Maintenance

Extending Tire Life

Taking steps to protect and preserve your tires will help keep you safe and can ramp up productivity.

by Jack Dutcher

Would it hurt your profitability if one or more of your off-the-road production vehicles were parked for a month or more? Would it matter if they were parked was because you couldn’t get replacement tires?

These scenarios are a very real possibility in today’s off-the-road (OTR) tire market conditions. It’s widely known that there are not enough OTR tires to satisfy demand — despite the fact that OTR tire plants are operating at full capacity. This makes it very important to consider what you can do to extend the life of the tires you already have. The good news is that there are many things that can be done to extend tire life. What’s even better news is that each of these things can also help the productivity of the machine the tires are on.

Proper air pressure

One way to improve tire life is through careful attention to air pressure. Most of us realize it’s the air in the tire that supports the load. But not everyone realizes that the proper air pressure ensures the tire operates at its “designed shape.”

Proper care of haul roads can help extend tire life. Regular, good maintenance of both is necessary to minimize the negative impact on tires.

Every tire is designed to operate at a particular shape. When the tire is running with its “designed shape,” the tire will deliver the optimum levels of traction, braking, cornering ability, cut resistance, heat resistance, ride comfort, and so forth. Operating a tire when it doesn’t have its “designed shape” causes a loss of machine productivity because the operator has to slow the machine to go over bumps or to maintain control in slippery conditions. It also means that the tire will wear faster (and maybe unevenly), suffer more and more severe cuts, and possibly fail because of high heat levels within the tire.

To enjoy all the features a tire is designed to provide requires the air pressure be set and maintained for the load the tire carries. Unless you know how much load the tire is carrying, it is only a guess as to how much air pressure is needed. Accurate loaded vehicle weights are a must. If you can’t weigh the vehicle, then be as accurate as you can when using the “book” values. Be sure to correct for all the vehicle modifications you may have made such as sideboards, tailgates, bed liners, or air conditioning units.

A good tire pressure maintenance program is a must. OTR tire pressures must be checked and corrected at least weekly. You should receive a written report of each tire’s air pressure and any corrections made, as well as the final air pressure level. When you get the report, compare it to the prior week’s inspection data to look for trends. Some tires go flat quickly, while others have slow leaks. Tires are similar to diesel engines: We wouldn’t run a diesel engine low on oil; we shouldn’t run a tire low on air pressure for the same reason — damage will occur.

Tracking tire performance

With the current tire supply situation, it is imperative that every operation (regardless of size) keeps track of OTR tire performance. Whether you use a computerized tire tracking system, set up your own spreadsheet, or just keep the information on 3- by 5-inch index cards, it is important that you be aware of tire performance so you can predict when you are likely to need tires. It doesn’t make sense to buy tires you probably won’t need for a couple of years (invest your money someplace else), but it also doesn’t make sense today to wait until the machine leans to one side before you try to find a replacement. Having a good idea of how often you have to remove a tire due to cuts will also help you anticipate how soon you will need replacement tires.

Proper air pressure ensures that a tire operates at its “designed shape” and helps extend tire life. However, knowing the load being put on a piece of equipment’s tires is critical to making sure there is proper air pressure.

Now is the time to re-examine some of your past operational decisions that have served you well for many years. Some of these decisions were valid under the operating conditions at that time, and more importantly, under the OTR tire supply situation of the era. For instance, maybe you have been able to get by with operating your motor grader just one day a week in the past. But now, because of the lack of availability of tires, you may want to reconsider that decision.

You may need to operate it two or three times per week to lessen the possibility of tire cuts. Maybe some of the banks in your curves have been “walked out” and you haven’t been willing to spend the money to fix them. But today, those curves should be fixed to minimize lateral pressures on the tire, which tend to spread cuts into separations. Perhaps this is the time to fix those potholes and bumps in the road that weren’t previously as economical to fix in order to minimize the impact forces on tires.

Fleet equipment decisions

What do you do when you want to add equipment to your fleet, but you can’t get tires for the equipment? Most tire manufacturers are trying to support their long-time customers, which means that you may not be able to get more tires. The only real option you have is to “create” the extra tires out of your current allotment. You do this by doing everything you can to extend the life of your current tires. For example, one aggregates limestone operation has increased its OTR tire performance from 4,400 hours to 5,500 hours. Now, the operation wants to buy three new haul trucks. Unfortunately, none of their suppliers can offer more tires. When the operation’s tire records are closely examined, it shows it has several tires that have been able to last 9,000 hours. The operation’s challenge now is to get all of its tires to the 9,000-hour level. If it is able to accomplish this — at least for most of the tires — it will generate enough tires to outfit the three new trucks it wants. It won’t be easy, but the additional production and accompanying profits make the goal worthwhile.

Productivity, along with safety, are the top priorities of an operation. Caring for your equipment’s tires is essential to achieve both. Weakness in a pressure vessel can cause it to explode, making it very dangerous. Never try to extend the life of weak tire.

Everyone is in the same position in terms of trying to make their existing tires last longer. However, there is one major caution to heed when working to extend tire life: Do not try to use a tire that is unsafe!

Remember, one of the key functions of a tire is to serve as a pressure vessel for air. Any weakness in that pressure vessel increases the possibility of someone getting hurt — not just those working with the tires, but also the vehicle operators, the mechanics, the supervisors, and everyone else who has occasion to be near one of your OTR vehicles. There is enough explosive force contained within a tire to do significant damage to people and machines. If you have ever been around an OTR tire when it exploded, you know the destructive force. Consider that explosive force when you are deciding whether to continue to operate that machine with a damaged tire on it. Safety must be priority one.

The silver lining

The current tire shortage creates some challenging conditions for operators, but if you will take care of the OTR tires you have, you can make it through this situation. You might even find, as many have, that your production levels increase.

Another operation recently documented an increase in production by lowering payloads to “rated payload” as a measure to save wear and tear on tires. The operation experienced less downtime related to premature tire removals and reduced vehicle repairs.

There is a silver lining in this shortage. But it can turn into a dark cloud if you don’t take care of the tires you have. Now is the time to ask for help from your tire suppliers and manufacturers. Many have training programs that will help you carry the message to your work force: You must protect the tires you have.

If you have been lucky so far by not having to park equipment because of a lack of tires, consider yourself very fortunate. But relying on luck alone is a lousy way to run a business. Minimize your dependence on luck by taking care of your OTR tires — and they will take care of you.

Jack Dutcher is manager of education development Bridgestone Firestone Off-Road Tires. Dutcher’s career has included positions in sales and engineering, providing him with a very broad knowledge of the OTR business in North America and other parts of the world.