Coil Chained Down

[Semi Trailer Mechanic]

What's goin' on...

Here's that coil. Loaded and chained down. Now I need some binders and a tarp.

Thanks for looking!

[Clay]

I have never done this but I have read that a moist nap works good for a tarp. Form it to what shape you want, let it dry out and apaint it what color you want it to be after it dries.

Good luck and that thing looks good.

[SpreadAxle]

Looks good Scott

[studioman3]

That sucker looks heavy Scott, nice work!

[Old Albion]

Scott,

Great idea. Do you have coil carrying trailers in the US and Canada? The general purpose ones here in Britain are like a flat bed trailer but with removeable boards between the frames so that the coils will sit in the well between the frames.

Edited April 12, 2008 by Old Albion

[mistermodel]

Scott,

Great idea. Do you have coil carrying trailers in the US and Canada? The general purpose ones here in Britain are like a flat bed trailer but with removeable boards between the frames so that the coils will sit in the well between the frames.

I don't know if they are still used,but I have seen them in some of my 70,s Canadian Road Knight magizines.I'll try to find and post a picture or two.Also when I was a kid a family freind hauled coils in that maner.

[Hippy Ed]

Hey Scott, nice job there. I would like to make an observation here if I may...

I am a Calif. truck driver, having hauled alot of coils in my time so, please bear with me here.

1) the coil should be turned 90 degrees so it sits across the the 2 frame rails down the center of the trailer. To prevent falling thru the deck.

2) Some people like to build a "cradle" for it to sit in which helps hold it in place. Personally,

I used 4x4s running crossways one infront & one behind where the coil touches the deck with the coil ontop of them (like chocks)

3) depending on the size of the coil, dictates the # of chains required.

under 10,000lbs 2 chains 1 pulling to the front, 1 to the rear.

Upto 30,000lbs 3 chains 1 to the front, 2 to the rear.

upto 50,000lbs 5 chains 2 to the front 3 to the rear.

as for a tarp, you can use a damp paper towel and drape it over the coil.

Hope this helps.

Eddie

[79FlatTopDriver]

Looks great Scott.

Id rather run it suicide than shotgun myself. small cribbing made from balsa or something light would work fine and im sure making small bends in small metal strip to make 2 coil racks wouldnt be too bad.

Danmodeltruckworld.com has the snap binders I just ordered a few, not quite sure if anyone makes ratchet binders that small.

ah heck with it throw 6 chains 3 front 3 rear lol

[Jantrix]

Great looking model! I once saw the aftermath of one of those coils breaking loose and (luckily) rolling off into the interstate median. It dug a trench 25ft long and 3ft deep. If that had rolled into traffic theres no telling the mayhem it would have caused.

[docf225]

Looks great. If you're interested - here's a tarp method the Treadheads have been using for years.

1. Cut a piece of white tissue paper a bit larger than you need. I prefer the holiday wrap type you can find in the dollar stores.

2 Mix up some white glue and water 50:50 and pour it in a shallow bowl or tray. Old foil trays from frozen food work great.

3. Place a piece of waxed paper on a flat surface. This is where yor tarp will live while it dries a little

4. Place the tissue paper in the mix and remove - don't wring it out.

5. place it flat on the waxed paper and fold the edges over (about 2MM is fine) this is to form hems or seams. at the edges.

6. Let it dry for a few minutes -just until it's not dripping wet. Depending upon weather and such this may take a while.

7. Place the tarp over the item to be covered (like the load) and let it drape naturally over the piece.

8. Let it dry completely and paint with acrylic paints. I dry brush mine with lighter base colors and a bit of white to give them a worn look.

Hope this helps

Doc

[Hippy Ed]

Great looking model! I once saw the aftermath of one of those coils breaking loose and (luckily) rolling off into the interstate median. It dug a trench 25ft long and 3ft deep. If that had rolled into traffic theres no telling the mayhem it would have caused.

Some yrs ago a few clowns tried to roll a 12,000lb coil off a trailer into their 1/2 ton truck to take in to a scrapyard. The wt. broke the rear axle & suspension in it. Needless to say, they were subsequently arrested and charged with grand teft.

[SpreadAxle]

Hey Scott, regarding the tarps, I just remembered a trick I learned in this forum. You can use the wet napkins, like the ones you get at KFC. Just cut to shape(leave a little room), drape over the coil and let it dry out.

I noticed you did install the 4x4's under the coil, and looking very closely, what appears to be a coil rack. Nice touch.

HippyEd, you know your regulations pretty well.

[SpreadAxle]

Scott,

Great idea. Do you have coil carrying trailers in the US and Canada? The general purpose ones here in Britain are like a flat bed trailer but with removeable boards between the frames so that the coils will sit in the well between the frames.

Dave, many flatbed trailers over here, including my Utility flatbed, have what is known as a "Coil Package". It's extra crossmembers that are closer together near the middle of the trailer frame. It's extra support for a load that is just one very large coil, like a 40,000# coil.

[Semi Trailer Mechanic]

What's goin' on...

Thanks for the compliments fellas.

Eddy you've made a good point and I feel like a hipocrite for mounting that coil w/ the eye to the front. Reason being I've repaired 1:1 flatbed trailers where heavy loads crushed the flooring and crossmembers between the two piers (aka main frame rails). Seeing the way it sits now you're right it's on top of the curb side pier and resting on the flooring where it could cause some damage. Also I was wondering how many chains would be needed and what criteria dictated the number of chains needed. As is there are three chains per side.

DOC thanks a million for the step by step process to make a tarp!!!

Ray speaking of Utility Trailers. I just got a job at a Utility Dealer called Interstate Trailer Inc. here in Columbus,Ohio last week running a (mobile repair)service truck. I haven't had time all week to do any model building. Also I thought about making one of those decals that say "Place Coil Here" like you'd said some trailers are reenforced. Speaking of. At a former job (Trailmobile/Fontaine/Morgan Body dealere/shop) a guy had a quad axle aluminum flatbed where prolonged coil hauling destroyed the trailers intergrity and it craked nearly in have. The dealer ordered a new Fontaine trailer w/ NO AXLES! We took the two lift axles and the other two axles off that trailer installing them to the new deck. I think the driver saved nearly 20,000 having that done opposed to buying a completely new trailer. When he took delivery of it he had us load the carnage of what used to be a trailer on the new one. I bet he got a good price from the scrap yard for that.

[SpreadAxle]

What's goin' on...

Thanks for the compliments fellas.

Eddy you've made a good point and I feel like a hipocrite for mounting that coil w/ the eye to the front. Reason being I've repaired 1:1 flatbed trailers where heavy loads crushed the flooring and crossmembers between the two piers (aka main frame rails). Seeing the way it sits now you're right it's on top of the curb side pier and resting on the flooring where it could cause some damage. Also I was wondering how many chains would be needed and what criteria dictated the number of chains needed. As is there are three chains per side.

DOC thanks a million for the step by step process to make a tarp!!!

Ray speaking of Utility Trailers. I just got a job at a Utility Dealer called Interstate Trailer Inc. here in Columbus,Ohio last week running a (mobile repair)service truck. I haven't had time all week to do any model building. Also I thought about making one of those decals that say "Place Coil Here" like you'd said some trailers are reenforced. Speaking of. At a former job (Trailmobile/Fontaine/Morgan Body dealere/shop) a guy had a quad axle aluminum flatbed where prolonged coil hauling destroyed the trailers intergrity and it craked nearly in have. The dealer ordered a new Fontaine trailer w/ NO AXLES! We took the two lift axles and the other two axles off that trailer installing them to the new deck. I think the driver saved nearly 20,000 having that done opposed to buying a completely new trailer. When he took delivery of it he had us load the carnage of what used to be a trailer on the new one. I bet he got a good price from the scrap yard for that.

I'll bet he made a small fortune considering it was aluminum. Mine has the aluminum deck with the 3 nailer strips, and a steel frame.

Did you make that coil yourself? If so, how. The only coils I ever had are the ones that come with AMT's Fruehauf. You loading eye to the front(shotgun) isn't totally wrong if it's a really big coil. I think if they are very wide, then they are loaded shotgun. In 3 years pulling a flatbed, I've only haued 3 or 4 loads of shotgun coils, but the dimensions were such that it made them easier to tie down.

You would be the guy to ask, as I've heard both sides of the argument. I have a 10' 2" spread. I can't dump air from my axle to lift it while cornering. Is it true that spread axle trailers that can be dumped are more prone to axle and frame damage? Or is it better to have a trailer that can dump air from one axle for cornering purposes?

[Old Albion]

The next time any of you guys are carrying a coil it would be great to see a photo if possible to show how it is loaded and chained down. In fact any photo's showing different types of loads and how they are tied down would be very usefull and I'm sure will give a alot of us on the board some great ideas.

Many Thanks

[SpreadAxle]

The next time any of you guys are carrying a coil it would be great to see a photo if possible to show how it is loaded and chained down. In fact any photo's showing different types of loads and how they are tied down would be very usefull and I'm sure will give a alot of us on the board some great ideas.

Many Thanks

I'll get you some pix Dave

[Hippy Ed]

What's goin' on...

Thanks for the compliments fellas.

Eddy you've made a good point and I feel like a hipocrite for mounting that coil w/ the eye to the front. Reason being I've repaired 1:1 flatbed trailers where heavy loads crushed the flooring and crossmembers between the two piers (aka main frame rails). Seeing the way it sits now you're right it's on top of the curb side pier and resting on the flooring where it could cause some damage. Also I was wondering how many chains would be needed and what criteria dictated the number of chains needed. As is there are three chains per side.

Scott, seeing how you got just the 1 coil on there & judging by the size of it, it's heavy!! I noticed you had a 37 written on it so, figger that'd be 37,000lbs with 3 chains pulling to the rear, and 2 pulling to the front. iirc the criteria for chaining is the wt. of the load. Something like 1 chain per 10k lbs. I normally hauled 2) 25k lb coils. 1 on the front, the other on the rear above the axles each tied down with 3 chains 1 to the front, 2 to the rear.

hth,

Eddie

[79FlatTopDriver]

Great looking model! I once saw the aftermath of one of those coils breaking loose and (luckily) rolling off into the interstate median. It dug a trench 25ft long and 3ft deep. If that had rolled into traffic theres no telling the mayhem it would have caused.

we actually had one roll off about a month ago....35000# killed 3, 17yr old girl and 2 boys under 13, all 3 kids were the children of the police chief in the town that it happened in, she ran a red light but it was too late

[Semi Trailer Mechanic]

What's goin' on...

Ray

To make a coil like that go to Staples,Office Depot get a package of calculator register paper rolls then paint it silver. I used Alumninum Metallizer but it started flaking off. I recently painted another roll w/ some silver paint to see if that works out better. Email me off the board about your trailer ScottWP72@yahoo.com

[Semi Trailer Mechanic]

What's goin' on...

Eddie

I took that coil off for now. As for the 37 on the side I was just punting putting that on there for a production number. I've seen rigs w/ a coil up front and another at the rear in the past. Can ya tell me how big in diameter and width are those 25K coils? I'd like to put two coils on there facing suicide. If these rolls of paper are close to the specs of the 25K's I'll put both on. To me that just makes too much scence having the coil(s) loaded that way so it's sitting across both of the trailer's main frame rails.

[Hippy Ed]

What's goin' on...

Eddie

I took that coil off for now. As for the 37 on the side I was just punting putting that on there for a production number. I've seen rigs w/ a coil up front and another at the rear in the past. Can ya tell me how big in diameter and width are those 25K coils? I'd like to put two coils on there facing suicide. If these rolls of paper are close to the specs of the 25K's I'll put both on. To me that just makes too much scence having the coil(s) loaded that way so it's sitting across both of the trailer's main frame rails.

Ok I don't have any measurements off the top of my head but, here's a link to a pic I found on the internet looks about right for a 25k lber. Look at the "cradle" coil

[Jim B]

That's a big chunk of metal!

It looks like there are endcaps & a protective covering on it so the steel, copper, whatever isn't exposed. Would those be made from aluminum, or would they be steel, too?

[Hippy Ed]

That's a big chunk of metal!

It looks like there are endcaps & a protective covering on it so the steel, copper, whatever isn't exposed. Would those be made from aluminum, or would they be steel, too?

You are correct in your observation. This is typical of a coil coming off of a cargo ship. Steel, Aluminum,etc isn't exposed to the elements. I use to pick them up at the docks like tat and didn't have to tarp them.

Now Scott's coil is typical of a coil coming out of a plant and, would need to be tarped during inclement weather. I hated to haul out of a plant in Richmond, Calif. as they had a standing policy that ALL loads are to be tarped regardless of weather. Even if it were 100+ degrees out & not a cloud in sight.

Partly why I am running Reefers now.

[Kodiak Island Modeler]

I agree with Dave. I'd like to see some detail pictures.