OTR Tires for Mining, Construction and Heavy Equipment

An OTR tire is built for load and damage rather than for miles. A haul truck tire carries a load a highway tire would never see, at low speed, over rock, and the heat it builds under that load is the thing that decides how long it lasts. The casing is heavier, the tread is deeper, and the rubber compound is chosen for cutting and tearing resistance rather than for rolling resistance.

That changes how the tire is bought. A highway tire is specified and forgotten. An OTR tire is managed: matched to the machine and the surface, run at the right pressure, inspected, repaired when it is worth repairing, and retreaded when the casing has life left.

• Rigid and articulated haul trucks at mines and quarries
• Wheel loaders, from yard machines to production loaders
• Motor graders and scrapers on road and site work
• Dozers and compactors fitted with tires rather than tracks
• Telehandlers working reach, lift and material handling
• Large material handlers and port equipment

Smaller machines usually take industrial tires or tracks instead, and the location you call can tell you which applies to the machine you are running.

The right tire comes out of a short conversation about the machine and the work. Have these ready and the store can narrow it quickly:

• The machine. Make, model and the size currently fitted, read off the sidewall.
• The application. Loading face, haul road, yard, stockpile, road construction. The same loader on rock and on dirt wants different rubber.
• The surface. Sharp rock cuts tires. Smooth haul roads heat them.
• The cycle. How far the machine travels and how many hours it runs in a shift.
• What failed last time. Cuts, impact breaks, heat separation and sidewall damage each point somewhere different.

Stock and sizes vary by location, so confirm availability with the store before you plan a change-out.

Nine brands cover Purcell's OTR range: Michelin, Goodyear, Continental, Bridgestone, Firestone, Titan, Roadmaster, Yokohama and Maxam. Which of them a location stocks, and in which sizes, varies, so tell the store the machine and the application and it will say what it can supply. All 14 brands Purcell works with are on the tire brands page.

An OTR tire program is mostly service. Purcell locations that work on OTR equipment handle fitting and change-outs, scheduled inspections, and repairs on tires worth saving, and the mining fleet services team runs programs on site for mines and large operations.

Retreading matters more here than almost anywhere else, because the casing is the expensive part. Purcell runs seven retread plants, and six of them retread or repair OTR casings. See Purcell retreading for how casings move through the program.