The Transport Chains with Chain Hooks Give Us Binder Chains
Truck Chain and chain binders are tough tie down device , according to NACM and ASTM all these chains and binders are made from carbon steel, compare to tie down straps, the chains and binders have higher working load limit , let’s look at 5/16” transport chain(WLL 4700lbs) vs. 2 inch tie down straps with WLL 3333lbs , 3/8” WLL 6600lbs binder chain vs. 4” WLL 5400lbs tie down straps , you can see that the chains are much stronger, and the load binders are even stronger than same size chains, 5/16”X3/8” load binder(lever or ratchet type) has working load limit of 5,400 LBS and 3/8”-1/2”binder has working load limit 9,200 LBS . Almost no exception, transport chains also are being called binder chains, since the transport chains come with slip hooks , the chains can hook into anchor points on the truck bed to restrain cargo on the truck.
We use these heavy duty chains and binders to haul heavy equipment, for instance, backhoe, bulldozer, forklift, these big rigs are tough or straps, we have to use steel chains to tie them down , the most popular chain size for these kind of load are 3/8”, for some light equipment which is still too heavy and hard for straps 5/16” will be ideal chain size. 1/2” and up are mostly for really heavy stuff, for example, military applications, say to tie down battle tanks, you will definitely need 1/2” even 5/8” grade 70 chains to tie those bad boys down.
As we stated above, grade 70 chains , or say binder chains are used on a lot things except for overhead lifting. There are people who use these chains to tear trees, to tow mobile loading docks, a lot of forestry services use large quantity of these grade 70 steel chains and binders . The most interesting application for these chains and binders are in trucking industry, the most prominent sue is for heavy equipment.
To wrap it up, we probably can tag these chains and binders as all purpose and all weather tie downs, we can put them to all kinds of uses, and they can be used under extreme weather conditions, sometimes these chains and binders even can be used as rescue tools. Since they are so versatile, we feel comfortable when we can use them instead of some webbing tie downs.