Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/328077
MTD June 2014 TMC show dual tires. Very few wide-base singles are in the feet. • Tires are retreaded up to five years of age with no more than two repairs (with no shoulder or section repairs) for drives, and casings up to six years of age for trailers with a maximum of two shoulder and one section repairs. Te feet runs all tires down to 4/32-inch tread depth. • Infation pressures are 100 psi in the steer, dolly and trailer positions, 95 psi in the drive tires. • Currently testing automatic infation systems on 24 new pup trailers. Major challenges: Trying to get driv- ers to participate in tire maintenance, with regular gauged pressure checks and condition reports. Fleet priorities Each of these four feets has diferent priorities and strategies for improving tire life and lowering costs. FedEx Ground, for example, is experimenting with various tire pressures. Te company ran its tires at 85 psi for 10 years, and is now trying to see if wear improves or worsens at 95 psi. Te company also is testing steer tires on its dollies rather than trailer tires." At Crete Carriers, the ongoing struggle is early detection of wear and conditions that could cause problems out on the road. It tries to identify irregular wear be- fore it becomes serious enough to cause permanent damage to a tire, and it tries to stay on top of infation pressure so it doesn't result in an on-road failure. At Batesville, the company is atempting to get the best possible mileage out of its fuel-efcient tires. It is looking at a few diferent scenarios such as running only original tires on drives and retreads on the trailers or vice versa. It also is looking at casing value and whether the company is beter of retreading or selling of its tires as used. South Shore has perhaps the largest chal- lenges to overcome, with its full load out and empty back scenario. Also, spread-axle trailers just eat tires, the company says. Te company is trying a new retread that was designed just for spread-axle trailers, and it's working well so far. On the tractors, the company is aggressive with monitoring tread depth and wear. It rotates the tires frequently and expects to get 300,000 miles on a set of drive tires. And fnally, another issue that most feets grapple with regularly is alignment. None of the four sample feets do regular alignments on tractors, but they do watch closely for truck-induced premature wear. Each said they will do an alignment when the situation demands. Te surveyed companies noted that drivers can be involved in tire maintenance as "early warning systems," but some drivers just won't get involved. Drivers are supposed to check tires as part of the pre- and post-trip inspection with a gauge, but it is a "hard sell" to get them to do it. Some said drivers tend to pay more atention to the tractors than the trailers, so the automatic tire infation system is hooked into the telematics system to notify feet managers of airing events on trailers. ■ Jim Park is equipment editor for MTD's sister publication Heavy Duty Trucking. Quik-Link: 800-687-1557 ext. 17127 48