3 ways I chain down equipment.

now if you're just tuning in in the first part of this video series we showed you how not to load a trailer we showed you some beginner mistakes that can lead to big problems if you happen to go down the road that way so make sure you go back to that video if you want to load you want to understand the right way to know where to load how to balance the load and how to get ready before you go down the road now today we're going to actually take a different approach and we're going to show you how to chain down the equipment once you find that sweet spot so let's talk about the tie-down method that should give you the least amount of trouble i don't have hooks on it but i don't need them on here to demonstrate what it is i want to show you guys the least amount of trouble it may not be the fastest way but it's called a four point tie down and a four point should get you through most inspections so what is the four point tie down well four point tie-down is simply put you chain down all four points of a piece of equipment before you go down the road if it's an excavator there's going to be a fifth fifth point i guess that's all the way out and now full of little tiny rocks so good job stand now if you have a loose attachment so if you're hauling down the road and you have a bucket and then inside of your bucket is a set of forks you better have a chain down through nothing can go down the road loose it's all got to be attached i don't have hooks i'm not hooking it up now if you're wondering how tight to go that's not tight you want to go till nothing moves [Music] there you go now some guys will go chain up through back around and put one chain in the middle or they'll put a chain from there they're there i don't know if those are d.o.t approved ways of doing it let's show you what they're doing and you guys can just figure out if it's right wrong or in between for you guys but at least you'll know but this way if i get pulled over by dt and i got a chain there i got a chain same thing going down there i have a chain on the front going down to my trailer and i have a fifth or fourth chain on the opposite side going down the road i know my piece of equipment is secured if you really want to be careful then throw a chain over your attachment and secure that now if your attachment is not firmly connected to your machine you absolutely have to do that if your attachment is connected to your machine firmly is the question do you have to do that that's a question for the highway patrol i guess that may depend on how good of a mood they're in if you get pulled over all right this next part i can't tell you whether it's legal or not but let's say you get yourself in a vine and you don't have enough chains and binders to do a full four-point attack [Music] okay you don't have enough chains and binders to do a four point but you still need to get down is this legal that's a great question is it safer than not doing it at all well you figured out one chain one binder i'll show you how we got her wrapped and strapped she goes up and underneath wraps around there's a loose end here's the other loose end the binder acts as the the the connection in between probably not legal but better than nothing now what happens if you short one chain you got the binder let's do that scenario next but i don't know if it's right hook the binder up to our chain bring it through now we tighten it up over here well it would help if i actually had the other side chained out so really it's kind of important to see how i'm doing this this one here i don't have the chain the front chain down so technically i'm actually pulling the trailer or the tractor back all right you guys that's it that's our video for the day here's our last scenario one chain two binders we've done one chain one binder scenario we've done uh four-point tie-downs so now you guys kind of have some different options as you're tying down going through it we've got the load balanced hopefully you guys have a safe trip going down the road this is how we do it inside our company whether you do it the way you do it the way you feel safe sorry boy pulling on them chains boy it takes a little bit this would be the kind of video that i would want one of my new guys coming into the company to watch before taking the first load down remember the buddy system is the most important thing that you can do having someone double check all of your connections having another fresh set of eyes that's something that you missed there's a reason you missed it and they may not miss it so before i go down the road i always like to have someone double check it or i'll come back after the fact and double check my own work a few minutes later i'll walk away do something else before i go down the road just that separation of time that little bit of separation and time can help you come back and spot something that when you're in the moment you missed but this video is not meant to replace any formal training or education if you have any questions contact your local dot these guys are supposed to be on our side they're not against us they want us to be safe going down the roads as well we also covered how to chain down your equipment the four-point method if you happen to be short you find yourself out in the country and you gotta you gotta move a piece of equipment well we showed you a couple other ways to use them chains and binders to at least still keep that load secure whether they're right wrong or in between that's up to you guys to figure out what works for you guys a big thank you to all you guys that tune in regularly to watch i'm going to start to sprinkle a little bit more how-to's in here i know i started to move away from that a little bit but i'm going to throw a couple of them in here every now and then i don't want to be a know-it-all but i do want to share what i have learned right wrong and in between and i want you guys to take everything i tell you with a grain of salt because there's always more than one way to skin a cat you guys and that's it our video for today god bless go get them you guys and be safe going down the road i'll tell you right now i don't think there's anything more dangerous about our work then when we get on the road with a bunch of people that probably shouldn't have their driver's license and we're not just driving a truck we're hauling a load at the same time i think that's the most dangerous thing we can do so i want you guys to be safe keep your head on a swivel and go get them you guys catch you on another one i didn't think i was going to forget to say god bless you guys [Music] on a lighter load my rule of thumb is to make sure that none of it goes behind the back axle if it's a leg load already then even a little bit of weight behind that back axle can throw the balance of the trailer off so i'll actually air on the side of putting more weight onto the tongue but i'm also being very conscious not to overload that tongue or that truck i don't want to be in a wheelie position all right well let's see how she rides going down the road let's throw you up on the top of the cab we'll take her down the road that's one of the things that i always like to do before we get going too far down the road is give her a little test spin so let's do that next okay before we get going too far down the road we're gonna test the trailer brakes alone so that was sheer trailer brakes let's give her one more goal so you can hear them working now these this trailer has hydraulic hydraulic trailer brakes not electronic so there is a little bit more of a delay versus electronic trailer brakes which is a little bit more of an immediate response but we now know that our trailer brakes are working all by themselves that gives us that extra bit of confidence if we have an issue and the trailer starts to get out of control we grab this first and foremost another thing to do is always test your blinkers and brake lights give the trailer a go turn on your flashers if you're by yourself and do the trick do a once walk around just to make sure that all of your indicator lights are operational