Everything You Need to Know About Strap Protectors
One of the many questions that are commonly asked here at RatchetStrapsUSA is if the extra layers of protection that strap protectors offer are worth the investment or the price difference in the products. In simple, it depends. Let’s begin.
Firstly, let’s start with what a strap protector is. A strap protector is a layer of protection such as Cordura Sleeves, Cleat Strap Protectors, or Corner Protectors in order to keep friction levels low or reduced. When friction levels rise the risk of losing your cargo, damaging your tie-downs, or even your tie-down straps coming loose or undone becomes real. One of the ways to prevent these damages from not happening can be fixed within a matter of minutes with the use of corner protectors.
Corner protectors come in a wide variety of different types, sizes, and materials that are used to protect different types of cargo and straps. Plastic Corner guards can vastly improve the difference between a long-lasting strap and a tie-down strap that simply just doesn’t last as long as it should.
Corner Protectors can be placed around the edges of boxes, pallets, sharp edges, or any other surface that may risk producing heat from friction when traveling down the road. Friction can easily cause burn marks that may seem small in size but can cause a great deal of damage in the amount of weight your tie-downs can secure safely.
Although it may be rare to see burn marks on tie-down straps or discoloration on the tie-down webbing from burn marks or sun damage can be a real problem
Tie Down Straps work by providing multiple parts such as hardware, polyester tie-down webbing, edge protectors, and corner protectors in order to get the cargo secured during transportation. When the tie-down straps begin to fail it only takes one weak link in order to lose the strength of the tie-down strap. Although the tie-down hardware will rarely ever fail, the tie-down webbing can fail to cause your cargo to become unsecured just as easily.
The Advantages of using Strap Protectors
• The tie-down strap product life has a much higher chance of lasting longer than the traditional 3-5 years for normal tie-down straps, depending on the amount of usage of course.
• The cargo that you are transporting is much less likely to become damaged from over-tightening.
• Corner Protectors protect tie-down straps, but can also help to protect your customer’s cargo from dings as well.
• Boxes that are being sent in the back of a trailer, pickup truck, or semi-truck can arrive at their destination without the boxes being crumpled up or the boxes outside the structure destroyed. In our opinion, there are very few things worse than having your package that you waited days or weeks on to find out the entire time it has been in transit it has not been taken care of and has been thrown around or handled without care.
• Customers who receive packages on time and damage-free are more likely to purchase again online products or services.
How Many Strap Corner Protectors Do I Need?
The amount of strap corner protectors ultimately depends on several factors such as the size of the cargo you are securing being one of the main factors. The larger the cargo, the higher the number of tie-down straps it will take in order to secure the load for transport which in return requires more corner protectors.
Traditionally speaking you will want to use two corner protectors for each tie-down strap for each side of the cargo securement edges that are being protected. One more thing to consider when you are searching for the strap protectors that fit your application best is the size of the tie-downs you are using. A wider corner protector will provide more surface area for multiple straps to be secured on our 36 and 48-inch long corner protectors.
Some of the options we have for our strap corner protectors include our Heavy Duty Plastic Corner Protectors, Steel Corner Protectors with Rubber Backing, and our popular 48-inch Heavy Duty Corner Protectors. No matter if you need a larger size or a different material to protect your straps we have it all.
If you have any further questions about how to find the perfect corner protectors for your cargo securement needs you can give our experts a call at 800-483-2189 or by contacting us by using our online contact form located at the top of the website. Our experts are standing by and ready to assist you further. You can find a wide selection of different sizes and materials of corner protectors in our online store here.
Instructions on How to use Corner Protetors
1). Before using any Corner Protectors you will need corner protectors. You can find a wide selection of different corner protectors on our website with a wide variety for almost any lightweight or heavy-duty cargo securement. You can find these products here. However, if you have the corner protectors already or find them elsewhere you can skip this step.
2). Once you have your corner protectors you can now begin with securing cargo with the protection that the straps offer. To do this place the corner protectors on the top edge of the cargo you are securing.
3). Next, you will want to place your tie-down strap of choice over top of the corner protector, while at the same time making sure that the edges of the tie-down webbing are inside of the corner protector to ensure one side does not receive damage.
4). Begin to tighten the tie-down strap into place watching your edge guard not move out of the edge you are protecting. Also, it is important to watch when tightening ratchet straps so that you do not over-tighten the straps. Over-tightening the tie-down straps could cause the edge guards to fail and cause the cargo to become damaged.