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by Preceptor
IEN WORKING every day with tor vehicle wheels and tyres difficult to visualise how igerous these innocent king components can be, yet idents, sometimes fatal, ularly occur to men working them. Dunlop, in its booklet sting Tyres and Wheels sums :he situation very succinctly le following way: This type of accident with ttendant death or injury will ontinue until tyre fitters valise the inherent dangers of leir job and adopt safe iethods of working which lust involve devices to vstrain, or better still, enclose le unit during inflation"
lefore removing a wheel from 3hicle it should be examined cracked flanges and the tyre serious damage. If either ect is apparent the tyre iuld be deflated by removing
the valve core before anything further is done.
With the divided type wheel, the two halves of the wheel are kept together by bolts and nuts. It is essential, when removing a wheel from a vehicle, that the nuts which retain the wheel on the hub are undone and not the ones which clamp the wheel sections together. Those readers with army experience will remember that the nuts which clamp the wheel sections together are often painted red on service vehicles to remind drivers of the potential-danger.
Figure 1 shows a section of a wheel of this type. Before removing, or trying to remove, a tyre from a wheel the tyre must be fully deflated by removing the valve core.
Some commercial vehicles are now fitted with tubeless tyres and these have the advantage of having no loose flanges or locking rings which may fly off during inflation. When wheels with flanges and retaining rings are being worked on the following procedure should be followed.
1, Examine tyre and wheel rim for damage or distortion (See Figure 2).
2, Check that flanges and locking rings are of the correct type.
3, Remove all rust on flanges, gutter and rim base to ensure that the component parts fit together correctly. If there is no gap between the ends of the split ring when it is in position it may not be seating properly and careful investigation must be made and the fault corrected before the tyre is inflated.
4, Inflate the tyre to not more than 15 pounds per square inch (1.1 kg/cm2) and then check that flanges and locking rings are seated correctly.
5, Place tyre and wheel in cage before starting main inflation (see Figure 3). Do not overinflate if no tyre cage is available, for example on a breakdown; lean the tyre against a wall with the locking ring and flange facing the wall and stand clear while inflating Air lines should have an on/off control at their operating end so arranged that it is not possible for a tyre to be inflated without the fitter actually holding the control in the "on" position.
There was one fatal accident reported where a man fitted an air line to a tyre and was then called to answer the phone. Foolishly, he left the tyre to inflate. He returned to the tyre just as it exploded. The type of control recommended makes this sort of accident impossible.