6 Best Heavy Duty Straps For Securing Farm Machinery That Old Farmers Trust
Haul heavy farm machinery safely. We reveal the 6 heavy-duty straps that experienced farmers have relied on for decades to secure their valuable equipment.
There’s a certain feeling in your gut when you see a piece of farm machinery—even a small tractor—sway in your rearview mirror. It’s a quick, sharp reminder that the only thing between your investment and the ditch is a few strips of fabric and a ratchet. Getting your equipment from one field to another, or back from the dealer, is one of the most common and riskiest jobs on a small farm.
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Why Quality Straps Matter for Farm Hauling
You can buy ratchet straps at any big-box store, and most of them look the same. The cheap ones, often sold in multipacks for the price of a single good strap, are a false economy. They use thinner webbing that frays easily, and their ratchet mechanisms are stamped from soft metal that can bend or fail under a real load.
The real danger isn’t just a broken strap; it’s what happens next. A shifting load can cause you to lose control of your truck and trailer, endangering you and everyone else on the road. If your unsecured equipment falls off, you’re not only out the cost of the machinery but also liable for any damage or injury it causes. Quality straps are cheap insurance against catastrophic failure.
Think about the environment on a farm. Straps get caked in mud, scraped against rusty metal on a box blade, and exposed to sun and rain. A quality strap is built to handle this abuse. Its webbing has a tighter weave and is often treated to resist UV degradation and abrasion, while the hardware is properly plated to fight off rust.
Keeper Ratchet Straps: The All-Around Workhorse
Secure cargo with this 4-pack of heavy-duty 15-foot ratchet straps. Featuring a 2,200-lb break strength and safety-lock S-hooks, these straps ensure reliable transport for motorcycles, appliances, and more.
If you walk into almost any farm supply store, you’ll find a wall of yellow and black Keeper straps. There’s a reason for that. They represent the sweet spot of reliability, availability, and fair price for most tasks a hobby farmer will encounter.
Keeper straps are the dependable workhorses for securing things like a rotary cutter, a small manure spreader, or a load of fence posts. Their ratchet mechanisms are solid, easy to operate even with gloves on, and they don’t seize up after a season of use. The webbing is substantial enough for frequent use without showing immediate signs of wear.
While they may not have the absolute highest load ratings for massive equipment, they are more than adequate for the sub-compact and compact tractor world. They are a massive step up from generic hardware store straps without the premium price of specialized hauling gear. For 80% of jobs, a set of 2-inch Keeper straps is the right tool.
Erickson Pro Series: For The Heaviest Implements
When you’re moving something that represents a serious chunk of your farm’s capital, you step up your game. Erickson’s Pro Series line is built for exactly that. These are the straps you reach for when you’re hauling your new-to-you compact tractor or a heavy disc harrow that pushes the limits of your trailer.
What sets them apart is the attention to detail for heavy loads. The webbing is thicker and often features reinforced stitching at key stress points. More importantly, the ratchet handles are longer, giving you more leverage to properly tighten the strap without straining. A loose strap is a useless strap, and getting a heavy load truly cinched down requires mechanical advantage.
You’ll also notice the hardware is beefier. The hooks are larger, made of forged steel, and designed to anchor securely to the thick frame of a tractor or heavy implement. This isn’t about overkill; it’s about matching the equipment to the task. Using a light-duty strap on a heavy piece of machinery is a gamble you can’t afford to take.
Vulcan Silver Series: Top-Tier Chain Anchors
Sometimes, webbing isn’t the right answer. For the absolute heaviest, most rigid loads—like a tractor with a front-end loader—many old-timers still swear by Grade 70 transport chain and binders. Vulcan is a name that consistently comes up in the professional trucking world, and their quality is exactly what you want holding down your most valuable equipment.
Chain has two key advantages over webbing. First, it has virtually zero stretch, meaning once you bind it down, the load stays put. Second, it is incredibly resistant to abrasion and cuts. If you have to route a tie-down over a sharp edge or a rough steel frame, a chain will shrug it off where a strap could be compromised.
Using chain requires chain binders, which use leverage to pull the chain tight. It’s a different process than a ratchet strap, but it’s incredibly secure. While a full chain setup is an investment, having at least two chain tie-downs on hand provides a top-tier level of security for those irreplaceable pieces of machinery.
Rhino USA Ratchet Straps: Built for Tough Jobs
Rhino USA has built a strong reputation for making overbuilt, tough-as-nails straps and recovery gear. They market heavily to the off-road crowd, but that same durability is exactly what’s needed on a farm. Their straps often come in convenient kits with padded handles, axle straps, and a carrying case, which is a nice touch for keeping your gear organized in the truck.
The feel of a Rhino strap is immediately different. The webbing is thick, the stitching is robust, and the metal components are coated for weather resistance. They are known for their high break strengths and clear labeling, which takes the guesswork out of selecting the right tool for the job.
While they might be a bit more expensive than some other options, the company’s reputation for customer support and standing behind their product provides peace of mind. For farmers who believe in the "buy it once, cry once" philosophy, Rhino is a solid choice that won’t let you down when you’re miles from home with a heavy load behind you.
US Cargo Control L-Track Straps for Versatility
This isn’t just a brand, but a system. If you have a dedicated farm trailer, installing L-Track (also called airline track) along the floor or sides is a game-changer for securing irregular loads. US Cargo Control is a major supplier of these systems, offering a huge variety of tracks, fittings, and specialized straps.
L-Track is an aluminum rail with multiple round anchor points. You use special fittings that lock into the track, giving you a secure tie-down point exactly where you need it. This is invaluable when securing something like a three-point-hitch tiller, which may not have convenient anchor points that line up with the D-rings on a standard trailer.
Instead of being forced to pull a strap at a weird angle, you can create a perfect, direct line of tension. This makes the load far more secure and puts less stress on the strap itself. It’s an upgrade to your trailer that dramatically increases the effectiveness of any strap you use.
Ancra X-Treme Webbing: Resists Abrasion & Wear
Ancra is another giant in the cargo control industry, and their X-Treme Webbing addresses a key point of failure for farm straps: abrasion. Standard polyester webbing, when dragged through gravel or rubbed against the sharp edge of a mower deck, can get fuzzy and lose strength surprisingly fast.
The X-Treme webbing is coated with a special chemical that permeates the fibers, making them highly resistant to cuts and abrasion. A strap made with this webbing can last significantly longer in the harsh, gritty environment of a farm. It costs more, but if you’re constantly replacing straps due to wear and tear rather than age, it can be a wise investment.
This is a perfect example of choosing gear for the specific problem you face. If your primary challenge is securing clean equipment on a smooth trailer, standard webbing is fine. But if you’re constantly dealing with muddy, rough-edged implements, investing in abrasion-resistant webbing like Ancra’s can save you money and headaches in the long run.
Choosing the Right Strap: WLL vs. Break Strength
This is the most important part of securing a load, and it’s where most people get confused. Every strap has two numbers: Break Strength and Working Load Limit (WLL). The only number you should ever care about is the WLL.
Break Strength is the force at which the strap will fail in a lab. It’s a marketing number. The Working Load Limit is the maximum force the strap is designed to handle in normal, everyday use. By law, the WLL is one-third of the break strength, providing a critical safety margin. Never, ever use Break Strength to calculate your needs.
The rule of thumb is simple: the combined WLL of all your straps must be at least 50% of the weight of the cargo you are securing. For a 4,000-pound tractor, you need a minimum total WLL of 2,000 pounds. Using four straps with a WLL of 500 lbs each would be the bare minimum, but using four straps with a 1,000 lb WLL is much safer. More is always better.
Your equipment is your livelihood, and your safety is priceless. Don’t skimp on the one thing that connects your valuable machinery to your trailer. Buy straps from a reputable brand, understand their true capacity, and replace them at the first sign of significant wear.
