Hitting tires with hammer? Wtf

I prefer to use a small 5 lb sledgehammer and get a feel how it bounces off. Caught a lot of flats this way.

 

You hit a tire with a hammer and it doesn’t hardly rebound, it’s at 60 lbs or less. I aired up four tires this week, using my trusty hammer method. I usually air up a couple a week on the trailers since most drivers today couldn’t care less about checking anything. Then our company sends out a message saying we are failing inspections, while I have passed 14 in the last seven years. 95% of my company doesn’t carry hammers or tools, they use the good old push with their flip flop method, if they even do that.

 

I switched to a rubber mallet. Gives a better sound and feel I think, due to the larger hitting area. Found one with 40 pounds the other day.....boing, boing, splat.

 

I hit my tires with a hammer to make sure all the nails I have in them are driven all the way in.

 

I have been using my gloved fist forever to check tires. I always felt that it was most accurate. Unfortunately my pinky side of both my hands hurt like hell lately. Might be arthritis or just me getting to old to be 26 anymore.Anyway, heading to Home Depot today and figure would buy a rubber mallet and try it out.

 

Get a larger ball peen hammer. It works excellent for bumping tires and also big enough to tap in stuck locking pins, for self defense, ice chunk removal, and stows cleaner next to the seat.

Smaller hammers don’t work well for anything.

 

When you get some experience you will understand how to figure air pressure with a hammer. I will try to explain it to you it is pretty simple. First you take the hammer and hit the tire with 40 pounds of pressure and say you have a recoil of 45 degrees you multiply 40 x 45 =1800 you then divide that by 3 which equals 600 then add 30 which equals 630 then divide again by 3 which equals 210 then divide by 2 which equals 105 this is the amount of air pressure you have in the tire. It is real easy once you get the hang of it.

 

WD-40 works great on most pins. I give the handle a shot too if they are rusty.

 

Sure you can. At least with the Hendrickson TireMaxx Pro system.
You just undo the hose coming right out of the hub going to the tire. When you slide the threaded part of the fitting back you can stick the hose end right into a pressure gauge.
That is part of the regular monthly maintenance check to make sure the regulators and check valves are working correctly.