A tire has a heat budget, and the haul cycle spends it
Large mining tires fail from heat far more often than people expect. The rubber flexes with every revolution under load, and flexing makes heat. Run a tire harder than it was built to run, and the heat builds faster than it can escape.
Tire makers express this as a work capacity rating, often called TKPH (tonne kilometers per hour). In plain terms, it is how much load the tire can carry, at what average speed, before it runs too hot. The site has a matching figure of its own, worked out from the actual loads, distances and speeds of its haul cycle.
The two numbers need to agree. When the site's figure is higher than the tire's rating, the tire is overheating on every shift, and nothing about the tire itself will look wrong until it fails.
Where the mismatch usually comes from
Overloading. Payloads creep up over time, and every extra ton adds to the heat.
Speed. Faster cycles on long hauls raise the average speed, which raises the figure.
Hot weather and long hauls. The same truck can be within its rating in the cool months and beyond it in summer.
Pressure. A tire set below the right pressure for the load flexes more and runs hotter.
What a program does with that
A managed program is the place to compare those numbers for your actual operation rather than relying on the catalog. Bring the loads, haul lengths and speeds to the first conversation, and inspections can then track whether the tires are behaving as expected.
Fitting and repair are OTR services, and rims are wheel refurbishing, both at this store. Casings worth a second life go to the Purcell retread plant a few blocks away on 2100 S.
Other stores nearby
About this store
This is the Salt Lake City Commercial & Consumer store, carrying all nine Purcell tire categories including OTR, and managed by Brian Morris. See the Salt Lake City page for the other listings.
See the national mining fleet services page for all 13 locations.