Road and workshop
Page 49
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by Handyman
Manpower, maintenance and the MoT (19)
• Besides keeping down wear on tyres by his vehicle-handling technique, a driver can play a big part in rubber conservation by means of a few checks. He should watch his tyre pressures when possible and before leaving works, yards, etc, make sure that scrap metal, for instance, is not dragged out between two tyres— it can destroy them within a few miles.
This point brings up the question of whether to carry a spare wheel. The answer of many operators is not to carry one, but rely on the tyre-service people to deal with trouble.
I know of one haulier who not only doesn't carry spares, but chooses also to do without jacks, bars, wheel keys, etc., relying on his drivers to check tyres before journeys and the fact that today genuine penetration punctures on main roads are rare indeed. All too often it is slow punctures brought about while shunting before the journey—or leaking valves—that are the cause of trouble on the main trip.
However, this haulier admits that checks made by his own drivers have an inherent weakness in that his shunters handle so many units or trailers each day that they cannot guarantee all are troublefree just before a journey. But what upsets this particular operator—and others I have spoken to—is that on many occasions when a driver out of reach of home base has called for help, and quoted his tyre size on request, a new tyre has been rushed out and fitted, even when the suspect tyre was not fully deflated, having only a slow puncture or valve trouble. In his opinion a tyre repair or valve replacement was all that was needed.
Other hauliers agreed that where spares were not carried a tyre failure at night---from the point of view of revenue for the trip—was an all-round loss.