Grade 70 Binder Chains and ratchet chain binders are heavy duty tie down devices , both chains and binders are made of 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. WLL 3333lbs 2” ratchet tie down straps , 6600lbs 3/8” transport chains vs. 5400lbs 4” tie down straps , the grade 70 chains are stronger than ratchet tie down straps and the grade 70 load binders are stronger than grade 70 chains, 3/8”-1/2” chain binder has WLL of 9200lbs, which is much stronger than 6600lbs of 3/8” chains . Another reason chains and binders are considered heavy duty, is their design factor is 4:1 while webbing tie downs have 3:1 typical design factor, see “Design Factor” for reference .
The National Association of Chain Manufacturer recommends that the steel which can be used to make grade 70 binder chains must have less than 0.35% Carbon, 0.040% Phosphorous and 0.050% Sulfur. When the material meets NACM recommendation, the manufacturing process are under strict quality control, and the final products meet or exceed DOT requirements, you can put the chains and binders on your 18 wheeler and haul away .
To tie down big rigs such as forklift, bulldozer is what we use grade 70 transport chains and binders for, tie down straps have no chance against these tough guys, the only choice is binder chains and binders , 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.
Binder chains can be used for any purpose except overhead lifting. You can use these chains for tearing down trees, tow heavy objects, we some times use these chains to tow our mobile loading dock. We’ve seen forestry service companies use a lot of these chains and binders in their work as well.
