Yard tractors are a natural place to start
Fleets weighing up retreads usually think first about their highway tractors and trailers. In a distribution or terminal operation, there is often a better place to start: the yard tractor.
A yard tractor works at low speed, never leaves the property, and spends its day turning, coupling and pulling loaded trailers short distances. Its tires wear by scrubbing rather than by distance, and they come off with the casing usually still sound underneath. That combination is what makes them worth looking at.
Low speed means low heat. Heat is one of the main things that ends a casing. A tire that never runs at highway speed is spared much of it.
The work is predictable. The same unit, the same yard, the same pattern every day. That makes it straightforward to compare a retread against a new tire in the same position.
The risk is contained. A retread on a yard tractor is on a unit that does not leave the property. A fleet that has never run retreads can try them there and see the results for itself before deciding where else they belong.
Many fleets that do run retreads also use them on trailer positions, and some on drive positions. Which positions suit your operation is your decision, and the yard is a reasonable place to start finding out.
How the program works here
This store works with Purcell's retreading program. Casings are collected here in Kansas City, retreaded at the Potosi plant, and returned ready to run. Ask the store about collection from your yard and about which casings are worth sending.
A yard tractor belongs on your fleet account as well, and casings that come off damaged rims are a reason to look at wheel refurbishing, both here.
Collecting stores nearby
Osage Beach and Springfield also collect casings in Missouri.
About this store
The Kansas City store carries all nine Purcell tire categories and is managed by Richard Kerber.
See the national retreading page for how the program works and for all 54 collecting locations.