A Tire Knocker

You laughed at me...

 

I only thump my tires to Gide the fact that I'm actually carrying a weapon in case some weirdo is hiding around my truck

 

I use a tire gauge on every tire at least once a day. Once for pre trip for sure. If it's a hot day I'll check again on a rest break to make sure I don't have any tires getting out of whack running on hot pavement. Today I found one trailer tire getting hot and too high on the pressure and bled it off so it balanced with the rest of the tandems.

If I thump tires I'd much rather use my fist or slap them as a quick walk around during the day. I get more information by feeling the vibration in addition to hearing the sound, and I'll place my hand on the tire to see if there's a "hot one' in the bunch.

Regarding alternate uses for a tire thumper... again, I'd rather use my fist or slap them real hard.

 

I like knockers !

 

Could not agree more.

 

I agree about buying a good hammer to thump your tires. I do it several times a day. It's the most important tool I have since we swap trailers a lot.

Bad tires are the number 1 breakdown issue.

 

a 3lb rubber hammer is a great tire knocker but it does not replace a gauge.carry and use both.

 

If only they had a private poll on here to see who even uses a Gauge once a month, lol.

 

I thump my tires at least once a day, I gauge my steers every time I fuel, we have a TPMS on our trailers which is an added set of eyes for me. I have been real lucky the last 18 months, just one trailer blowout. I did visually check my drive tires last month and found a drive tire low, gauged it and it was 30lbs low, after a more in depth look I found the culprit, a screw. My last company I wasn't able to drive around the corner without a tire issue. Tire thumping, gauging, kicking or feeling up is just second nature to me.