How do you secure a steel coil on a trailer?

First, you have to build your coil rack.. it's simply some angled irons and some wood dunnage. You would centre it and have the coil placed on it. Then you run your chains through the eye of the coil... general rule of thumb is minimum one chain for every 5000 lbs.... the first two chains cross each other inside the coil (so that the chain secured on the left front is also secured at the right rear and vice versa), while additional chains are run straight through and both ends are secured on the same sides. You also need steel edge protectors to prevent the chain from actually making contact with the coil, in order to avoid damaging the coil.

As for loading methods, there are three:

• Shotgun load: this is the most commonly used, and has the eye of the coil facing front to rear on the trailer. So named for its similarity to how shotgun shells are loaded into a magazine.
• Suicide load: this is where the eye of the coil goes from side to side on the trailer.
• Palletised load: these are coils which are loaded standing straight up, and placed on a pallet. The method for securing these is much different. Aluminum coils, as well as painted steel coils, are loaded this way.