0%, j222_- ---- first quality benchmarks for the manufacture of wheel fittings are completed.
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CM's Wheel Loss Campaign, launched last year, raised more than £13,000 to pay for months of work by wheel design specialist Don Wright, who chairs the British Standards Institution committee which will approve the recommendations.
No one is sure how many wheels come off trucks each year, or how many incidents are due to faulty studs, nuts and bolts, rather than poor maintenance. The Government has already published bookets for fitters and drivers on how to check and maintain wheels.
But Wright is convinced many wheel losses are due to inferior components. And, although the standards will not be enforced by law, they will act as guides for hauliers buying trucks.
Wright has investigated at least five cases of wheel loss where defective components were to blame, and says that thousands of wheels once had to be returned to an overseas manufacturer because there was a dangerous fault on the cone angle.
The standards will set dimensions and tolerances for the fixings on all types of nut; ensure conical nuts, for example, are sealed squarely into the face of the wheel; and lay down the number of times a nut can be removed safely for maintenance.
Wright is to put his draft list of standards to the committee within weeks. There is a possibility that a truck manufacturer will fund further research.
Wright admits that the standards will not solve the wheelloss mystery. "You can never rule out poor maintenance," he says, "People will put too much paint on the wheels, and nuts do wear out if you use them time and time again."
Earlier this year transport lawyer Jonathan Lawton unsuccessfully defended Cardiff Transport when it was found guilty of using a semi-trailer with a dangerous wheel (CM 28 Mar-3 Apr).
Lawton is doubtful that the standard will drastically cut wheel loss. "We have all these modern ergonomic cabs on trucks today, and still we can't keep the bloody wheels on," he says.
"The introduction of a microscopic fragment of dirt between a wheel hub and a nut can cause the wheel to come off. Manufacturers need to go back to the drawing board."