Transport Chain Sizes Explained: 1/4" Through 1/2" With Real Ratings

Comic illustration of four transport chains from small to large link size

Chain size questions come across our counter every day, and the honest answer is that most people only ever need to choose between four sizes of Grade 70 transport chain. Here is the whole lineup with the numbers that matter.

The four working sizes

  • 1/4" G70 — Working Load Limit 3,150 lb. The light-duty size: small equipment, mowers, ATVs, pickup-bed work. Easy to handle and cheap to own, but it runs out of rating fast on real machinery.
  • 5/16" G70 — Working Load Limit 4,700 lb. The everyday tow and securement size. Most wrecker gear and general equipment hauling lives here. Light enough to throw, strong enough to matter.
  • 3/8" G70 — Working Load Limit 6,600 lb. The workhorse for heavy equipment on flatbeds and the size DOT officers see most on machinery loads. If you buy one chain for serious work, this is usually it.
  • 1/2" G70 — Working Load Limit 11,300 lb. Heavy machinery territory: dozers, excavators, big ag equipment. Substantially heavier to handle — you buy this size because the load demands it.

Those WLLs are per chain. The same aggregate rule that governs straps governs chain: the combined WLL of all your tie-downs must be at least half the cargo weight, so a 20,000 lb excavator needs 10,000 lb of combined rating — which four 3/8" chains clear comfortably.

Match the binder and hooks to the chain

A chain assembly is rated by its weakest piece. A 3/8" chain with a binder or hook rated below 6,600 lb is not a 6,600 lb tie-down anymore. That is why our ratchet binders are sized to chain ranges (1/4"–5/16", 5/16"–3/8") and why every hook we sell lists its own WLL. Match sizes across the whole assembly and the math stays honest.

Buy it by the foot or as an assembly

We sell G70 by the exact foot — 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", and 1/2" — cut to the length your trailer actually needs instead of the length a package decided. Standard setups are ready-made too, like the 3/8" x 20' assembly with clevis grab hooks on the classic pattern: a grab hook on each end, 20 feet between them.

Or build the exact chain

The chain builder lets you pick the size, the exact length, and the hooks on each end, and shows you the governing WLL as you build. Twenty feet with a grab hook and a slip hook, fifteen feet with J-hooks for the wrecker — whatever the job is, it ships as one welded-and-assembled piece. Not sure which size fits your work? The Help Me Choose tool gets you there in four questions, and our Grade 70 vs. Grade 80 guide covers why transport chain is gold and lifting chain is not.

Always rig within the rated Working Load Limit. Inspect straps and chain before each use and remove them from service if cut, gouged, excessively worn, corroded, or deformed.

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