 Truck tire puncture
You hardly ever see spare wheels on trucks anymore, but you do on semi-trailers. No, there is hardly any difference in the incidence of tire damage between the tractor and the trailer, although perhaps
more so in the former due to the higher load.
With well-maintained long-haul semi-trucks, you can probably expect one flat tire on the highway in ten years. According to the ADAC, tires are only responsible for 7 percent of breakdowns across all vehicles in Germany. It
used to be different, very different.
With regard to trucks, the wheels on the entire vehicle should be checked before a longer distance needs to be driven. Some drivers even pick up a hammer and tap on the respective tire to see if it still has enough air.
Of course, a visual inspection is also important, although it is fair to say that it is not possible to reach all parts of the tire. However, if you also take the time to examine the inner flanks of the tire, you will slowly get a picture
after more than one inspection. Whether this is compatible with our hectic times, however, is another matter entirely.
Just think about the possibility of quick changes of semi-trailers. Of course, it would be good if you could trust your colleague from the same company. In addition to checking the sidewalls, construction site vehicles also
require more intensive inspection of the running treads. Foreign objects are only too pleased to work their way into the tires until air is lost.
In the case of a semi-truck, there is usually no space left for a spare tire. And a spare tire together with the trailer is even more of an illusion. Even if the tire size of both were identical,
such considerations would usually come to an end when it came to the rim. In addition, hardly any truck drivers is able to change a tire anymore.
First of all, on the usually busy highway, there is little space on the right-hand side towards the guardrail. On the left, there is the enormous danger posed by flowing traffic. If the semi-truck can't make it to the next exit, it's
not uncommon that even a lane of the highway has to be closed.
And since it takes a lot of effort to get the semi-truck to the workshop anyway, the workshop has to come to the truck. How fortunate that there are systems that enable breakdown assistance technicians to bring the right
replacement part with them. Of course, only the tires, because the rims are often a specialty in themselves.
You can imagine that a certain amount of mobile equipment must already be available. After all, balancing is not common practice for trucks. But other aids, such as a hydraulic axle lift and the corresponding mechanical
safety device.
After all, an axle load of eight tons is no laughing matter. In contrast, what the truck has on board can really only be described as emergency equipment. Truck drivers have long since stopped rolling around with 385/55 R
22.5 tires including rims, and women behind the wheel probably haven't either.
Another advantage is that after perhaps an hour of installation time plus ramp-up time, the job can be completely finished, meaning that no reworking is necessary. The semi-truck can perform all of its intended tasks and
is then available for further use without delay.
As mentioned several times before, time is not only money, but losing time can also mean losing further orders. And so, the more expensive but faster complete handling is often the better solution for the freight forwarder
in relation to the costs incurred due to downtime.
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