Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/725427
66 commercial carrier journal | september 2016 Tire balancing, often considered unnecessary by fleets, is getting a closer look BY JASON CANNON B ecause tires are a leading cause of Compliance Safety Accountability maintenance violations nationwide and a Top 3 annual expense for virtually every truck on the road, they command a lot of attention and dollars. While proper inflation is the single most important factor to maximize safe tire wear, balancing – a far more uncom- mon practice – can set a truck up for sav- ings and increased efficiency before a new set of tires ever touches the highway. Methods of commercial tire balancing vary, as do the opinions of whether or not it's actually necessary and on which axles it is most effective. But one thing is cer- tain: The idea that it is time-consuming is a deciding factor in why many fleets opt to omit balancing from their maintenance routines. "The main reason that tire balanc- ing isn't common in heavy trucks is the perception of time required," says Derek Forney, associate product manager for IMI Products. "With the added fac- tor of recommended rebalancing every 20,000 miles, using wheel weights isn't practically feasible for balancing some or all wheel positions." Forney says spin balancing upwards of 18 tires with wheel weights can add 10 to 15 minutes per tire during installation. Ken Eggen, fleet services manager for Lone Star Truck Group, has seen data that supports tire balancing and believes in the practice. However, the intensive man-hour investment was exactly what kept him from mandating the balancing of anything other than steer tires. "When I run 1,000 trucks in a fleet, it's just tough to take the time," he says. Steering toward balancing Like Eggen, many fleet managers have saved time by honing their balancing efforts on steer tires, where steering wheel vibration can wear on drivers. "However," Forney adds, "the greater fatigue often comes from the shaking delivered by imbalance in drive tire posi- tions, which directly transfers to the cab of a truck." Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the largest U.S. egg distributor, is outfitting its Lake Worth, Fla.-based fleet with Centramatic's line of onboard balancing systems for tires and wheels, mounted behind the wheel and designed to operate automatically and adjust instantly for changing conditions. Woody Weltzbarker, maintenance man- ager of Cal-Maine's Florida fleet, says ride improvement has been just one of the benefits of balancing all of the axles on the truck and trailer. "The ride is a lot smoother," Weltz- barker says. "The other major benefit of balancing is that it identifies other problems on the truck and the trailer, Driver fatigue often comes from the shaking delivered by imbalance in drive tire positions, which directly transfers to the cab of a truck.