Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/873881
EquipmentWorld.com | September 2017 27 T here are tires, and there are tires. Carrying up to 100 tons each, some of the world's biggest earth- mover tires – 59/80R63s made by Bridgestone, Michelin, Titan and others – stand 13 feet tall and weigh more than 12,000 pounds. Infl ated to 110 psi, six of them mounted on a Caterpillar 797B enable that truck to carry up to 380 tons of payload. And while you may never have to worry about maintaining one of these giants, the people who do maintain them can teach earthmov- ers and construction contractors a lot about tire management. Tires are your third, sometimes your second, biggest operating ex- pense on earthmoving equipment, after labor and fuel. And while most contractors and fl eet managers will watch every dime they spend on wages and diesel, too often they tend to ignore the cost and the potential savings of their tires. Not so with the big trucks and tires at the mines. "They see that tire as part of their haulage system, not just a compo- nent," says Rob Seibert, director of off-road marketing at Bridgestone. "They understand that it has limits, and they have to operate within those limits and fi nd ways to get the most out of that product." That kind of thinking – making tires just as important as engines, drivelines and brakes – can re- duce operating costs in the long run. Perhaps more important, tire maintenance best practices will help eliminate unplanned downtime. A fl at tire in the fi eld won't break the bank, but a half a day or more of lost productivity while you wait for it to get changed can have a ripple effect through all the other related operations on a site. TMPH One of the critical measurements used to manage tires in the min- ing world is tons-miles-per-hour, or TMPH. (It's TMKH when measured in kilometers.) This is an engineer- ing calculation done to make sure maintenance | by Tom Jackson | TJackson@randallreilly.com LEARNING ABOUT TIRES FROM THE LAND OF THE GIANTS Managers of mining trucks take tires seriously. Learn from them.