# Tie Down and E-Track Install > Rated E-track, L-track, D-ring and load bar anchor installation tied into trailer structure for real cargo securement. Source: https://fleetservicesocrv.com/services/trailer-and-chassis/tie-down-and-e-track-install Business: Fleet Services OCRV, 23281 E La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 Phone: (714) 909-1844. Serving Santa Ana, California, about 17 miles from the facility. Tie down and E-track installation adds rated cargo securement points to a trailer or truck body: horizontal and vertical E-track, L-track, recessed pan fittings, weld on D-rings, load bar sockets and flatbed winch hardware. Track is anchored into structure rather than sheet, and every point is specified against a published working load limit. ## Specification - Price range: $250 to $2,500 - Labor hours: 1 to 10 hours - Turnaround: Upfit install - Insurance: typically customer pay or fleet account ## Symptoms - Existing track pulling away from the wall at the fastener line - Elongated or torn slots in E-track from overloaded fittings - Floor rings that have pulled a plug of decking loose - Load shifting reported by drivers on the same route repeatedly - Straps being tied to structure because there are no rated points - Not enough usable anchor positions for the load being hauled ## What securement hardware is actually available? E-track is the common answer for enclosed trailers and box bodies. It is a formed steel channel with slots on regular centers that accept spring fittings, straps, load bars and shoring beams. It comes in horizontal runs along the sidewall and vertical runs at post locations, and it is sold in five and ten foot sections that get joined at posts so the slot spacing stays continuous through the joint. L-track, also called airline track, uses round and slotted openings and takes a stud fitting rather than a spring fitting. It is lower profile than E-track, which matters in a narrow van where every inch of interior width is payload, and it accepts fittings that rotate under load. It is the usual choice on cargo van shelving packages and on interiors where the track sits in the floor. On flatbeds and stake beds the hardware is different. Stake pocket and rub rail tie downs, weld on D-rings, sliding winches in a track and chain anchors do the work, and the ratings are much higher because the loads are steel, machinery and lumber rather than palletized freight. Santa Ana construction and steel service fleets almost always need this side rather than the E-track side. - Horizontal E-track along the sidewall at pallet and shoulder height - Vertical E-track at post locations for adjustable shoring - L-track in floors and van interiors where profile height matters - Recessed pan fittings and floor D-rings flush with the deck - Weld on D-rings on steel structure for heavy point loads - Load bar and shoring beam sockets for load separation - Sliding winch track and chain anchors on flatbed rub rails ## How much load will these points actually hold? Every anchor has two numbers that matter, and confusing them is how loads come loose. Working load limit is what the point is rated to hold in service. Break strength is where it fails. Securement is planned against working load limit only, and a common E-track fitting carries a working load limit around 2,000 pounds with assembly break strength in the 5,000 to 6,000 pound band. Heavier hardware scales up from there. Bolt on and recessed floor D-rings commonly land near 5,000 pounds working load limit. Weld on D-rings on steel structure run from 5,000 to 15,000 pounds depending on the ring and the weld. Flatbed stake pocket and rub rail winch hardware for four inch webbing typically carries a working load limit around 5,400 pounds per assembly, matched to the strap. The federal cargo securement rule sets the math a fleet has to satisfy: the aggregate working load limit of the securement devices must be at least half the weight of the cargo being secured. That single sentence decides how many points a Santa Ana fleet needs in a trailer, and it is the reason a layout gets designed rather than a few tracks getting screwed to a wall wherever they fit. ## How is track anchored so it does not tear out? Into structure, always. E-track fastened to trailer skin with self drilling screws will hold a broom and nothing else, because the sheet is 0.040 inch aluminum and it will tear at the first real pull. Horizontal track goes on at post locations, through fastened into the uprights or into the logistics posts that were built to take it, and the fastener pattern picks up every post the run crosses. Floor mounted track and pan fittings get through bolted into the crossmembers with backing plates on the underside, not screwed into decking alone. Wood holds a screw well in shear for a while and then it does not, and a floor ring that pulls a plug of oak out of the deck under load takes the securement and the floor with it. Backing plates spread that load into steel where it belongs. Weld on rings go onto steel structure with a full perimeter weld and, where the geometry allows, a backing plate behind the parent metal. They do not go onto aluminum extrusion, they do not go onto a bottom rail that is already thin from corrosion, and they do not go anywhere the load path has not been traced first. A rated ring on unrated structure is a rating that does not exist. - Horizontal E-track through fastened at every upright the run crosses - 5/16 inch grade 5 through bolts with backing washers where posts allow - Floor track and pan fittings backed with plates against the crossmembers - No securement hardware anchored into decking or skin alone - Full perimeter welds on weld on D-rings with the load path traced first - Track joints landing on a post so slot spacing stays continuous - Fastener heads countersunk or profiled where freight will slide across them ## How should a layout be designed for my freight? Start with what actually gets loaded. A Santa Ana beverage distributor moving stacked pallets needs horizontal runs at roughly waist and shoulder height plus load bar sockets to keep a partial load from walking. A parts distributor moving mixed cartons needs more vertical track and shoring beams. A steel hauler needs chain anchors and winch track, and E-track is close to irrelevant. Then count the points against the load. If the heaviest common load is 12,000 pounds, the securement rule wants at least 6,000 pounds of aggregate working load limit engaged, which at 2,000 pounds per fitting means at least three fittings in use and realistically more once angles are considered. Designing to that number rather than to a track length figure is what makes a layout usable rather than decorative. Finally, plan for the driver. Track that a loader cannot reach with a pallet in the way will not get used, and unused securement is the same as no securement. Runs are placed where a person can actually hook a strap while standing in the trailer, and vertical positions are spaced so a common strap length reaches between them without a driver improvising. ## What does an install cost and how long does it take? Tie down work carries the upfit install turnaround band, 3 to 10 business days, and the published range runs from roughly 250 dollars for a short run or a pair of rings up to about 2,500 dollars for a full multi level layout in a 53 foot trailer. Labor runs 1 to 10 hours for most jobs and scales with track footage and how much backing structure has to be added. The variables that move the price are structural, not cosmetic. A trailer with intact logistics posts takes track quickly. A trailer with no posts, or with posts that have been damaged, needs backing added first, and that is real fabrication time. Sending photos of the interior sidewall before quoting saves a revision later. This is a natural add on. Trailers already coming to Yorba Linda from Santa Ana for floor, skin or lighting work can take a tie down layout in the same visit at almost no added downtime, because the interior is already open and the crew is already inside the unit. Fleets standardizing a layout across multiple trailers should build the first one, load it once, and then replicate it rather than designing all of them at once. ## Questions ### How many tie down points do I actually need in a trailer? Work from the securement rule. Aggregate working load limit of the devices in use must be at least half the cargo weight. With common E-track fittings rated near 2,000 pounds working load limit, a 12,000 pound load needs at least 6,000 pounds engaged, so at least three fittings and realistically more once strap angles are taken into account. The layout gets designed from that number. ### Can you put E-track on a trailer that has no logistics posts? Yes, but backing has to be added first. Track fastened to bare skin will tear out at the first real pull, because the sheet is thin aluminum. The fix is adding backing structure at the run positions so the fasteners land in something that can carry load. That is fabrication time and it should be in the quote, not discovered later. ### What is the difference between E-track and L-track? E-track uses a wider slotted channel with spring fittings and is the standard for enclosed trailers and box bodies. L-track, or airline track, is lower profile and uses stud fittings, which makes it the better choice inside cargo vans where interior width is payload and in floors where a raised channel would catch a wheel. Both are rated hardware when installed into structure. ### Will installing track hurt my trailer floor or walls? Not when it is anchored correctly. Floor track goes through the deck into the crossmembers with backing plates underneath, so the load lands on steel. Wall track picks up the uprights. What does hurt a trailer is track screwed into decking or skin alone, because when it pulls it takes a piece of the trailer with it. ### Can you match a layout across my whole Santa Ana fleet? Yes, and standardizing is worth doing. Build one trailer, have your loaders run real freight in it for a week, adjust the layout once, then replicate that spec across the rest. Trailers come over on SR-55 and SR-91 in about 22 to 35 minutes, so running units through in batches after the spec is settled is straightforward. ### Do you install winch track and chain anchors on flatbeds? Yes. Sliding winch track, stake pocket hardware, rub rail tie downs and chain anchors are all in scope, and they are the right hardware for steel, machinery and lumber loads. Ratings are matched to the webbing or chain the fleet actually uses, because a 5,400 pound winch with a lower rated strap on it is only as strong as the strap.