Towing has become very popular over the years and no matter what it is that you tow, whether it is recreational equipment or vehicles as we see here or just plain boxes, you’re going to need a way to tie down the load. And that means you need to know something about straps.

Now here we have a strap that’s specifically designed for a tow dolly. That’s where you put two wheels of the towed vehicle on this dolly, strap it down to it, and tow it behind your motorhome or whatever. Alright, now down here, we have one that fits through the wheel. So you take two of these, tie the wheels down, and that holds the vehicle in place.

Now another one, this is more common. This is an axle strap. Now we’ve used a pair of these on this Jeep to tie it in place. Now the big thing with any of these straps is that they are all supposed to have labels. And that means that you have the Working Load Limit and you’ll sometimes find on them, the Breaking Strength. Now don’t confuse the two. The Breaking Strength is usually about three times what the allowable Working Load Limit is. So concentrate on the Working Load Limit.

Alright, and that even applies to these smaller straps as we see here. If you look at these, you gotta read the label because one of them is a 500lb strap and the other’s a 300lb strap. And of course you’re going to use them time and time again. And everytime that you’re going to use them, you want to make sure that you check them carefully. You’re looking for signs of wear and where they are starting to break down, such as these. These are not safe to use. When you start to see your straps break down, they get frayed, or torn, or anything like that, it’s time to replace them.

And don’t forget the wheel chocks. And one thing you don’t do is use an old piece of wood. Not a good idea in most cases. Use a proper wheel chock, we have one here, we have these over here that are made out of a synthetic material that holds in place, and it has a rope between them to hold them where you position them. If you do it right, you will have a safe trip. And if you have a question or a comment, drop me a line right here at MotorWeek.