Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

What appears to have happened is that the tire wear occurred unnoticed long enough that the rim was balanced by the uneven wear of the tire.

I do not know if that rim suffered a ding and went out of balance last year before I noticed the odd wear, or if the rim was balanced, and the weights fell off.

This rim will be replaced in the short term. I cannot see that stack of weights staying on the rim long.

This was what was required to balance the rim with no tire on it.



While I am taking pictures, here is the tread of the new tires.

Tire info follows.

Type: RLB400
Size: 295/75R22.5
Ply: 14
Dual tire rating @ 100 PSI / 5260 each.
Dual max inflation/weight is 110/5675
Tire is rated for up to 75 MPH.

 

They were on special. Yeah. I went cheap. However, the tires are rated to do what I need them to do, and they are virgin tires.

I can't imagine they are #### tires if Loves is willing to sell them.

Probably not as good as well known and respected name brand tires, but I suspect they will do fine.

If they don't, I promise you folks here will hear me complaining in a few months!

 

Yes, this is what I suspect happened. The rim being out of balance wore the tire irregularly, until the tire itself balanced the rim.

 

If you mean the Bridgestone M726, then yes, looks like a clone.

 

Still mostly doing non-account loads. Dallas to Pueblo, and now Denver to somewhere in WI that I can't remember off the top of my head.

I was planning on starting my day yesterday at 0400, delivering the Peublo load, rolling up to Denver by about noon, getting a washout, then settling in for a 34 before picking up the load to WI.

4 hours having my drives replaced put the stop to that. No way I am going to roll into Denver at 4PM with 1 hour on my drive clock.

So, I am shut down here in Peublo for 34, then I roll tomorrow AM, get a washout, and pick up that load waiting for me and keep rolling.

I have lots of time on this load. Going to stop by the Lincoln terminal and get that out of balance rim replaced, I think. I will also ask about dropping this load in a yard, because otherwise, I am going to be sitting at least 24 hours under it for a delivery on the 20th.

Will probably drop the load in Lincoln and collect a meat load if our meat accounts are still up and running. Otherwise, might drop in Joliet and get an account load.

We shall see.

 

Well, I reset fuel tracker in the truck after finishing my 34, and ran from Pueblo, CO to Denver empty, and then from Denver to Lincoln, NE with 20k in the box.

Total fuel economy for the trip was 7.7 MPG. This does not include tonight's opti-idle fuel usage. I expect fuel economy will be down to 7.4 by the morning. Not terribly impressive for such a light load on such long stretches of flat on I76 and 80.