Outdoor Adventure USA

One of the things I hate about tie down straps (cargo straps) is the excess that you always have to find a way to tie off or stuff somewhere. A few months ago I was at Pep Boys and I found some that retract into themselves so it takes up its own excess. What a novel idea? The other nice thing is that they were black instead of some flourescent orange, blue, red, cammo, etc. Then I looked at the price... $50.00 for a set of two. I wasn't prepared to spends that much on a set of two straps. So about a week later I had to go to Harbor Feight to pick up something for one of my employees. While walkiong passed the tie down stuff I spotted the same straps I saw at Pep Boys for $16.00. Knowing that a lot of Harbor Freight tools are sketchy I wanted to put them to the test before sharing it here. But so far they have been working amazingly well. I know have two sets.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-re ... 65847.html

Wind up excess slack with a simple pull of a lever.

■500 lb. working load capacity per strap
■Eliminates messy tangles by winding the strap straight onto the ratchet handle
■Heavy duty polyester webbing
■Nonmarring, polyethylene dipped hooks
■Ergonomic, TPR coated ratchet handle for maximum grip and comfort
(2) Tie downs: 1" W x 6 ft. L

Those look nice, how is the hook size? I always end up having to open up the hooks to work on my Gobi. I might have to pick up a pair.

Those are cool. I've always had trouble fully trusting ratchets though. I usually take up the excess and tie a "safety line" manually at each end. It's never as tight, but it's enough to hold stuff down for a little while if the ratchet fails.

ooo, those look nice

gon2srf wrote:Those look nice, how is the hook size? I always end up having to open up the hooks to work on my Gobi. I might have to pick up a pair.

They are larger than your typical hook by a little bit. The ratchet assembly is a little bulkier too.

Ollie,
I have my share of tie downs from my days of moving motorcycles in trailers. I have had the rachet tie downs fail on two occasions. Good thing I believe in redundancy. Maybe they were cheap knock-offs, I can't remember--but I generally do not buy the cheap models. YMMV. Just my experience.

Cheers, Steve