Excerpts from an article by Charles D. Bader in the July / August issue of "Grading and

        Excavation Magazine". To read the entire article click on the following link.

   Putting the Rubber to the (Off) Road

Overcoming Excessive Flats

Flat Tires are an annoying interruption in any situation, but when they occur to frequently and/or at a remote job site, they can be prohibitively expensive. Based on feedback from contractor customers, AirBoss in South Haven, MI, calculated the potential cost to a contractor when a flat occurs in the field. Table 1 shows the calculation for a Bobcat 800-series machine. The table assumes a job site that is not a great distance from a tire dealer so that the repair, including drive time, could be completed in two hours. Obviously this time could be much greater for operations at a remote drive site. Similarly the assumed hourly wage, including benefits, was just $12.50, and this will be much higher in many parts of the country. Even using these conservative assumptions, however, the total cost of each flat tire was calculated to be $225.

     Because of these persuasive economics, contractors who work in environments where flats are quite common are likely to consider flatproof tires. One such contractor is Craig Kucharski of Craig Excavating Co., who reports that his vehicles were “continually climbing curbs and constantly encountering nails, metal, pieces of wood, concrete, rocks and fallen trees…. In fact, I spent $5,000 on tire repairs and replacement tires in the 12months prior to installing AirBoss. Besides eliminating flat tires and eliminating my stress worrying about flat-tire downtime, the AirBoss tires are wearing great and the traction is excellent.”

     Although Kucharski settled on AirBoss segmented tires, he had a variety of flat-proof tire types from which to choose. One such solution is to use totally solid rubber tires, such as those offered by AirBoss.

     Solid tires have not been widely used at construction sites other than demolition sites. “Solid tires simply don’t have the traction that a typical construction site requires.” AirBoss President Jerry Van Vlack agrees that solid tires - including his - don’t have much place in the construction industry. He is convinced that his company’s segmented tires are the answer to ending flats at even the most severe construction-site environments.

     “A segmented tire, “ he explains, “consists of a large steel rim onto which 20 or 22 thick segments of rubber tread are bolted. Not only are these segments much thicker than typical pneumatic tire treads, but individual tread segments can be replaced as they wear out. Our segmented tires have an average of 55% greater traction and double the shock absorption of comparable-size pneumatic tires. And, of course they are completely puncture-proof.”

     AirBoss' most popular segmented tire is Altrakka III, which is used for grading and excavation work mounted on skid-steer loaders, backhoe loaders, tool carriers, wheel loaders, or trenchers. “It offers a flatproof solution to contractors who are having flat problems with standard pneumatic tires,” Van Vlack says. “We encourage prospective buyers to enter their operating cost data into our flat-tire cost analysis form. Contractors who normally operate at sites covered with rubble, rebar, nails and the like are astonished at how much they will save just by switching to our puncture-proof segmented tires. Avoiding as few as two flats per tire over the 18-month tire life will completely offset the higher price of Altrakka III tires.” (This is corroborated by the data presented in Table 1.)

     So far AirBoss  sells primarily to end users, although its tires also are available to OEM dealer networks. In addition, equipment rental companies are becoming more of a market for AirBoss segmented tires. George Gillis, a branch manager for Hertz Equipment Rental, provides insight into why rental companies are interested : “We installed four 17.5x25 [AirBoss segmented] tires on a 621C Case front-end loader. The incidents of flats and downtime were eliminated. Prior to installing the AirBoss tires, the machines had 30 flat tires in a three-week period. Now this has been a trouble-free operation for over 1,000 hours.”

     “They can and do charge a rental premium on vehicles with segmented tires,” Van Vlack points out, “and they are attracted by the cost-of ownership savings as compared to foam-filled tires, which are really the main competition for segmented tires.”