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How bad for the tyres is it to drift a 55 tonne machine?

aussiechunda

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 19, 2026
Messages
48
Location
australia
For context i found this yesterday that cant be good i know these tyres are like marshmallows once they get wet which seems like a design flaw 1000001234.jpg
 

aussiechunda

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 19, 2026
Messages
48
Location
australia
Front tyre I assume.? could be fair wear & tear, it depends how many hours are on them.

What TRA Number is on those tyres.? L-3, L-4, or L-5.?
What is the one-way distance from the face to the dump point.?
If we are crushing concrete the distance is pretty low but the brick face gets further away every time we crush brick **** all house demo's going so we arent getting many bricks in for class 4 while demand for class 4 road base skyrockets, admitted my tyres probably cop more abuse than any other loader concrete is abrasive as **** and I also have to drive into steel about 10 times a day to collect it from magnets. I am more wondering how the office clowns will view this, I am waiting to be pulled up despite my antics resulting in our plant running at 115% coefficient in the middle of winter all because of how much i abuse my loader.
I am sure the discussion will be something like
"If you think you can do my job how about you drive my loader for a day while I sit in the office"
1000001038.jpg
 
Last edited:

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
13,183
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
What is the brand on the tire and the type. L3, L4 or L5? Are they radials and bias?

What little you show is some tread cracking, minor scratches and small punctures in the tread bars. I don't see anything that I wouldn't expect in any tires used for material handling. What 988 loader tires are famous for is cracking around the bead rings. The most important maintenance is checking the tire pressure at the least monthly and better yet weekly. Sliding around on wet material is more a safety issue in that it can be considered a loss of control of the machine.
 

AMBMike

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
314
Location
Southeast KS
Occupation
Cat herder.
I feel like it is extremely bad for the tyres but keeping the plant fed at 400+ tonnes per hour demands it in winter.
Any thoughts? View attachment 362740

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Drifting your machine isn't speeding up production. It happens to everybody from time to time but if you're making a habit of it it'll reach out and bite you some day. Hopefully no innocent bystanders are hurt when that happens.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
18,076
Location
Canada
After your last thread about how good you could level a dump I'm surprised you don't get twice the tire life of other operators. It's a big loader. Tires will get abuse but they're made for it.
 
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