Blown Truck Tires , Littering Our Highways !

Yea then when freight goes to $6.00 a mile you'll hear a big boom and it won't be a tire either .

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I drive a truck to make money, not see the country. Already done that and I would never dodge scales or inspection points.

I never gauge the tires, that what our mechanics are for.

As a hazmat driver, I'm required to check the tires by thumping them ( just like every body else), before starting out, when stopped and out of the truck and before loading the tanker trailer.

I won't say I'm good enough to tell, by thumping them, if they have 105, or 102 PSI, but I know if they need attention or not, as is true of most drivers, who bother to check..

I check my tires, probably 5 times per day, average. It take all of about 90 seconds, each time.

The tire-gators w/ all the wires are called 'zipper' failures. when one tire carries too much of the load [because the neighbor tire is low] the tire flex of holding up the weight that two tires should support makes so much heat that the steel belts fatigue. when one belt pops, the rest join in and the tread 'unzips'...

Could be thousands of miles after the bad neighbor is replaced. Sometimes the remains on the wheel still has air pressure so the driver does not hear anything until he stops and sees the tire damage. One of those big tires sounds like a gunshot.

I remember having tires on trailers in the yard pop on hot days while parked. That never happens in the winter.

No offense to your trade, but I can most certainly can, in accordance to DOT regulations, properly inspect my rig, in under 10 minutes.

Guess we will agree to disagree.

Because I drive a truck right now.

To hit all points required by regulations can't be hit in 10 minutes.

Actually I've been studying the Ohio CDL manual and happen to have it right beside me.
Section 2:
Driving Safely 2.1.3 - What to look for
Tire problems
*Too much or too little air pressure

And you are supposed to check the tires every time you stop. Doesn't take long to use a pressure gauge. When on a trip I check my van's tires every time I stop. I do a walk around on all my vehicles before I drive off. Just makes sense to do it every time before you get on the road.

And actually, according to the link I posted, the main cause of failure is road hazards. Yes, I believe that. Road hazards are the only reason I've ever had tire failure.

[QUOTE=Danaus29;5423224]Actually I've been studying the Ohio CDL manual and happen to have it right beside me.
Section 2:
Driving Safely 2.1.3 - What to look for
Tire problems
*Too much or too little air pressure

And you are supposed to check the tires every time you stop. Doesn't take long to use a pressure gauge. When on a trip I check my van's tires every time I stop. I do a walk around on all my vehicles before I drive off. Just makes sense to do it every time before you get on the road.

Yep you get you one those long gauges take all those valve caps off then not spit check that valve for slow leak after putting that gauge on it . Yep slow leaks or in cold weather a tad ice a good slow leak .Time you gauge all those tires you an't going far

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If you gauge them all before you start and one is low you mark it someway so you know to pay special attention to that tire. That's how you find slow leaks. Found out I had a cracked rim after repeated slow leaks in one tire. Never knew anyone who spit on their valves to check for a leak that way. Don't know how common valve stem failure is but I've never seen a tire leak that way. From what I've seen slow leaks are from objects in a tire or problems with a rim. And believe me, I can tell if a tire has lost 1/3 of it's pressure just by looking at it.

Besides, I'm not the one who wrote the laws. 10 minutes or 30, it's a required check. At the company my cousin worked for you were expected to take your notebook and a gauge and check the rig before driving off. The bus drivers here are required to check all pressures and log them in a book. My neighbor has to do a walk around with her rig before she drives it off the lot. If you want to take short cuts that's your business, but the law requires you to check the pressure.

........................Where I work I see these heavy hauler oil field tractors pulling 3 , 4 , and 5 axle flatbeds , the 5 axle trailer is rated around 160,000 or maybe a little more ! One of the heaviest loads they haul is a crane that is used too assemble a drilling rig and all it's assorted parts , these cranes have too weigh in at 125,000 or so ! My point is , is that all 5 axles on these flatbed trailers are constantly being.....Dragged\skidded when making turns and this has got too destroy the sidewalls of the trailer tires . Sometimes the turns are so abrupt that the tires are just rolled right off the wheel . I've been told that they have blowouts all the time . , fordy

Not quite. You cannot say the time was brand new, it could also be a newly retreaded tire. What can be said definitively is that the tire carcass failed.

Tire carcass failure is almost always from being overheated, almost always from low air pressure.

We do. From cars to trucks, people do not check their tires for adequate pressure.

Oughta be doing more rail and get some of these trucks off the road.

We was told if we blowed a Tire on Duals to just drive it to the Shop.We didn't carry Spares.

big rockpile

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[QUOTE=Sawmill Jim;5423249]Thump Tires every couple hours.Found most tires that Blew were New.

big rockpile

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I go to the Rock!

There are no Federal (or State, at least in IN) laws, that requires tires to be checked with a pressure gauge, prior to use.

That is a company-specific rule only.

The only DOT requirement, it that the tires be inspected, to be "in good working order", before use and during required intervals.

I know a coal hauler that's carrying over 200,000 lbs per load with triaxle trucks. The 24" tires don't last long.

Well, we do have 16 more tires to gauge and 8 of them, the valve stems, are difficult to get to.

I guess, if I was paid by the hour.

My tire "gauge" is a 10" length of 1" shackle bolt, with a big nut, on one end.

I've driven quite a number of years and you don't very often notice when a tire blows. Out of the dozen or so that I've had I've only noticed two and both because I happen to be looking the the mirrors at that moment.

Bob

plowjockey, I posted the Ohio CDL requirements. No it doesn't say gauge but it does say to check for too much or too little pressure. How do you expect a new driver to know how much pressure is in the tire without a gauge?

foxtrapper, I didn't say tire looked brand new, I said tread is practically brand new. I almost never see tire carcasses with sidewalls attached unless they are smaller car tires.

Around here it's usually blamed on drivers who are running on pills and won't take the time to thump their tires checking for flats. They'll blow them and just keep on driving. Never even checking on the small passenger car that just lost a windshield. Heaven help a motorcyclist legally driving down the highway but don't expect that driver to take any action to make the road safer...... nope, he's got a load to deliver and he certainly doesn't want to be around if a State trooper was to show up and catch him under the influence.

I see your point, on what is in the manual. FWIW "proper" tire pressures are really only accurate, when the tires are cold, plus it should be rare, that a cold tire is over-inflated.

When I read down to the actual OH pre-trip inspection test, it stated that "properly inflated" is all it needs to be, which is pretty generic.

Thump your tires regularly, cold and hot, you'll soon be able to determine which tires need attention.

My experience with tires is that they are either properly inflated or flat, not much in between. If it is a slow leak, it should still be detectable, within a day or so.