Heavy Duty Trucking, April 2018
APRIL 2018 HDT 87 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM ts said that dead men tell no tales Dead tires however sure do Ignore them and you do so at your expense Since tires rarely self destruct there is always a smoking gun and its in your best interest to find it You do that through failure analysis An expert can tell at a glance whats happening to a tire often by just looking at it or rubbing a hand over the tread face Tire wear you see isnt the tires fault Theres something wrong with the truck thats aggravating the situation You must fix that to arrest the tire wear So where do you start If you do not have the luxury of an in house expert a service provider can probably help Jeff Lecklider president of Gem City Tire in Dayton Ohio performs that service for dozens of fleet customers We work with the customer to help them to reduce their tire costs and we usually start with a fleet survey he says Well give them a baseline of the condition of their fleet including tread depth air pressure any tire conditions irregular wear flat tires etc and then we recommend a course of action We do this regularly so we can spot problems as soon as they become visible Whats wrecking your tires Understanding the reasons behind tire failure can help them live long and productive lives Various mechanical problems leave telltale signs on tires Take cupping and scalloped wear on a steer tire Thats usually caused by some non uniformity in the tire wheel assembly such as non concentric mounting or a moderate to severe out of balance condition Feathered wear on a steer tire is another easy one its a sign of misalignment But which misalignment condition Here you might need to dig a little deeper It could be an excessive toe in condition It could be drive axle misalignment creating a side thrust Or it could be a bent tie rod Tires are symptomatic says tire expert By Jim Park Equipment Editor jpark@ truckinginfo com TIRES WHEELS I Tire service providers and retreaders can be a great source of failure analysis if the unit number and wheel position are tracked PHOTOS JIM PARK
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