Death of driver struck by his own HGV

kevmac47:

Wheel Nut:

TTX boy:
wheel nut, what are the benifits of palm couplings ■■?

Much easier to pull off in an emergency and they go on much easier especially in confined spaces like fridges and car transporters
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My views on palm couplings are categorically no!!! most UK hauliers got rid of them in the long distant past for good reason. Yes they are easy to pull
off but as anyone who has worked with then for any time will tell you unless the coupling is exactly vertical when you execute a tight turn it will come
off. Its easy to say the garage should make sure they are always tight but in practice it does’nt happen, in the case of palms it is critical. When I worked
for Onward the maintenance was first class but often if you had an airleak when connecting up you could turn the coupling slightly right and seal the
leak its not rocket science to figure out that before long the coupling is now horizontal .Now try a tight turn and off it comes and if your travelling at
any speed a disaster is in the making. Another problem is trying to get a decent seal if the rubber is worn although you can carry spares (my simple remedy
as I told my son who still has to use them now and then) is to smear them with grease from the fifth wheel .The dirtier the grease the better the seal.

This is where we disagree then. I have used palms constantly for the past 15 years and never had one come off, I never had to grease any palms, well not in that way :stuck_out_tongue:

But I don’t believe they are so dangerous and the UK is the only one who uses them.

Over to Bob and NewMercMan