it, then remove it, then repeat, the part might fail due to fatigue. For steels below 100,000psi yield strength, you assume the fatigue strength is half of that. This assumes your design has a repeated load, not the case for a static load.

When designing with aluminum, assume that the fatigue strength is .4 times the yield strength to a maximum of 19,000 psi tensile.

If I remember correctly, aluminum doesn't have a sharp defined fatigue limit like steel does. It will fail eventually. However, this doesn't mean never to use aluminum. It depends on the design and application. There are many things made of aluminum that won't wear out in our lifetime. Take an aluminum car trailer for example, I doubt I'd wear one out in my lifetime.

 

[Fugio]

I never said to "never use aluminum." I use it ALL the time for all sorts of stuff.

Did I use the term "regular strength?" If so, I meant to say Yield strength vs fatigue resistance.

A piece of aluminum might be twice as strong as a piece of steel when subjected to a static load. But over time (and it can be a VERY long time) and with repeated loading, the steel will remain just as strong while the aluminum will get weaker, assuming that the load never exceeds the max rating for the steel. As I said, there is no maximum load for aluminum in that sense.

So yeah, your aluminum trailer might last a million years depending on use. But every bump in the road shortens it's life. And that gets multiplied the more weight you carry. But the measure of how much a small bump in the road shortens it's life is so small that you could even begin to measure it. It is insignificant until you multiply it by millions (or more) of similar stresses.

 

[gearhead1]

No you didn't say regular strength, but I like to clarify so those reading don't get confused. Terminology can be a pain for those not versed in a given topic.

No worries.

 

[CJM8515]

I have the same ones in yellow, goodyear branded from sams club as the ones linked from home depot that are camo. Been using them for years to tie down my atvs with no issues. VERY strong and the hooks are nice!

 

[Fugio]

Yeah, get some yellow ones. That's what I've been trying to say all along!

 

[Ign]

I ordered some of the Snap-On branded from eBay. We needed red for aesthetics in a specific application, but I also needed something a little above HF quality. I think the ones I got were 1.5" or maybe 1.25. They're decent, I'd recommend them.

I have one set of straps where the ratchet is like 2' from the hook. I always think I'll find an application where the spacing will be perfect so the ratchet isn't right on the corner of a wooden box or something, but I never have and I hate the straps - curse them everytime I grab one.