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The “anchor” would depend heavily on the circumstance, and if the hardware was a hook, ring, bar, or something else.
For pulley-simulating loops, both a Butterfly Loop or a Span Loop will do. The Butterfly Loop requires no thinking about pull direction, since it doesn’t matter, but a Span Loop is very pleasant to untie.
ref:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/spanloop.html
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/butterflyloop.html
A variable loop that communicates with the tensioning line might very well be fine. In the back of my mind, I’d probably be wondering if it might be subject to a poldo-tackle-type effect that might allow for some de-tensioning of the system due to vibration or jolting.
Excellent topic for a thread!
Let’s say there’s a horizontal post to which you will hitch. In this context, I would usually make a Trucker’s Hitch like this:
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At the other end of the line, I would first make my favorite hitch (Come on, you can guess. . . .)
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Determine the Butterfly Loop’s position by beginning to make a Trucker’s Hitch–which uses your hand instead of a pulley loop–around the post
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Make the Butterfly Loop at the determined position (using a clockwise turn)
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Try it out, adjust the position and size of the BL as necessary (which is very easy and comfortable once you figure out how), and finish dressing and setting it
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Make the Trucker’s Hitch by taking the working end over the post, under through the Butterfly Loop, over the post again, and finally behind the Butterfly Knot, anchoring to the standing part using Two Half Hitches, and then securing the tail to the standing part by using a Fixed-Gripper Knot that is pulled taut, as far away from the Two Half Hitches as possible
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Alternatively, I might make a “perpetually adjustable” Trucker’s Hitch by using–instead of Two Half Hitches–two stacked Fixed-Gripper Knots pulled taut up the line
The reason I like the BL for the TH is that, when you remove the TH, the BL stays right where it is on the line and patiently waits for your next use of the TH–so all succeeding uses (on the same truck) can be very fast, easy, and comfortable (if you hitch the other end last, to accommodate variations in load size).
Actually, you don’t even need to REMOVE the TH side. Just loosen it and walk to the other side to unhitch. Reverse the procedure with a new load: Hitch and walk to the TH side to tighten.
JCS
I have a ute with bars around the tray. I tie a clove hitch on one side and throw the rope across. With the end of the rope out behind me I tie the truckie hitch and finish with a slipped clove hitch. The method I use means you never have to reeve the end through a knot or what you tie down to. A loop on the bight is drawn down behind the bar and lifted up in front of the line coming across the load. A loop from this line is drawn up through the look from the bar and locked into a round turn of the line across the load. It looks like its going to pull out when you put a load on it but this doesn’t happen.
Darren
if I pull down on the ear the knot spills; this is how I sometimes loosen it for untying. In 20 years of using the knot it has never come undone in it’s own. If you’re worried about people mucking around with it, would making the sheepshank ear part longer and tying a half hitch around the standing part with it help?
Darren
It’s not really necessary. If your rope is too long, leave the excess length on the fixed (non-tensioning) side of the load (easily done with a hook using a Pile Hitch, for example). Coil or braid up the excess. Having the right amount of rope on the tensioning side always makes things easier, neater, and quicker.
ref:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/pilehitch.html
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/midspan.html
Favorite way to tie a truckie?
When I worked as a “garbo”, I had to tie truckie’s hitches all day long to secure bins on the back of a truck.
I was taught a “quickie” way of making the truckie’s hitch.
Because you only need one hand to do the “double twist”, you can use the other hand to bring in the bight, and it’s insanely fast.
I’ve documented the method here:
The “Quickie Truckie”: Fast Way of Tying a Trucker’s Knot
(The link sends you to the middle of a page, where the section about the truckie starts).
Smiles,
Andy
[EDIT: I did not post four messages in a row. It looks like that because Knot4U deleted his posts. Sorry about the confusing reading. :o ]
This video shows your version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcz-D0kxiwo
Correct. Great resource.
That's the sheepshank version with the ear tied in a half hitch for locking.
I don’t think so.
The structure on the diagram may look similar, but the flow is completely different.
The quickie truckie comes around the post at the very beginning, then the working end goes over the rope.
As a “way to tie the trucker’s hitch” (the subject of the post), it’s definitely different.
Moreover:
- There’s a double twist.
- The final locking is optional.
[EDIT: I did not post four messages in a row. It looks like that because Knot4U deleted his posts. Sorry about the confusing reading. :o ]
Hi knot4u,
In other words, your diagrams are the same as the video, except you have a double twist around the sheepshank ear.
No. The video is exactly the same as my pictorial. It has a double twist.
What is markedly different from my pictorial is the sheepshank diagram you posted.
You said:
That's the sheepshank version with the ear tied in a half hitch for locking.
Referring to the sheepshank diagram you posted, I replied:
I don't think so. The structure on the diagram may look similar, but the flow is completely different. The quickie truckie comes around the post at the very beginning, then the working end goes over the rope. As a "way to tie the trucker's hitch" (the subject of the post), it's definitely different.Moreover:
- There’s a double twist.
- The final locking is optional.
Best wishes,
Andy
[EDIT: I did not post four messages in a row. It looks like that because Knot4U deleted his posts. Sorry about the confusing reading. :o ]
OK, the way you wrote your post original, "the diagram" seems to refer YOUR diagram on your website.
Okay, got it.
I think diagram" is for some kind of drawing or sketch—that’s why I thought it was clear that it referred to the sheepshank drawings you posted. Not clear enough… LOL
I call my presentation a “pictorial”, not a diagram. 
Wishing you a fun weekend
Yeah, it’s like an in-line Trucker’s Hitch.
JCS
You can alter the initial curvature of the incoming line by how tight you tie it, but really the chances of you breaking a rope by the puny force human arms can apply on a trucker’s hitch-type application is approaching zero.
I just tried out the span loop on my trailer, went from rail to rail (no with load to bind down) and though it is quick, it was more difficult to untie than my go-to loop. I like the butterfly loop best in this application because I will usually leave it a bit sloppily dressed. It still holds as the “pulley” and will untie easier.
The double loop version of the butterfly does this even better, using both loops as the bearing/friction points. Has lots of meat inside too.
Yes, you do have to tie in the right place , but that’s not a real big deal.
SS
After watching that video of the guy tying the logs down using the span loop, that really seems like the easiest way for me to tie the truckers hitch. I’ve been toying around with this hitch for several weeks now on my kitchen table chairs.
There’s so many different ways on the internet that it eventually confuses a knot novice such as myself, but the span loop method really clicks. Thanks Andy and Knot4u for the video. The guy in the video is gaining some serious leverage and mechanical advantage on that load.
Are you sure you tied the Span Loop correctly?:
Hello Roo,
I am as sure as I can be as I used your drawing on the page at the site you’ve supplied the link for.
Thank you.
I did yank it tight enough to flex the trailer side rails in towards each other where the front verticals stiffen them.
The rope I used is a dynamic rope and that may exasperate the untying. I did untie it though, just not as easily as the loop I normally use.
I also use some “cheapy” rope for loads that don’t require the “good” rope and won’t dare try it with any kind of knot/loop that stands a chance of jamming because the nature of this rope is very abrasive and compressive.
SS
Besides the doubled sheepshank (to coin a term),
another TIB eyeknot that could work here is the so-called
Yosemite bowline. And there are other single TIB bowlines.
And maybe another way to try to lessen abrasion of rope-on-rope
through the eye is to use a 2-eyed knot with separate reevings
per eye --i.e., go through one down to anchor and back up
then down through the other (nominally, more than really,
upping the mechanical advantage to 5:1). Practically, now,
to lessen abrasion, one would want to haul down on BOTH
down-lines from these eyes, in unison.
–dl*
I’m currently tying a slipped OH, then taking the loop and tying a half hitch around the standing part above the knot. This is a super little fixed loop for tying the truckers knot.
Does this loop appear in Ashley’s Book? I haven’t been able to find it if it does, it’s a little different than the span loop which works out of the bellringer knot. I couldn’t seem to tie the span loop exactly how Ashley’s drawing rendered the knot, my knot part looked just a lttle different. However, I’m sure it was the span loop because it’s so simple to tie and it was secure and untied easily. I like the slipped OH tied off with a half hitch though, is there a name for this?
This sounds like a variation on ABOK #1019 (where the end is half hitched rather than the loop itself). I can see it would be hard to untie after loading and of course you cannot slip the half hitch.