There was a TV programme about a large British haulier last week and several people commented on the fact that a driver kicked his tyres to check the pressures. There have been comments asking where people can buy tyre pressure checking boots.
I’m puzzled by this because I have been kicking truck and trailer tyres for 25 years now to check the pressures. I thought all truck drivers did. Nobody has ever issued me with a tyre pressure gauge, or told me to stop at the first garage to check them.
Surely I’m not the only driver who can tell whether a tyre is sufficiently inflated by kicking it?
Harry Monk:
There was a TV programme about a large British haulier last week and several people commented on the fact that a driver kicked his tyres to check the pressures. There have been comments asking where people can buy tyre pressure checking boots.
I’m puzzled by this because I have been kicking truck and trailer tyres for 25 years now to check the pressures. I thought all truck drivers did. Nobody has ever issued me with a tyre pressure gauge, or told me to stop at the first garage to check them.
Surely I’m not the only driver who can tell whether a tyre is sufficiently inflated by kicking it?
Harry been doing the same for a bit longer you are not alone.
It’s just a quick way of checking that one of the tyres on double bank wheels has’nt got a puncture and gone flat because you won’t know by looking at them.Which is why no one ever checks the front tyres by kicking them .But it won’t tell you exactly what pressure they are which is one of the first things the old bill go for in their investigations in the event of an RTA.
When doing traction work i allways went round the trailer with a lump hammer and yes i did hit the tyres with it i could reach the inner tyres with the hammer. My motto is if it falls off after being hit with a hammer it would fall off after a nasty pot hole.
By the way they were cobblefret trailers back in the 90s so needed a good hammering lol
Haveyou ever watched a flight engineer checking a commercial passenger aircraft prior o take off?
Kicking the tyres is part of that check, as I have observed many times.
Im fairly new to trucking compared to most 3 1/2 years service and I dont really kick the tyres I can pretty much tell they are ok by looking at them, My trailer is empty at the start/end of the day, maybe if there was a load on it would be more obvious if they were soft?
Alcpone:
Im fairly new to trucking compared to most 3 1/2 years service and I dont really kick the tyres I can pretty much tell they are ok by looking at them, My trailer is empty at the start/end of the day, maybe if there was a load on it would be more obvious if they were soft?
You can’t tell by looking at them as a rule
Most trailers have multiple axles, so the inflated tyres would hold the weight of the trailer making the flat 1 look up.
Units usually have 3 axles these days and 4 wheels on the rear axle, same applies.
Give them a kick, they sound and feel different if flat, but only when seriously down on pressure - no weight on them anymore.
Cruise Control:
didnt a truck driver die on the A14 using a lump hammer on his front tyre when it exploded or something like that?
No it was twin wheels and there was a brick or rock jammed between two hot tyres
An HGV driver died in a tyre explosion in a lay-by on the A14 after using a hammer and chisel to remove debris from between the truck’s wheels.
The inquest held at Athenaeum in Bury St Edmunds, heard that 51-year-old lorry driver Marshall Bell, of Soham, died from chest injuries after he was thrown into the air by the force of the tyre explosion.
On the day of the accident (26 March) in a lay-by at Haughley, the tyres on Bell’s truck were inflated to 110psi. Normally, they should be deflated or the wheels removed if there is difficulty removing debris.
Ian Osler, a director at Bell’s employer, Ely, Cambridgeshire-based Geoff Hobbs Haulage, said that health and safety training had been given before the incident, and it never included the use of a hammer and chisel.
A verdict of accidental death was recorded.
Most folks will check their tyres in the morning when they do the walk around, and probably while tyres are cold
Harry Monk:
There was a TV programme about a large British haulier last week and several people commented on the fact that a driver kicked his tyres to check the pressures. There have been comments asking where people can buy tyre pressure checking boots.
I’m puzzled by this because I have been kicking truck and trailer tyres for 25 years now to check the pressures. I thought all truck drivers did. Nobody has ever issued me with a tyre pressure gauge, or told me to stop at the first garage to check them.
Surely I’m not the only driver who can tell whether a tyre is sufficiently inflated by kicking it?
Harry,
This was on the “Stobart” prog last week.The statement made was that the driver was kicking the tyres to check they were at the “Correct”, pressure.
Now we all know,or most of us anyway,that you cannot tell the correct pressure by kicking them,but you can tell if there is insufficient pressure or a total flat by kicking them.
I well remember when driving in Turkey,every time a “Tonka” stopped,the second man,lad,would get out with a lump hammer and give EVERY tyre a good thumping,all the way round,to make sure they were up to pressure,all the way round!
inflated tyre should go ping sort of noise when hit by a lump hammer on its side wall but DO NOT do this when the tyre is hot or if there is a bulge or split in the wall…
mi13ke:
‘…Have you ever watched a flight engineer checking a commercial passenger aircraft prior to take off…?’
Kicking the tyres is part of that check, as I have observed many times.
The point is appreciated, but it aint that simple.
Whilst it’s usually a Ground Engineer that signs a jet off as being serviceable for release to fly, the ‘check’ by kick is more simply part of a double check, ie, by engaging two human senses of sight & touch to more likely ensure that:
a) The wheel/tyre/brake assembly is there and that
b) Nothing obviously unserviceable is apparent.
I propose that this latter point is what we more accurately do as drivers within the six week vehicle servicing period.
Back to the airport, the ‘check’ as seen is part of a well trained, practiced & understood routine, undoubtedly on behalf of the captain who would have signed for the aircraft. Meanwhile, the word ‘check’ has a legal aviation specific definition of it requiring a value - in this case pressure within the wheel cover, being compared to that on a scale, ie, a pressure gauge. This in turn requires stringent calibration criteria, which a welly with a foot does cannot ever hope to match.
.But it won’t tell you exactly what pressure they are which is one of the first things the old bill go for in their investigations in the event of an RTA.
