Grade 70 transport chains and chain binders are heavy duty tie down equipment , both chains and binders are made of carbon steel, compare to tie down straps, the chains and binders have higher working load limit , if we compare 5/16” grade 70 chain(typical WLL 4700lbs)to 2 inch tie down straps with WLL 3333lbs , 3/8” WLL 6600lbs binder chain vs. 4” WLL 5400lbs tie down straps , you will see that compare to tie down straps, binder chains are much stronger, and chain binders are even stronger than same size chains, for instance, 5/16”-3/8” binder has WLL 5400lbs which is stronger than 4700lbs WLL of 5/16” grade 70 chain . 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 material recommended by National Association of Chain Manufacturer to make grade 70 chains is carbon steel, the criteria for base steel is Carbon 0.35% max; Phosphorous 0.040% max and Sulfur 0.050% max. 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 , when we talk about backhoe, forklift, we need at least 3/8” grade 70 chains and binders to secure them, for something which has less weight we consider 5/16” chains are good fit, of course we still have 1/2” and up chains and binders, these chains will most likely be used to tie down something out of ordinary, such as battle tanks, or some other applications require super heavy duty chains.
Grade 70 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 in their work as well.