Does anyone remember the advertisement that used to be seen in Commercial Motor about the benefit of changing over from 3 piece to tubeless wheels? There was a quoted weight saving as one benefit which I would like to know please. Brain thinks it was claiming 5 cwt for 6 wheels, but that seems a lot; 2 cwt seems more like it, or was it 5 cwt for a complete 4 axle artic?
Thanx
cav551:
Does anyone remember the advertisement that used to be seen in Commercial Motor about the benefit of changing over from 3 piece to tubeless wheels? There was a quoted weight saving as one benefit which I would like to know please. Brain thinks it was claiming 5 cwt for 6 wheels, but that seems a lot; 2 cwt seems more like it, or was it 5 cwt for a complete 4 axle artic?Thanx
I can’t believe that there’s been zero interest in this thread,just go’s to confirm my long held belief that to a lot of operators/drivers, tyres were just those “black and round” things you rolled along on !!When I started off in the industry as an owner driver tubeless tyres were fairly new to the industry and viewed with suspicion by many long established operators.My D1000 was delivered on 1000x20 Mich X but I soon weighed up the benefits of using Tubeless and when I needed new tyres on the steer I managed to buy a couple of brand new 1100X 22:5 wheels and Dunlop tyres from the Jet Filling station at Clifton-on-Dunsmore,cash in the hand,no bill 
It was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned,a 1000X20 had 6 components 1) Wheel,2)rim,3)locking ring,4)Flap,5)Inner tube,6)Tyre.The Tubeless wheel had two pieces,1)Wheel,2) tyre 
No contest as far as I was concerned as the tubeless was considerably lighter and generated less heat.My second new motor a BMC Mastiff tractor was delivered on 1100x 22:5 Tubless Mich X as was the trailer.I further improved my vehicle spec by having the new trailers I ordered from then on built with single mono leaf springs which at the time in 1970 was considered ■■■■ silly by some operators,“They’ll never stand up to the job like 7/8 multi leaf springs”.I can honestly say we only ever had two broken mono leaf’s and that was down to nothing less than Driver abuse,we did have the odd locating “pip” shear but otherwise they did us a great job,100% reliable and lighter to boot ! 
Cheers Bewick.
My first wagon was on split rims An 8 wheel Foden Tipper, They were a pain in the arse to repair or fit new tyres, I made sure when I replaced this old Foden the next one would be on tubeless, Which was & I saved a little bit on the ULW, Regards Larry.
Easier and safer to repair a tube and patch a tyre on the ol split rims imo.
Suedehead:
Easier and safer to repair a tube and patch a tyre on the ol split rims imo.
Sorry “Suedehead” I’ll have to disagree with you,it was “no contest” as far as we were concerned,although we did,unfortunately,have to operate 1000X20 tyres on some of the secondhand stuff we bought but we did phase out these wheels over time and we also converted many of the tandem axle trailers we bought secondhand from 7 or 8 leaf springs to Mono leaf.I wouldn’t have liked to tell our tyre fitter that we changing back to tubed wheels,he’d have “jacked” 
Cheers Bewick.
I recall repairing punctures on tubeless tyres withouth removing off the wagon, We had some stuff I cant remember its name it was like a ball of black string, It came with a tool, A bit like the old football lacer & a tin of solution it was great stuff, & then the old mushroom repair pad was introduced, But then the tyre had to be removed from the rim , No problem but sometimes when they were refitted they could be a sod to inflate, A bit of wet newspaper was a fave to get them to seal, Of the tyre fitters had a gadget that they used to use, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
I recall repairing punctures on tubeless tyres withouth removing off the wagon, We had some stuff I cant remember its name it was like a ball of black string, It came with a tool, A bit like the old football lacer & a tin of solution it was great stuff, & then the old mushroom repair pad was introduced, But then the tyre had to be removed from the rim , No problem but sometimes when they were refitted they could be a sod to inflate, A bit of wet newspaper was a fave to get them to seal, Of the tyre fitters had a gadget that they used to use, Regards Larry.
Aye it was funny stuff that string that was used to plug a hole in a tubeless case Larry,but we never had much tyre trouble it was one area of our operation that I took a keen interest in ££££££££££ and we had a great tyre fitter,he paid his wage again and again with the way he looked after the fleet tyres,in the latter years we were spending about £10/12K per month on our tyres and that was reckoned to be very low in comparison to our fleet size,but if you took your eye off the ball and neglected the “rubber” it could cost you dearly in downtime,damage and late deliveries.Cheers Dennis.
No contest- tubeless tyres & monoleaf suspension every time for simplicity and weight. I well remember the sound of a loose locking ring announcing that I had a flat tyre on the drive axle!
Talking about non standard wheels,this is a shot of a secondhand 240 F88 I bought from a dealer in '76 and it had those stupid small diameter wheel studs which was typycal of Volvos,“be different from everyone else syndrome”,and was one of the reasons when they finally went onto standard wheels that I bought some F88’s.On this particular motor,prior to it entering service,painted and lettered,I fitted the drive axle with 4 Firestone tyres that I had aquired ex stock at the takeover of K.Fell’s.What happened,first trip down the road one Sunday it only got to Carnforth and one of the Firestones ran flat so as we didn’t have a spare I had to call Tyre Services out.One or their idiots had fitted the 4 tyres the previous Friday,but there lies another tale,I had a right row with them on the Sunday but we did get the motor mobile again but the up-shot was I kicked Tyre Services out and never dealt with them again as the foreman fitter who answered the call was the comedian that had fitted them and he refused to attend the breakdown on account that his phone “should’nt have rung” on Sunday ! 
Tyre Services senior management badgered me for long enough to start dealing with them again,but I told them that as long as those two ■■■■■■■ idiots( The Manager and the Foreman) were in charge at Kendal depot they could ■■■■ off ! They even tried to persuade me to deal with Barrow and Penrith depots,the manager at Penrith Brian ? was a great bloke but they were too far away so it was a non-starter in any case.Cheers Dennis.
tubeless ,on of best innovations in transportbuissnes very happy ,less heat less punktures ,less fuel and longer life on tyres 
,cheers benkku
One job I hated was having to deflate the tyre on a three piece wheel to grind the locking ring down if the ends were touching and that meant an MOT failure. I knew of one company who prised the locking ring up enough to get the grinder on it without deflating the tyre, braver men than me!
Pete.
bma.finland:
tubeless ,on of best innovations in transportbuissnes
Right on benkku
formula 1 back in tube tyres it seems .to bad
hi lads, them split rim wheels were deadly, one of Mcphee’s wolverhampton lads was killed when it came apart after the tyre had been repaired, seen a tyre fitter sitting on the tyre when inflating it and hammering the locking rim into place when it exploded, 
the flange and rim finished buried in the roof, the old guy that i work for at that time always insisted you used the cage when inflate, wonder how many tyre fitter and drivers got injured through working on them split rim wheels, bumper
bma.finland:
formula 1 back in tube tyres it seems .to bad
I’ve heard there was a lot of punctures during the Grand Prix at Silverstone to-day,I wonder if going back onto Tubed tyres had anything to do with the problem ? Cheers Dennis.
bumper:
hi lads, them split rim wheels were deadly, one of Mcphee’s wolverhampton lads was killed when it came apart after the tyre had been repaired, seen a tyre fitter sitting on the tyre when inflating it and hammering the locking rim into place when it exploded,
We used to carry a “safety cage” on Nts years years ago and must admit to never using one,the portable ones wouldnt have stopped an exploding carrott imo.
Used to stand over tyres whilst inflating, tapping the lockring /flanges on the hard shoulder without the aid of a lane 1 closure back in the day but ho hum ,was younger then.
I stand well back pumping up the wheelbarrow tyre nowadays
Years ago on my way home in France, noticed the familier clanking sound of a locking ring that had come off, first thought was a puncture on the drive axle or on the trailer, but on looking down as I’m still on the move, there’s the locking ring rolling along beside the cab, pulled off and jumped down went to the drive axle all ok went to the trailer everything ok there, went back to the cab thinking it must have been someone else’s locking ring come off only to find the locking ring and rim on my side of the steer axle missing but the tyre still inflated and firmly attached to the wheel, well I’ve never moved so quick in my life. By now a couple of other English drivers had pulled up to lend a hand, we decided that I’d drive slowly down the hard shoulder pulling the steering from side to side to see if that would make it blow, after a mile or so no such luck the tyre was still firmly attached to the wheel, and no one was going near it till the air pressure was released. Then the police turned up I explained to them what the problem was and the only solution to releasing the pressure was for one of them to shoot the tyre out, which they politely refused, telling us not be to long in sorting it and went on their way leaving us to it. It was then decided the way to deflate the was to take my life in my hands and undo the valve which I managed to do, if the tyre had decided to blow then you’d have had at best a deaf, one handed driver with brown pants it took a few minutes to go down and even after removing the wheel and rolling it around it was still firmly attached to the wheel. I was told later back in the yard that even the fitters had a pig of a job getting the tyre off the wheel even with all their tools and presses. O happy days.
Ossie
Tubeless Tyres can go off with a bang also, had one go when the vehicle was sitting on the pit, it took two sets of long light fittings out, just as well nobody was near at the time, some nugget had re-inflated a runflat, they are then just a time bomb waiting to go off. I never had any problems with the old split ring (not split rim different altogether), as far as I remember we actually called them dished wheels and didn’t refer to them as split anything, I think this wording came out once tubeless became more dominant and the older type wheel had went out of use.
If the wheel, flange and locking ring were cleaned up before fitting back together it cut down the chances of the ring blowing off, of course the ring had to be looked at to make sure it was fit for purpose in the first place but how many bothered doing these things. I try to treat wheels with respect whatever size, that’s a lot of air pressure coming out of a small fracture and because of that the velocity is increased rather like a shell leaving a gun barrel. I have seen the results of tyres going off in photo’s taken after the event that the Fire Service have, I’m not going into detail but its not a nice way to die. Tubeless are a better idea than the old system but you still have to keep in mind the safety aspects. Franky.
As a former commercial tyre fitter (circa 1987-1994) I hated D20s because of their reputation with the locking rings. One fleet I looked after occasionally sold on old tanker (trailers) they had and I would get to work removing the 11.225s from them and replacing with D20s so I wouldn’t have to change the tyres on those dreaded wheels!
In the same sort of vein if they ever dredge the river Mersey near Bromborough then they will find a good few hundred nylock wheel nuts I ‘accidentally’ threw in there!
Cavlad:
As a former commercial tyre fitter (circa 1987-1994) I hated D20s because of their reputation with the locking rings. One fleet I looked after occasionally sold on old tanker (trailers) they had and I would get to work removing the 11.225s from them and replacing with D20s so I wouldn’t have to change the tyres on those dreaded wheels!In the same sort of vein if they ever dredge the river Mersey near Bromborough then they will find a good few hundred nylock wheel nuts I ‘accidentally’ threw in there!
If they ever dredge the Mersey @ Bromborough I would hate to think what else they would find…more than Nylocks and Tesco trolley’s!!
David