Tire Thumping

A hammer thumper works good if you do it the same all the time, I have piece of pipe welded to a 2 inch mine ball with a leather shoe lace braided into the handle a customer gave it to me.
I am a firm believer in an infered temp gun, as backup.
A loose lug nut, will have a rust line expanding away from it and an aluminum a gray line.
Most drivers will not look

 

I slip seat, and I pull 2 to 6 trailers per shift. I'm a thumper.


Conservative to the Bone.

 

You can sometimes tell by the pitch when you thump a tire if it's low or flat. Pitch as in musical tone. When you've been doing it for a while, you get to know. It doesn't have anything to do with "being cool". I have NEVER felt cool thumping a tire (except in the dead of winter).

I also make sure I thump the steer tires, you just never know!! LOL.

 

hey, how do you check the air in some of these drivers heads? thump em??

 

I thump tires with an eastwing framing hammer. I can tell if it is low and then check with gauge. I guess how low when thumping and I am usually within 3 psi +\- of my guess. I use a gauge on steers or wide singles (which we don't run)

 

In my company, out of 22 trucks I can tell who uses a tire thumper and who uses a gauge

 

I just kick them, barefoot.

 

Our drivers are all thumpers, our mechanics use gauges. The dual seal valve caps can stick when you check them with a gauge and make a very small leak. In the shop we carry a spray bottle with soapy water. When we gauge a tire, we give it a squirt to make sure the valve stem seals again. Drivers do not do this, we found it best to teach the driver how to thump. We drain 1 or 2 down to 90 and have the drivers find them, most do not have any trouble.