![]() ![]() Now, I admit impact wrenches are a great time- and muscle- saver – when removing tire/wheel assemblies. Instead they rely on the good old impact wrench. And they have no idea how much torque is required on the fasteners, mostly because they don’t know how to check or where to get that information. Unfortunately, too many people currently installing tire/wheel assemblies have never seen a torque wrench. ![]() Again, an uncalibrated torque wrench is as bad as not having one. To do their job properly, torque wrenches require periodic calibration and cannot be abused (dropped, tossed, thrown, slammed) or exposed to the elements for extended periods. It requires a technician who pays attention to details and follows the correct procedures for inspecting and installing tire/wheel assemblies. In theory, a torque wrench should be used on every fastener on every vehicle without exception. Of course, a torque wrench that’s never used is as bad as not having one. The one thing that might have saved the company employing the technician who installed the tire/wheel assembly that ended that van driver’s life would have been that a torque wrench was used to secure the assembly. It is the only effective method for ensuring proper installation torque on a consistent and exact basis. Whether it’s a small crackerbox car or a giant 80,000-pound truck.Ī torque wrench is used to apply specific amounts of twisting force to a fastener (ie. Any facility that installs tire and wheel assemblies must have – and use – a torque wrench. Torque Wrench a Must Tire dealers love the bottom line, so we’ll get right to the point. They told him, "This is the way you do it." The technician probably did it the same way he was taught, the same way every time he touched a vehicle.īut if that method didn’t include a torque wrench, there was going to be a serious problem. He certainly had no idea what happened on I-70, and surely didn’t intend to cause a fatality.Īt some point, someone taught him how to change tires and mount tire/wheel assemblies on trucks. Somewhere, the last tire technician who installed the now missing tires and wheels was returning another tractor-trailer to service. He was about to go under the microscope.īut the truck driver wasn’t going there alone. The resulting head-on collision between the second rig and a passenger van ended the life of the van’s driver.Īt a truckstop a few miles up the road, the truck driver who lost the set of duals on his rig had no idea how long the tires were missing. One of the wheels bounded across the interstate and struck another semi traveling in the opposite direction, causing the vehicle to lose control and jump the concrete median barrier. 27, 2000, a tractor-trailer on I-70 outside of Columbus, Ohio, lost two wheels on the trailer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |