Tire Thumping

Experience.

 

Are you the same driver who looks at his lug nuts, and decides they aren't loose?

Or do you actually lay hands on said lug nuts?

Just wondering........

 

Chrome shops now sell a plastic arrow to put under your lugnuts to tell if it has come loose so one doesn't have to touch them either.
I'm still looking for an autopilot so I can take a nap while getting paid to drive.

 

My company has over 13k lug nut checkers. And they might have found 1 or 2 at a chrome shop. But I doubt it.

 

in winter weather gauging every day u are asking for a flat tire when u freeze the valve due to moisture. in the shop i gauge outside a big hammer

 

I stopped gauging daily after about the third time a valve stuck open and dropped the pressure low enough to require an on-highway topup (remember that balancing sand that was so popular a few years back?). I also bought decent valve caps and spares at the same time. Now, I gauge a couple of times per week, and thump a couple of times per day, except for dropped trailers; you never know what the other guys have handed you.

Tire thumpers are in no way an accurate way to determine pressure, they'll never replace a good gauge, but they can tell you by feel/sound if a tire is lower than normal; then you whip out the gauge (and likely the air hose too).

 

If you're really doing a full DOT every single day that includes brake test and gauging all 18 tires that's fantastic. I applaud you for being that diligent about inspecting your equipment. With that said, I can't count the number of times in my career I started the day with all 18 tires fully inflated and had a flat before my day was over. If you're gauging the tires in your pretrip and not checking them for the rest of the day that is not enough. You could easily pick up a bolt in a tire early in your day and wind up driving 8 or more hours in a 11 hour shift with a flat tire. The chance of being popped by the DOT for less than 80 psi is the least of what could happen considering there have probably been hundreds of trucks that have burned to the ground over the years due to running on a flat tire for an extended period of time. I thump my tires at least two to three times a day and I recommend you and everyone else that runs dual tires does the same. It could save a small problem from turning into a much larger one. Just my $.02

 

When we ran tube type tires if you DIDN'T thump your tires at every stop you might wind up with a tire fire when the tube gets sucked into the tire and the heat balls it up and makes a flaming mess.

Back 35 years ago three flats per week was normal on bias ply tube type tires...

 

even in the winter? everyday?