How to Tie a Truck Knot

A trucker's hitch knot needs to be strong to hold a lot of weight in place.

Regular knots won't work if you need to use a rope or cord to help secure a load to a trailer. You don't want the load coming loose on the highway and causing property damage or personal injury to other drivers. A truck knot or trucker's hitch is a strong knot that will secure the heaviest loads to the trailer, and it's a knot that even a Boy Scout dropout can master.

Instructions

1. Create two loops on the length of rope and pass one of the loops -- we'll call this Loop 1 -- through the second loop -- Loop 2. Loop 1's job will be to hold Loop 2 in place throughout the knot-tying.

2. Take the end nearest to Loop 2 -- we'll call this "the bitter end" -- and pass it around or through the bar, hole or hook (or whatever the trailer bed offers as a tie-off point to secure a line). Then bring the bitter end through Loop 2.

3. Pull down on the rope to tighten it.

4. Secure the knot by tying two half-hitch knots. You can do this by wrapping the bitter end around the taut line and threading it through the resulting loop.

References

• Animated Knots by Grog: Trucker's (Haymaker's, Harvester's, Lorry) Hitch
• Berkeley Echo Lake Camp: Trucker's Hitch