Frac Sand Chassis Security: How To Keep The Barrels Of Frac Sand From Falling Off The Trailer

Frac sand is a valuable commodity in the fracking business. If you lose a barrel of this stuff, you could lose a few hours of work on a fracking site. Losing hours of work is losing pay, and that just cannot happen. If you have avoided using a frac sand barrel trailer to avoid losing barrels of frac sand, it may be time to give the frac sand trailer another shot. Recent improvements have made it possible to keep the barrels on the trailer better. Try one or more of the following options.

Frac Chassis Twist Locks

These locks grip and grab onto the trailer itself ​and ​the frac sand containers. Frac chassis twist locks are extremely powerful, which means they are secure. Imagine Superman twisting steel bars into a rope twist; that is the kind of reinforced strength you get from these locks. It means that as long as you stay within the weight limitations of the chassis, the chassis twist locks will have no problem keeping the container level, safe, on the chassis, and not a granule of fracking sand will be lost.

Additionally, there are companies that can create a custom chassis with eight pins and twist locks to hold two frac sand containers instead of one. If this is easier to manage for the consumer, and the consumer requests such modifications, the company can do it for a fee. Retractable twist locks are also a possibility. The retractable twist locks allow consumers to carry even wider frac sand containers when they want to haul more sand on the same chassis but they are worried about weight distribution and safety. With twist locks in place, the retractable arms stay put in whatever width the consumer needs within the maximum extension of the arms.

Hopper Cars

Another option might be hopper cars. These are typically used for coal or rock salt only, but they could work for frac sand because of the density of the sand. Consumers should consult with a hopper car manufacturer to make sure that these cars can hold frac sand, and just how much frac sand is safely allowed. A different sort of chassis is used for hopper cars, which is why it is necessary to check weight and material restrictions prior to loading the frac sand into a hopper car. Hopper cars are not so easily emptied, either, which is why the above option(s) might be better.

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