Weld-on Tie Down Points

[jeffncs]

I snagged a a set of 4 weld on tie down brackets. I’ll get a pic later…, Where on your axles are you installing? Top or bottom?

I wanted to add mine to the outermost locations at each corner but the short tube and other bracketery makes it super tight.

Just looking for some ideas and pics as it’s tight in some places under there!!

 

[Yeller]

There are several different styles so pics would be helpful. Here’s what I have pics of that I could readily find. Not a bronco but the theories are the same. Keep in mind that you don’t want your strap pulling around the tire either.

There’s going to be some disagreement in tying down process. I’m my experience straps should be slightly angled, preferably outward, if the tie down points are more than 30-36” away from the axle, shorter than that can be perfectly straight. Unless there is no other way, straps should never cross. Crossed straps do a poor job of holding the vehicle down, I’ve watched them leave the trailer deck on big bumps on the highway even though they were very tight. Also in the event of a major accident you want the bronco to stay with the trailer, crossed straps exert a lot of load onto themselves and not near as much holding things down and still. I’ve seen some really nice cars get severely damaged because of crosse straps failed to hold them still and they shifted enough to be damaged in an emergency maneuver.

More synopsis, I dispose crossed straps in case you couldn’t tell lol. I’ve never witnessed a straight strap break and have seen some really bad accidents. I’ve seen crossed straps fail and the towed vehicle run over the cab if the truck. I’ve cleaned up fatality accidents in both scenarios. I’ll pick straight every time.

 

[Steve83]

Unsprung weight makes the ride rougher. Just use straps if you want to tie down the axles. But it's better to tie down the frame - that reduces trailer sway.

 

[jeffncs]

@Yeller Thanks and agree . I never cross straps. Always slight angles to welded d-rings on the trailer.

I’m just wondering where you guys added the brackets…. Space is very tight on the drivers side front diff. Top, bottom, front…. I’ll install as wide as possible while still being able to access edge for welding.

 

[jamesroney]

@Yeller Thanks and agree . I never cross straps. Always slight angles to welded d-rings on the trailer.

I’m just wondering where you guys added the brackets…. Space is very tight on the drivers side front diff. Top, bottom, front…. I’ll install as wide as possible while still being able to access edge for welding.


View attachment 963926 View attachment 963927

All right, you got me.

What kind of a hook are you supposed to use to attach to that bracket? Keep in mind that I'm the guy that shows up at the trailhead at midnight, and that's when I notice that my straps are laying on the trailer bed, and I usually ask: "I wonder when those fell off?"

So my preference is an eye like @Yeller uses. And as much as I hate his front solution, I hate the rear one less. And I hate both of his less than I hate yours.

But I also despise ratchet straps. So much so...that I just stopped using them. They just make no sense compared to chains. Chains can come loose, but don't get looser. Straps get loose, then fall off, and eventually just disappear.

My goal is to get the Bronco on the trailer, and get the the load secure in the most repeatable, most efficient, and most-best way possible. And I'm usually loading in the dark, after a long day, So that means dedicated, FIXED length front straps, and binders in the rear. I do appreciate @Steve83 and his frame connection recommendation...but let's face it. A Bronco on the trailer puts the frame horns past the d-ring location, and you end up crawling underneath to find a place to strap to, and it wraps around the axle, or the straps point vertical, so it's cleaner to just attach to the axle. My Cummins can handle 10K on the hitch, and I put 2K on the ball with a long tongue trailer. So there is no sway.

Don't get me wrong. I do like yours better than I like getting home and wondering how my nylon axle strap ended up wrapped around the brake line again. So I'm interested to see where you land.

 

[Broncobowsher]

I revert back to my flat bed roll back training I had. It was manufacturer training so we knew what we were doing.
They always wanted the chassis tied to the bed. The chain around the axle was the safety.
The explanation was 2 different suspensions stacked on each other can make the roll back suspension unpredictable. By tying the vehicle solidly to the roll ack bed it shut down the second suspension and the roll back now drove like a solid mass was back there. Allowed the roll back suspension to work correctly.

Now I don't always do that. There were times i got sloppy. for the most part, whatever, it moved it. But get a bad road input, things could get dicey with a spring payload reacting on a suspended platform. This is for both the roll back and car trailers.

The only thing worse is a half full water truck. That isn't a maybe a wild ride, that will be a wild ride.

 

[Yeller]

@jamesroney i don’t like the solution on that front either but it has been working just fine, normally the front looks like the rear, I just didn’t find any pics. As for the hook that @jeffncs needs those work with any flat hook or bent wire hook like most tie down straps come with. I’ve used that specific bracket and been very happy with it. I’ve used grab hooks with chains on them as well. Until I used them I was very skeptical as well.

Now that Balistic fab is no more and I’ve depleted my inventory of the ones I pictured I will probably go to the bent fisheye looking ones unless I decide to buy enough to make a custom order worth it for more like pictured, all the ones I’ve sampled that are currently offered the hole is too small and completely useless.

 

[ntsqd]

If you look at it in terms of absolutes, then along with attaching the straps or chains to the frame you also need to put the axles on stands and put blocks in the suspension. Otherwise the tires and the EB suspension are going to compress dynamically and cause momentary loosening of whatever you used to try to anchor the vehicle to the trailer. Possibly for long enough that the hooks pop loose if they lack the safety keepers.

 

[jamesroney]

I revert back to my flat bed roll back training I had. It was manufacturer training so we knew what we were doing.
They always wanted the chassis tied to the bed. The chain around the axle was the safety.
The explanation was 2 different suspensions stacked on each other can make the roll back suspension unpredictable. By tying the vehicle solidly to the roll ack bed it shut down the second suspension and the roll back now drove like a solid mass was back there. Allowed the roll back suspension to work correctly.

Now I don't always do that. There were times i got sloppy. for the most part, whatever, it moved it. But get a bad road input, things could get dicey with a spring payload reacting on a suspended platform. This is for both the roll back and car trailers.

The only thing worse is a half full water truck. That isn't a maybe a wild ride, that will be a wild ride.

Yeah, your roll back training doesn’t hold water. (See what I did there?)

Modern roll backs, and auto transport haulers are using e-track, and cinching the wheels to the deck. I think mostly because there’s nothing else to grab on a Tesla, or IFS rear car…but I’m guessing.

I only know the last 3 guys to take a haul for me used wheel straps.

 

[jamesroney]

@jamesroney i don’t like the solution on that front either but it has been working just fine, normally the front looks like the rear, I just didn’t find any pics. As for the hook that @jeffncs needs those work with any flat hook or bent wire hook like most tie down straps come with. I’ve used that specific bracket and been very happy with it. I’ve used grab hooks with chains on them as well. Until I used them I was very skeptical as well.

Now that Balistic fab is no more and I’ve depleted my inventory of the ones I pictured I will probably go to the bent fisheye looking ones unless I decide to buy enough to make a custom order worth it for more like pictured, all the ones I’ve sampled that are currently offered the hole is too small and completely useless.

Those bent wire hooks frighten me.

 

[Yeller]

Those bent wire hooks frighten me.

Only for falling off, I’ve never had one fail. I’ve been known to use them inappropriately and pull on them hard enough to bend the ratchet and break the straps, everything failed except the wire hook. Glad my safety guy took the day off, that fork lift was really stuck, and the semi tractor was all for gettin it out lol.

 

[ksagis]

X2 on wheel straps seem the norm now.

When the fairly pricey Reliable (the orange rigs) moved my Bronco and a couple of other much higher value cars (like a custom Lambo), all the vehilces were restrained with wheels straps.

 

[ntsqd]

I think that wheel straps may have become the go-to not because it's necessarily the best way to tie-down a vehicle, but because it's the best way to avoid damaging said vehicle. MISF had his custom 33 gal. fuel tank on his '69 Gran Prix damaged by one of those old 'J' hooks when the tab on the TH400's band let go during a red-lined up-shift.

 

[Yeller]

Wheel nets and/or tire cinch straps are definitely the go to for modern cars, I carry a set just for that purpose. More than nothing to grab ahold of the potential for damage is very high. I prefer to use them on anything IFS and or IRS. I’ve done OK on 4x4 stuff tying to the lower control arms but they need to be fairly long, otherwise the suspension cycling causes the straps to come loose then bang back tight.

 

[jamesroney]

Wheel nets and/or tire cinch straps are definitely the go to for modern cars, I carry a set just for that purpose. More than nothing to grab ahold of the potential for damage is very high. I prefer to use them on anything IFS and or IRS. I’ve done OK on 4x4 stuff tying to the lower control arms but they need to be fairly long, otherwise the suspension cycling causes the straps to come loose then bang back tight.

I will admit that Im hooked on these axle straps. When I first stole them, I thought I’d never use them. But now I can’t let them go.

I was well on my way to a welded bracket, but now I have 4 of these in the chain box.

 

[ntsqd]

Even though my Enginerd brain knows better, the weld-on loops always make me pause with concern over what the loading on those welds is.

I like the Mac's solution for low cars with the 90° bracket for the tension strap. Moves the ratchet away from the car.

Custom Wheel Nets | Macs Custom Tie-Downs

Custom Wheel Nets

www.macscustomtiedowns.com

 

[dmoses42]

I have a friend who, years ago, drove a car hauler for a living, and he used a variety of these frame hooks and chain binders (if I remember correctly) to tie down every vehicle he loaded.

https://www.truckntow.com/collectio...uKkKqgzZ6L_ztt6Zjz2PyMUO9WnfPBWqkpF49rB1nEy1D

 

[Yeller]

Even though my Enginerd brain knows better, the weld-on loops always make me pause with concern over what the loading on those welds is.

Me too, do it often on many things. Then I look at the loads we put on a 3/8 coarse thread bolt without a second thought and move on lol.

For myself the faster and easier something is to do the more apt I am to do it correctly. If I can do what for me is a normal routine thing like put my bronco on a trailer, quickly, properly and without the need to take a shower or change clothes the happier I am lol.

I think we’ve beat up @jeffncs ’s thread up pretty good but have kept it mostly on topic lol. Sorry Jeff, hope we didn’t get too far down the preverbal rabbit hole.

 

[nvrstuk]

Even though my Enginerd brain knows better, the weld-on loops always make me pause with concern over what the loading on those welds is.

I like the Mac's solution for low cars with the 90° bracket for the tension strap. Moves the ratchet away from the car.

http://[URL][URL]https://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/straps/automotive/p/customwheelnets/

[/URL][/URL]

I'm with steve.You've got almost two inches on each side of those brackets to weld them on... that will easily hold a about 10' more than the chain or your welded on D loop on your trailer...

if the guy can't weld a strap bracket on then he sure as heck shouldn't be welding tierods, axles 4 links, heim joints, etc, etc... lol

 

[nvrstuk]

I love ratchet straps, chain binders are probably more idiot proof & require less upkeep & maintenance (fact).
I run 40" tires & there was mention earlier about tires, compressing a little bit, and you get some flex and straps fall off, but I've never had that and if hooked up correctly nobody ever should.

I've tied my rig down so many times with 18 or 6 pounds of air and I have never had a strap, come loose ever... if they come loose, then they aren't tight enough, or the an entire strap down process is not being done correctly.

There is no way in the world that I want to tie down to a frame on a vehicle that has 8 inches of up travel and 8 inches of down travel, I don't care what kind of binder and bar you use. You will not compress all that suspension enough to keep it from possibly bottoming out, and then your chains will come loose...
six inches of slack when you hit a good whoop de doo & rhen you'll have loose chains...
Followed a buddy towing his Bronco to the frame & it was spooky watching how much slack were in his chains with eveey whoop. He started tying to the frame after that. Not having the body swaying around would be nice tho. Maybe the front winch ducking the frt down a couple inches?? Simple & quick??

Maybe on a a car or truck that has an inch or two of compression in their suspension, and and someone with larger forearms than I can suck some of that out when you reef down on the chain binder, but there is no way you will be able to do that with a vehicle like a bronco trying to suck 6 or 8inches of spring compression out of it even with a four foot long cheater bar on a binder.

This is why all vehicles like ours should be be tied down to the axles or the wheels & straight back.

The second pic shows my weld on mounts. On the inside of my frt PS radius arm in the 2nd pic. All straps go forward not cross.