Wouldn’t do it now but I have memories of gripping onto a Tilt TIR cord and jumping up and down on a wheelbrace with three extensions and creaking the nut undone an eighth of a turn each jump.
Also of wheels refusing to come off after removing the nuts, even when hit with a sledgehammer because they were rusted on, on more than one occasion I have had to replace two wheelnuts, turned clockwise only a few turns, then drive round in circles until the wheel broke away from the trailer.
And this was all completely normal when I used to do it, just another part of the job.
Harry Monk:
Wouldn’t do it now but I have memories of gripping onto a Tilt TIR cord and jumping up and down on a wheelbrace with three extensions and creaking the nut undone an eighth of a turn each jump.
Been there, done that
Stripped out one of the 3m roof supports on the drag once to use as an extension to get some extra leverage
Same in France, our independent tyre fitter told me that 80% of HGV tyre call-outs come to over £1000, and that French tyre fitters earn the same as French doctors. I didn’t ask him how he knew, I presumed it was from a trade journal,
I had to get a tyre replaced on an old bus I was taking out to Cologne earlier in the year.
334 euros fitted at a tyre depot. Expensive, but cheaper than getting a new tyre out from UK…plus I didnt have any jack/tools so no chance of changing it myself even if I could have. Split rim…leave it to the experts!
I thought that a bus had to have a jack as part of its standard equipment.Some of those alloy wheels get siezed on even with all of the nuts/bolts removed.I think that wheel changing is a specialist job nowadays.
alamcculloch:
I thought that a bus had to have a jack as part of its standard equipment.Some of those alloy wheels get siezed on even with all of the nuts/bolts removed.I think that wheel changing is a specialist job nowadays.
Wouldnt know where the jack was on my one, though I do know where the spare is though - under the front flap
I’d happily change a wheel given the correct tools. But it’s not something that i’ve ever heard of in the short time i’ve been doing this job.
I did offer to change tyres for the boss in the last place (he was tight, and kept all the dead ones in the back of the warehouse, and occasionally got them recut), I costed up the tools he would need to buy, and he stood to make a good saving, but he didn’t like the idea. I’ve seen enough tyre fitters doing their thing to be confident in doing it myself, it isn’t exactly rocket science, just a bit of technique might allow them to do it slightly quicker than an amateur.
I’ve seen van couriers not able to change their own tyre despite having the spare wheel accesible and the tools to do it, thanks to “elf and safety”.
Seems I am behind the times with employers paying drivers to change wheels or calling tyre technicians out, what ever next? They will want Christmas day off before we know it! Bah humbug
But unless you need to save weight, than simply carrying a spare wheel can save these scare stories of £1000 call outs, vital for small hauliers and owner drivers I would have thought.
As the owner of a small family company, we operate six articulated vehicles on international work; I refuse to allow drivers to change their own tires. This all came about after one of our employed drivers changed a wheel on one of our trailers in Belgium, then, on his return to the UK, eight days later, promptly visited his doctor, and after almost three months on ‘the sick’ due to torn muscles in his shoulder, and a sprained (badly, I’m assured) wrist , he returned to work informing me that it was his opinion that he was going to suffer discomfort in his shoulder and arm for years, and it was his hope that, as his employer, I’d be willing to place him on light duties. This, I gladly did, he was shown the way to the local job centre, and encouraged to make full use of its amenities, as by his own admission, he was unfit to perform the duties stated in his contract. Since then, my son and I are the only ones that change our own wheels. I’m more than happy to use call out services, and let the accountant recoup the costs through means devious or fair.
the skipper:
As the owner of a small family company, we operate six articulated vehicles on international work; I refuse to allow drivers to change their own tires. This all came about after one of our employed drivers changed a wheel on one of our trailers in Belgium, then, on his return to the UK, eight days later, promptly visited his doctor, and after almost three months on ‘the sick’ due to torn muscles in his shoulder, and a sprained (badly, I’m assured) wrist , he returned to work informing me that it was his opinion that he was going to suffer discomfort in his shoulder and arm for years, and it was his hope that, as his employer, I’d be willing to place him on light duties. This, I gladly did, he was shown the way to the local job centre, and encouraged to make full use of its amenities, as by his own admission, he was unfit to perform the duties stated in his contract. Since then, my son and I are the only ones that change our own wheels. I’m more than happy to use call out services, and let the accountant recoup the costs through means devious or fair.
I understand your post, but if a trailer carries a spare wheel there are enough tyre centers who will swap the rims over for a more reasonable fee, it was horrendous the last time I had a blowout and my only means of rescue was DKV
your still looking at £300 to change the wheels over. you get charged uk call out fee
international callout fee
milage charge
whatever else they want to charge because they can
Yep, changing a Super Single is no problem for a fit young person, and many of us used to do it when we were one of those…I could still do it now but I would probably ache for days so why should I when ATS have all of the kit to do it without anyone getting hurt and I have a mobile phone to call them out?
In any event it is worth the call-out fee just to watch the tyre fitter using that cylinder thing which they spend 30 seconds compressing and half a second de-compressing, the thing that bangs your tyre onto the rim. What a fantastic piece of kit!
Harry Monk:
Yep, changing a Super Single is no problem for a fit young person, and many of us used to do it when we were one of those…I could still do it now but I would probably ache for days so why should I when ATS have all of the kit to do it without anyone getting hurt and I have a mobile phone to call them out?
In any event it is worth the call-out fee just to watch the tyre fitter using that cylinder thing which they spend 30 seconds compressing and half a second de-compressing, the thing that bangs your tyre onto the rim. What a fantastic piece of kit!
Yes, much safer than the pint of petrol trick and a tyre fitter with no eyebrows
Donuts are easier to change than those thing on the megacubes. You can keep a straight back on the singles but on the cubes you are bent double most of the time.
