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Why are adoption rates for proven fuel-saving technologies so low? It looks like a classic case of stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. Maybe “a lack of credible information on payback” means, “we don’t know how much this device will save us so we’re not going to buy it.”
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If you look at balancing from a life-cycle point of view, the value of extending tread life speaks for itself. There’s also casing integrity to consider, retreadability, and to a growing degree, and disposal costs. Yet reliable estimates suggest only about 20% of heavy-duty truck tires are ever balanced.
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Beware the lead tire weight cops. They are out there and working in six states, with several more states looking at banning lead weights. Here's a look at the alternatives to lead in weights -- and alternatives to weights themselves.
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There’s no mystery to why wheels come off trucks. The National Transportation Safety Board in 1992, and Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation in the late 1990s, both concluded after exhaustive studies that inadequate maintenance was the root cause of a series of fatal wheel separation incidents.
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We don't hear many reports of wheel separations anymore, but that doesn't mean we have solved the problem. Reliable estimates suggest unplanned separations still occur at a rate of probably several per day. Exact numbers are hard to determine because many incidents go unreported.
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Wide-base tires aren’t cheap. Not that duals are cheaper, but in a single wide-base tire you have an investment approaching the cost of a pair of standard tires. Minimizing the life-cycle cost of those big wide tires almost demands that they be retreaded.
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It’s not uncommon to find highway trucks with front axles and suspensions rated for 13,200 pounds. While 12,000-pound axles were the industry norm for many years, the move to 13,200-pound axles came with the addition of all that emissions reduction gear. Are you running a steer tire rated for that weight?
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When you are looking to outsource your maintenance, make sure to consider all the angles. Fleets have long wanted to outsource more maintenance, but have been frustrated by problems with the quality, cost and speed of the work. Today, there are more pressures on fleets to outsource than ever.
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How do turtles mate? Why are women’s shirts buttoned on the left while men’s button on the right? How did they build the pyramids? How much air should I put in my tires? Unlike the pyramids, tire inflation needn’t be one of life’s little mysteries. Yet you may be inflating your tires TOO much.
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Wheel-ends function as a system: the spindle, hub, and rim (or wheel), as well as the bearings and the fasteners, all work in concert to keep the wheels in place and the tires running straight and true. If one part of the system is out of whack, the results will be seen and felt elsewhere in the system - usually at the tires themselves.
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