“Maintaining your wheels is important to extending the wheel life and for safety,” says Denny Weisend, Maxion’s director of sales for commercial vehicle wheels in North America. “The best way to stay up to date on recommended maintenance of your wheels, is to follow the recommended engineering and maintenance practices established by the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC). Their recommended engineering and maintenance practices are voluntarily adopted by fleets, OEMs and components suppliers.”
If you’re looking for the bible of wheel care, check out the TMC Tire & Wheel Maintenance Basics for Drivers. It is an inexpensive pocket guide for drivers includes essential maintenance tips and pre-trip and post-trip inspection guidelines, tread wear and depth gauge for measuring sidewall bulge height, maximum nail hole repair size and repairable area in tire crown.
Important wheel bearing practices
According to the wheel bearing experts at Timken, proper maintenance and handling practices are critical. Always follow installation instructions and maintain proper lubrication. Never spin a bearing with compressed air. The rolling elements may be forcefully expelled.
Always follow wheel torque recommendations. Excessive or inadequate wheel torque can lead to failure of the wheel mounting system and loss of a wheel.
Do not remove the outer bearing once it has been installed on the spindle. Removing it could cause the seal to become misaligned and lead to a seal failure or loss of a wheel.”
For more on tire and wheel innovations, check out the full story here.
