Titan Wheel Corp. has unveiled its Accelerated Change Technology (ACT) wheel, which speeds up the process of changing or rotating the rear tires on trucks used in the mining industry.
“The system also helps enhance safety, reduces service technician fatigue and increases profitability by reducing tire maintenance downtime,” says Titan’s Jeremy Martin.
“The ACT wheel is designed for use on the outside rear wheel position on mining haul trucks,” he explains.
“The advantage is that once installed, there’s no need to remove nuts or clamps to rotate the tires off and on the haul truck,” says Martin. “A service technician simply slides the tire and the component wheel parts across the outside wheel. In layman’s terms, the technology allows you to rotate or change the inside tire, without having to take the outside rim off of the unit,” he elaborates.
Featuring two-piece lock rings that can release the tire assembly from the wheel, ACT allows for easy removal. When an inside dual tire needs to be changed, it slips over the outer dual wheel.
Employing a double-lock system that stops rotation of the side flange, it prevents expulsion of the flange and helps control tire slippage, according to Martin. The back and bead incorporates a full 360-degree pry-bar pocket that aids service personnel in demounting the tire from the wheel.
A “Sur-Loc” rim component inside the bead band prevents tire inflation if the lock ring is misassembled.
ACT helps save mining contractors nearly 50 percent of the time previously spent changing tires. “This time savings translates into less downtime for tire maintenance and more operational time for each haul truck,” Martin says.
“Mines are cost-conscious and when a haul truck is out of service for maintenance or tire exchanges, that’s basically revenue that the mine is losing,” he points out, “so it’s important to quickly get that unit back in operation.”
He goes on to note that repairers “no longer need to handle the outside wheel, which weighs thousands of pounds. In addition, the ACT wheel reduces the use of heavy impact wrenches that were required in the past to torque and retorque 50 to 60 wheel nuts when removing a wheel and tire assembly.”
For more information, visit www.titan-intl.com.
