Well, I have the joy of shifting 10 of these tomorrow on the back of a drop side rigid.
They way I have done it previously was to have pallets of other stuff around them and put two straps over the top of the ‘row’ of these drums but apparently all that does is pull them inwards until they move and then the straps come off.
I’ve only got one chain tensioner, so figured that one for the rear. I was also told off today by the boss for the way they were advised to be stacked when I collected them from the supplier, with the outer edge of one reel pushing on the actual product.
So, earlier, when loading them I stood a pallet up between each row of three that just fit across the bed and then strapped over the top of those drums. I can’t put a strap through the middle of the drums as this is a no-no in the company. I also couldn’t find enough long pieces of wood to act as chocks.
Doing well here aren’t I.
I’ve got about 8 straps available, one chain tensioner, some bits of wood and perhaps some pallets. Any suggestions on how to load them? They weigh about 350kg each and you can get 3 side by side per row.
They don’t like the straps through the middle as it wears them down too quickly. However, when work starts tomorrow I’ll ask some of the other drivers as well. Hopefully all will go well and if I get a chance I’ll get some photos too. There seems to be a distinct lack of photos of these sort for loading and securing of these drums
They dont wear them down too quickly, we do a lot of drum work for prysmian and we always use timbers to rest the drums on then a strap through the holes on doubles but if tripled up we use 2 straps on each row with one over the top, if the drums are pushed up to each other they wont/shouldnt move in transit so if you just put 2 over the top (front and back) of each row you should be ok
Also if your moving a lot of these get your boss to get some decent timbers, dont just use pallets or have them on the bed of thr truck, your asking for trouble then.
Plus a lot of places wont load you without your own timbers
You can get leather sleeves to go on the straps to prevent them rubbing through but they’re not particularly cheap whereas a 5 ton strap (not the ratchet side which usually last a few strap changes) is about £2, or less, if you buy them in bulk and about £4 with the ratchet as well. £2 always seems cheaper to me than a lost or damaged load.
Though I dare say places will get through way more straps since everyone’s been frightened into clambering around a curtainsider strapping pallets of bog roll.
