A Good Reason For Doing Your Pre-Trip Inspection

I know sometimes it seems like a mundane procedure to go through every day, but... you just might surprise yourself every now and then with a discovery like I found yesterday. I had a little "hitch-hiker" riding along with me in the form of someones chisel that had fallen into the roadway. I don't know at what point I picked up this menacing rider, but I sure got rid of it as soon as I could.

Surprisingly, the tire survived the ordeal and was not leaking any air when the steel shaft was removed.

The tire curves at that point in the tire on the inside. The chisel basically went through the cap. No harm no foul. I used to deal with scrap tires for a while and it amazes me where and the direction that tires are punctured.

Had a similar thing happen to me after going into a really messy DC... even sent a message to my DM about how much crap was in the yard, low and behold my next fuel stop had a metal shard stick in my tread of one o the drives.. had i not hd brand new tires it would of flatened it

Since I've started working as a service writer in an auto tire shop, I've seen some weird stuff come out of tires. Keys, large bolts, small pieces of plastic that punctured just the right spot.

The most interesting one so far was one of those cheap E-cigarettes. I was rather amazed that it punctured it.

Thanks for the good reminder, OS. I always pretrip, but must have missed a problem with one of the inside tires last week. Threw a recap in a construction zone on I 80 in Wyoming. The next day I picked up a trailer and drove it straight to the shop to have two tires replaced. Not all drivers pretrip, so if you swap trailers a lot, don't assume the guy before you took care of it. He probably didn't.

I was going through the driver door and fuel area pre trip with my student. When he got to the drive axel I heard him say " hey,that dosent look right" I take a look and sure enough, the driver side, front drive slack adjuster is hanging upside down. Fortunately they had a repair shop at the loves we were at. No damage done, the c clip that holds those things on broke off or fell off.

I was told that hitting your tires in any form was a waste of time and that only a pressure gauge is effective. So at the pumps I use a gauge with every new trailer(old and tattered) since I have access to the air hose and when I couple to a trailer and five minute walk arounds , I shove the **** out of them to see how they react on the rim. I have found two completely dead tires doing that that look fine to the eye. Once was when changing out with my training partner who missed it doing his walk around and I did my pre trip off the clock so I had the tire fixed being it was a faulty stem valve. Most likely a slow leak and my partner had been driving on it from the time he coupled. The tire guy also put my spare in place to the outside tire that was next to it since the tread was tearing off. Three hours later I start my clock and am down the road, not on the side of it. Beat them, kick them and if you can shove them like you are wrestling them to the ground. Get to air station, check for proper inflation. The other time was a dead on the rim at a drop lot, going to Wisconsin leaving Laredo, so I got to take it to the Goodyear by the Pilot.... You know, the one by the ***** bar I have not been in yet. I did have time for a three mile jog before they had me back her in, and tacos from the stand. Little trick , I use one glove to kneel on when checking pressure if uncomfortable.