Thumping tires

[dieseldoc]

Before you truck drivers here flame me on this one remember I'm a mechanic. With that said..... Where and how did this way of checking tires come about? Is thumping a tire going to tell you the air pressure is proper so you will gain the most life out of that expensive rubber. did you know that a couple of pounds off on tire pressure will create excessive wear and lead to making it difficult to diagnois other front or rear axle problems. Not to mention jacking up the running costs of the rig because you got to hang new rubber.

[455 Rocket]

The thumper method is just the easy way to see if a tire is flat. By running tires with low pressure, eventually you will get the thumper effect as your tire will be cupped and out of round giving you that nice "thumping" sound as you drive down the road!

[Deleted]

When you get to use the Thumper enough. You get to learn how to use just the right amount of swing on it to get a good reading in the thump. I was able to just about tell how much a tire was low by the sound of the thump as to the recoil of the bounce off the tire. Also when I thumped the tire I would listen for any vibration from the drive train to see if anything was loose or broken.

[ajy]

ive never used a thumper.ive always kicked the tire.if it shook like jello,it was low on air.

[78KW]

I've always used a thumper for quick checks. I use the guage once a week. Back when I did drop-n-hooks, it just made the process faster. I've had the tire that looked fine but when I thumped it, I discovered it was flat. As thorough as I am in inspections, I still miss stuff, so I like these classic methods sometimes

[chris2]

Im also a mechanic. mostly i work on trailers for a really large fleet. we have around a hunred thousand trailers nation wide. our shop is on site of a warehouse and a tech has to inspect every single trailer that comes through the yard before it can be re loaded. its basicly an in depth pre trip. I can be pretty sure that most guys thump. I use a 2lb hammer with a steel handle I dont find a ton of tires that are low and when you sometimes thump 200 tires in a shift you do get to know if its low or not. if the whole set is at 90 rather than 100 you wont notice, but you do notice 75 or 80 when the rest are 90 or more. with the volume we are doing it just is not practical to check every tire with a guage

[dieseldoc]

chrisii said:

with the volume we are doing it just is not practical to check every tire with a guage

I'd be willing to bet though that if you used a guage on all those tires and aired them to there proper pressures your running cost for tires would drop and you'd be busting a lot fewer tires down over the course of the year.
God knows tire work sucks so I'll stick to my guage with all the fleet work that comes my way.

[chris2]

Would you really want to stand outside in the winter checking air on 400-600 tires a day with a guage??the real problem would be getting every shop in the fleet to do the same. if we did then we would not have to add air very often (we really don't now). if our shop started to air up every tire that was down 5 lbs it would keep a guy buisy 24-7. we expect to get 5 years on a set. and normaly do . after 5 years they are replaced either way. we change a truckload of trailer tires a month. unless theyre michilens Im more than happy to break down and mount tires all day long. its less work than brake jobs and wheel seals. we change drums and S cams, as well as clean and repack bearings on every brake job. I miss the shops Ive worked in that would throw on shoes an ship em out!
If I was in charge , and it was a normal size fleet I would want the tires sticked at least once a week

[fkuaso]

[quote author=chirsch board=tt thread=1174004728 post=1174036481 By running tires with low pressure, eventually you will get the thumper effect as your tire will be cupped and out of round giving you that nice "thumping" sound as you drive down the road! [/quote]

very true but dont forget when youre running recaps they will also thump when the cap starts to seperate from the casing.

basically the tire thumper is the lazy mans why to see if your tires flat or low to the point of damage.

[78KW]

I recall a funny, yet sad, story of how one driver checked his tires when my friend was a mechanic for Waste Management. He said this guy would literally place his hand on the tread, and sidewall, and claim to be accurate as to the air pressure of that tire.LOL Just by touching it. Now I know thumping isn't accurate, but I'll never thump a tire and then say," OK, this one is at 100psi, and that one is at 90psi". I just know it's not flat, and firm.

The sad part of the story, my friend was NOT kidding.

[sourkraut]

As the saying goes. "Pump EM, Don't Thump Em" . I run Crossfire pressure equalizers from Dual Dynamics on our fleet. A very quick visual check will indicate if the tires are properly inflated. www.dualdynamics.com Ten pounds or more difference between tires on the same wheel end will put you out of service! PERIOD!!!
I also agree that checking tire pressure every day can be very time consuming and thumping will locate a severely under inflated tire. But, company drivers will never check air pressure (not even when the whole fleet is parked inside every night).

[jameschampion]

oh sourkraut you under estimate the company driver, i drive a company truck and iget paid by the load and the last thing i want to do is sit on the side of the road waiting for a tire service to come. i check my tires every time i load and unload which is a couple times a day and at night when i park.I also check the pressure every week which is easy at the pilots because they have air hoses at the pumps. i hope im not the only company driver to treat a truck like it was mine
james champion

[sourkraut]

Hey jameschampion,
I didn't intend to insult anyone, just passing on a little personal experience.
No, I don't under estimate the company driver! You must be one of the few real drivers left! I am the fleet manager/mechanic for a mid size fuel oil company in southern NY (24 yrs. in October). Every morning I get to repair something damaged the day before, 9 out of 10 times due to stupidity or don't give a F%$# attitude (hourly pay, good $$$ with health, dental and 401K)! Don't get me started on the "what does the third pedal do?" If you really want to get scared, go for a ride with some of my morons! Somehow they all have at least a class B with air brake, thank and hazmat endorsements? As for treating a truck as if it were your own, you are probably the 1 in 100 company drivers who understands the role of his truck in relation to his pay/route etc.
It's good to know there are still some quality drivers amongst us!

[78KW]

Unfortunately, respect for the equipment has left most in the industry. A lot of comany drivers, no matter how mad they were at the company, they still respected the equipment, and tried their best to take care of it. Now, seemingly no one cares. No one can be bothered to change that little clearance light, or other smal, simple, task. Then again, the advent of some of these trhrow-away trucks that don't last hasn't helped either. After all, "We get a new one every 2-3 years, so what's the difference?". That seems to be the attitude. I always treated the companies' trucks as my own. After all, every time you climb in and turn that key, you are placing a big trust in that truck. You are trusting it with your life, literally. I'll never understand how one can't be bothered to keep an eye on their equipment, or do the small things.

[trucky217]

I'd be willing to bet my life on Dieseldoc trying to check every tyre on an Oz roadtrain or B-Double it would take him all day with a guage, he'd soon get out the tire iron to check how the tyre is holding out. Wot with 70 tyres on a roadtrain with 2x 3 axle dollies plus tri-axle trailers or a B-Double with 34 tyres I could see the dieseldoc guage checking each tyre for long.