When I was driving tank transporters it wasn’t uncommon to get four trailer tyres go at once! We used to make the wheels back up and put them under the trailer to blow them up in case the split ring gave way. It could be a full day job to get the buggers changed. Spent my 19th birthday in a bloody rastplaz doing just that 
nightline:
robroy:
Bking:
Ask some “he” man trucker to change a wheel?
Jesus are you taking the proverbial?Like asking a man to do a real job.
Been in this job for 50 years and never have I seen such a bunch of asrse wipes as I see today “driving” a truck.
They should be ashamed of themselvesThere are also a few fitters that are a bit bogpaperesque as well mate, …(and one or two smartarsed gobby know it all ones also I’ve noticed tbh
)
Good man tell us a few stories as of when you were young and all your experience first hand
Most driver’s of today would not get past first Base you were jack of all that was required then and most of the time it was brilliant and some of the time it was [zb]
I would bud, but they would just be wasted on you.
Thanks for the compliment btw, I didn’t even realise you were a fan. 
Sorry to shatter your admiration of me, but sorry, no I wasn’t the ‘‘jack’’ of anything, I just kinda got on with it then, like everyone else. 
Btw if you are going to continue having a pop at me,.at least attempt to punctuate your sentences, so I don’t pick them up wrong…Cheers.
I was changing lorry wheels when I was 12 years old, if I couldn’t crack the nuts. I had to rely on the boss’s son or daughter to jump on the bar with me, they taught me how to lever a wheel on or off using two bars and your head, you only put twin wheels on wrong once, if the valves don’t line up opposite or you twist the bypass valve. The last wheel I had to change I needed two tyre fitters as we couldn’t get a jack under the front axle. Oh I was popular on the A38 [emoji23]
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Hi Citycat, yes I think they were different branches of the same company. They were run by two Aussie guys, who told us at the interview that if we saw them on tour we were to address them by their Christian names and not let the punters know that they were the bosses! One of them gave me a load of bul****t about how drivers were saving over £3000 per season, which I questioned, as they hadn’t earned that much in the time. No reply!
They only wanted to employ single drivers as they were fed up with angry wives ringing them asking where their husbands were, as you came no closer to home for the summer than Calais, as this was where the changeover of passengers was done. I am not surprised to learn that they put you through your PSV test, as I doubt that many experienced drivers would work for the wages and conditions they were offering.When I went for my interview at the Penta hotel in London there was about 30 drivers there and the only ones who seemed to be willing to work for them were drivers wanting to get away from clinging wives or girlfriends and have a good time with some of the potential couriers also there (and the perceived glory of driving on the Continent). The following year I ran into a driver at Holimarine in Burnham-on-Sea who had done the previous summer with them and he said that going to work for them was the worst decision he had ever made,( and he was working for a crap firm then in my opinion) Did you have to pay for your 4weeks training period in Europe?
kickstart:
Hi Citycat, yes I think they were different branches of the same company. They were run by two Aussie guys, who told us at the interview that if we saw them on tour we were to address them by their Christian names and not let the punters know that they were the bosses! One of them gave me a load of bul****t about how drivers were saving over £3000 per season, which I questioned, as they hadn’t earned that much in the time. No reply!
They only wanted to employ single drivers as they were fed up with angry wives ringing them asking where their husbands were, as you came no closer to home for the summer than Calais, as this was where the changeover of passengers was done. I am not surprised to learn that they put you through your PSV test, as I doubt that many experienced drivers would work for the wages and conditions they were offering.When I went for my interview at the Penta hotel in London there was about 30 drivers there and the only ones who seemed to be willing to work for them were drivers wanting to get away from clinging wives or girlfriends and have a good time with some of the potential couriers also there (and the perceived glory of driving on the Continent). The following year I ran into a driver at Holimarine in Burnham-on-Sea who had done the previous summer with them and he said that going to work for them was the worst decision he had ever made,( and he was working for a crap firm then in my opinion) Did you have to pay for your 4weeks training period in Europe?
Yes, definitely the same company. NAT was started by two aussies and NAT stood for North African Tours, though most people called it Never Again Travel. I loved it as a courier but when I became a driver, I couldn’t stand the ■■■■■■■■ Coach Captains you had to work with, so only lasted part of a season. I went to a company called Len Wright Travel and started driving band buses.
No, I didn’t have to pay for the training trip. It was all covered. A couple of years later, I heard a driver died on the training trip. He was in a caravan and hopped to the gas stove while in a sleeping bag to make a cup of tea. The sleeping bag caught alight and he couldn’t get out of it in time. 
Hi Citycat, so glad to have it confirmed that I made the right choice in voting with my feet. Everything was telling me that they should be issuing a Stetson and a set of spurs when you started for them. I understand Club Cantabrica weren’t much better either. There is usually a reason why these type of holidays are so cheap.
kickstart:
Hi Citycat, so glad to have it confirmed that I made the right choice in voting with my feet. Everything was telling me that they should be issuing a Stetson and a set of spurs when you started for them. I understand Club Cantabrica weren’t much better either. There is usually a reason why these type of holidays are so cheap.
Clubs were much better and I ended up doing about fifteen years with them on a part time basis. I had a full time non driving job and would do a few shuttles a year, more for the laughs than anything else. You might find this old thread a good read, where I posted up some pictures.
Hi Citycat, that link was excellent!
Speaking of changing a wheel I got a puncture today on my old 1999 Rover, first time in many a year, I already had a slow air leak on one of the rims so I changed them over for my Sunday best set of Rover Serpent alloys.
UKtramp:
Adonis.:
100 quid at my place, as has been said it’s not bad for less than an hours work.I work for a firm where we all crack on and work together, an attitude quite a lot on here could learn from.
Can you imagine some of the wimps on here who drive home in tears when they don’t want to do something, having to change a tyre up a mountain in Spain because the only other option is wait the entire night for a fitter.
A.
Fantastic mate, great to hear that your working as a team when you break down at the roadside on your own and you are helping out each other by fixing your own wheel and getting £100 for this. Nothing like being a wimp by not changing a wheel and especially if you don’t carry one like I don’t. Even if I did carry one, I do not consider my not wanting to change it as being a wimp or not being a team player. You need to carry the correct tools to do it as well, also if you injure yourself changing the wheel would you get paid for being off on the sick? Other factors to consider is that the wheel nuts need to be torqued to the correct tightness so unless you have a calibrated torque wrench how can you follow a manufacturers recommendation for safety. Yes it is a simple procedure to replace a wheel given a certain criteria but if that criteria cannot be met then it isn’t about being a wimp or a team player. It is about being sensible.
What would be the point of giving some one like you a spare wheel?
Might as well give a fish a bicycle.
Probably more chance of the bugger learning to ride it.
Bking:
What would be the point of giving some one like you a spare wheel?
Might as well give a fish a bicycle.
Probably more chance of the bugger learning to ride it.
Quite right dumb ■■■. It isn’t a case of not been able to do it, it is a case of not wanting to do it thanks, any idiot can undo a few nuts and tighten them up, that doesn’t make you a mechanic. I have more mechanical ability in my little finger than you have in total. Now off you pop and check your wheel, there’s a good lad and don’t forget, no stopping and having a ■■■■ either before you get too cocky.
I’ve changed a few over the years, but nowadays I wouldn’t even think about doing it, not even on my car.
That’s what recovery companies are for!
lancpudn:
Speaking of changing a wheel I got a puncture today on my old 1999 Rover, first time in many a year, I already had a slow air leak on one of the rims so I changed them over for my Sunday best set of Rover Serpent alloys.
Thats a lovely 75 mate, never owned one and probably won’t cos we have dogs so estates are a must, but i loved the 75’s from the very first one i sat in at Longbridge, just oozed old fashioned gentlemans club essence with piped leather wood and that beautiful dash, course yy dream would be a V8 with correct wheel drive and i’d have to dig one of me long passed Dad’s pipes out to complete the picture.
You keep it looking pristine its a credit to you.
By the way i do most of my car work and i can change lorry wheels and fit regroove and repair (vulcanised rasped filled patched properly) lorry tyres with the best of them.
Can’t stand all the ■■■■■■■■ of modern transport where bone idle sods can’t do anything bar park their arses on the seat select D and steer…That isn’t bloody lorry driving.
UKtramp:
Bking:
What would be the point of giving some one like you a spare wheel?
Might as well give a fish a bicycle.
Probably more chance of the bugger learning to ride it.Quite right dumb ■■■. It isn’t a case of not been able to do it, it is a case of not wanting to do it thanks, any idiot can undo a few nuts and tighten them up, that doesn’t make you a mechanic. I have more mechanical ability in my little finger than you have in total. Now off you pop and check your wheel, there’s a good lad and don’t forget, no stopping and having a ■■■■ either before you get too cocky.
Thought you had to jack up the axle first ?
Juddian:
lancpudn:
Speaking of changing a wheel I got a puncture today on my old 1999 Rover, first time in many a year, I already had a slow air leak on one of the rims so I changed them over for my Sunday best set of Rover Serpent alloys.
Thats a lovely 75 mate, never owned one and probably won’t cos we have dogs so estates are a must, but i loved the 75’s from the very first one i sat in at Longbridge, just oozed old fashioned gentlemans club essence with piped leather wood and that beautiful dash, course yy dream would be a V8 with correct wheel drive
You keep it looking pristine its a credit to you.By the way i do most of my car work and i can change lorry wheels and fit regroove and repair (vulcanised rasped filled patched properly) lorry tyres with the best of them.
Can’t stand all the ■■■■■■■■ of modern transport where bone idle sods can’t do anything bar park their arses on the seat select D and steer…That isn’t bloody lorry driving.
++1
Juddian:
lancpudn:
Speaking of changing a wheel I got a puncture today on my old 1999 Rover, first time in many a year, I already had a slow air leak on one of the rims so I changed them over for my Sunday best set of Rover Serpent alloys.
Thats a lovely 75 mate, never owned one and probably won’t cos we have dogs so estates are a must, but i loved the 75’s from the very first one i sat in at Longbridge, just oozed old fashioned gentlemans club essence with piped leather wood and that beautiful dash, course yy dream would be a V8 with correct wheel drive
You keep it looking pristine its a credit to you.By the way i do most of my car work and i can change lorry wheels and fit regroove and repair (vulcanised rasped filled patched properly) lorry tyres with the best of them.
Can’t stand all the ■■■■■■■■ of modern transport where bone idle sods can’t do anything bar park their arses on the seat select D and steer…That isn’t bloody lorry driving.
What is it then? I cannot see how anyone nowadays would even want to change a wheel, nothing big or clever in it.
Bking:
Thought you had to jack up the axle first ?
What are you talking about? Never mentioned an axle to begin with. What is it that makes people like you tick, do you honestly believe you are in some way superior because you can change a wheel? I am not expected to change a wheel nor do I carry one so unless I can somehow fabricate a wheel at the side of the road from some scrap I find, I will stick to not changing one. Strange really as years of stripping down large scale motors, compressors and ammonia valves that require a shifter bigger than yourself to move a nut the size of your fist I become inferior to you for not changing a wheel on a lorry. FFS get a grip of yourself.
UKtramp:
Bking:
Thought you had to jack up the axle first ?What are you talking about? Never mentioned an axle to begin with. What is it that makes people like you tick, do you honestly believe you are in some way superior because you can change a wheel? I am not expected to change a wheel nor do I carry one so unless I can somehow fabricate a wheel at the side of the road from some scrap I find, I will stick to not changing one. Strange really as years of stripping down large scale motors, compressors and ammonia valves that require a shifter bigger than yourself to move a nut the size of your fist I become inferior to you for not changing a wheel on a lorry. FFS get a grip of yourself.
That’s his trouble, he’s got too much of a grip on his self.
peterm:
That’s his trouble, he’s got too much of a grip on his self.
I have never come across him before, but my opinion is that he must be on drugs as he just doesn’t make any sense.
UKtramp:
peterm:
That’s his trouble, he’s got too much of a grip on his self.I have never come across him before, but my opinion is that he must be on drugs as he just doesn’t make any sense.
While he clearly does know his stuff when it comes to hands-on spannering , he also has some odd, but very firmly held beliefs.
If you find yourself at a loose end, search out the threads where he asserts that diesel engines cannot “run away” by consuming their own sump oil, that GPS signals deteriorate the further North you go because the satellites are all over the equator, that the US never dropped atomic weapons on Japan or that the moon landings never happened. I believe he has a whole wardrobe full of tinfoil headgear…
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