Heading east on the A47 today i saw a guy pulled over with a front axle flat and the mid steer up, would you swap the flat with the mid lift and arrange for someone to meet you at the other end or sit and wait for someone to come to you and waste a lot of time?
Depends on whether he had the kit to do it or not. ie wheel-brace,jack etc.
If I had the tools, I’d do it 
dazteahan:
Heading east on the A47 today i saw a guy pulled over with a front axle flat and the mid steer up, would you swap the flat with the mid lift and arrange for someone to meet you at the other end or sit and wait for someone to come to you and waste a lot of time?
I’ve worked for a couple of people where this was normal practice, Although i never actually had to do it, i was informed that if i ever in the situation then it would be expected of me, unless i was in a dangerous position(Motorway hard shoulder etc)
Do you think todays steering wheel attendants could or would be allowed I think not
robthedog:
Do you think todays steering wheel attendants could or would be allowed I think not
That’s the thing. I’d think most of the big boys would have you out the gate if you managed to get hold of a jack and weelbrace and do it.
I’d do it but we don’t carry the kit, i do however keep an air line with me, assuming a puncture isn’t too fast it can be kept inflated till convenient.
I doubt many could manage it these days, i see the AA, other breakdown services are avaliable, having to change car wheels often enough, we seem to have an increasingly helpless motoring public, unfortunately that now includes HGV licence holders.
I know some companies won’t allow drivers to change bulbs let alone wheels, seeing the number of times i’ve found a single contact bulb in a double contact holder, and vice versa, and headlight bulbs upside down i can understand why they don’t.
Back in 1973, I had a front blowout on a 35cwt transit, jacked the back up took one of the twins off, swapped it with the front blown one, put the flat back on the inside, of the twin, finished my deliveries and back to the yard, so yes I would do it.
in the 70s i had a wheel bearing over heating on M 62 near the OLDHAM juncion ,had abount 12 miles to my delivery kept stopping to let it cool down as i had aload of paper on ,got to the drop unloaded ,took the wheels off the trying to get the fork truck driver to lift them onto the trailor ,another storey elf and saftey ,had to ask the boss the saftey officer they aggreed ,then got him lift the axle up on the trailor so i could chain it up ,cost me a tenner but well worth it in time and call out ,then home James and dont spare the horses ,Yours Barry
Juddian:
I’d do it but we don’t carry the kit, i do however keep an air line with me, assuming a puncture isn’t too fast it can be kept inflated till convenient.I doubt many could manage it these days, i see the AA, other breakdown services are avaliable, having to change car wheels often enough, we seem to have an increasingly helpless motoring public, unfortunately that now includes HGV licence holders.
I know some companies won’t allow drivers to change bulbs let alone wheels, seeing the number of times i’ve found a single contact bulb in a double contact holder, and vice versa, and headlight bulbs upside down i can understand why they don’t.
Talking about car punctures some of the manufacturers don’t supply a spare wheel of any description these days. I have a new Honda and the kit consists of a bottle of repair liquid (replacement cost £39.00) and a mini compressor to plug into the auxillary power socket. Ok if it is just a pin hole in the tread but useless if the tyre damage is any size at all. Only option then is to call the breakdown service.
Going back to the early eighties I was driving a Leyland Clydesdale loaded with 16 fat cattle going for slaughter and got a front wheel blow out on a single carriageway section of the A1 between Berwick and Alnwick. Bit of a sweaty few minutes with just the bottle jack under the front axle and the load getting restless in the back !!
tyneside:
Juddian:
Talking about car punctures some of the manufacturers don’t supply a spare wheel of any description these days. I have a new Honda and the kit consists of a bottle of repair liquid (replacement cost £39.00) and a mini compressor to plug into the auxillary power socket. Ok if it is just a pin hole in the tread but useless if the tyre damage is any size at all. Only option then is to call the breakdown service.
Yep, simply bloody ridiculous that.
At the very least i want a space saver, though can’t say i’d be happy running a wheelbarrow tyre on my car.
If i go to buy a vehicle, if it isn’t supplied with an effective spare then whoever is selling it can stick it where the sun don’t cast a shadow i won’t be buying into this ever, sods law dictates the one time you shred a tyre you will be hundreds of miles from home on a cold wet Saturday night, and the breakdown service will bend you over if they can even locate a tyre.
I sat for about 6 hours on the M11 one evening with a transporter trailer blow out, ATS bloke had to drive all over east anglia to find the oddball tyre, what hope for some peculiar car tyre size.
kr79:
robthedog:
Do you think todays steering wheel attendants could or would be allowed I think notThat’s the thing. I’d think most of the big boys would have you out the gate if you managed to get hold of a jack and weelbrace and do it.
A mate of mine when we had just gone over from Air Products to Wincanton just after they had taken over the contract, he was put on a disciplinary because on a saturday he had the nerve & ordasity to check his own wheelnuts between runs because he’d had a tyre changed at the start of the shift, but when he got back there wasn’t any fitters about! Bare in mind this is a bloke with 30+ years on the road done European & Middle East for Brit’/Dutch?Irish firms, but typical big “LOGISTICS” attitude as normal was that he wasn’t qualified to check his own wheel-nuts 
If it wasn’t so pathetic it would be funny 
Chris
So I suppose my " get me home" chained up axle would mean that I should stay where I am until the Tyre fitter gets out to me to fit some new ones…I had run out of spares and there were’nt any more to share round so I just did what I had to do and chained up the axle which gave me two more spares !! Voila!!
F#@%k the Elf ‘n’ Safety…thats why Road Haulage is in the ■■■■ the way it is, too many do gooders stopping real drivers getting the job done.
GS
Hi GS. Had an identical problem near Bandar Abbas with a full load of rice on board grossing over 40 tonnes with an FB88 and a CF spread axle tandem tilt. Chained up as per your photo but during the heat of the day. Luckily there was an American oil camp nearby and they took us in for a shower and a meal in heavenly air conditioning. Then drove all the way through to Tehran with no further problems. We had tried National Tyre service but they couldn’t get out to us until late in the evening!
GS OVERLAND:
So I suppose my " get me home" chained up axle would mean that I should stay where I am until the Tyre fitter gets out to me to fit some new ones…I had run out of spares and there were’nt any more to share round so I just did what I had to do and chained up the axle which gave me two more spares !! Voila!!
F#@%k the Elf ‘n’ Safety…thats why Road Haulage is in the [zb] the way it is, too many do gooders stopping real drivers getting the job done.
GS
How far did you get before that tyre on the left blew out GS
Funny enough I seem to remember getting back to Dover !! and then had a load of tyres brought down so that I could get up the road.