Perfectly Planned Trip THWARTED By A FLAT TIRE !

John, Welcome. Soak up all of the info you can on this site. I hung around here for almost a YEAR before going to School. The High Road made the written tests and Endorsements childs play. I felt like the most prepared student in my class. There is a Ton of real world problems/solutions from the Experienced Drivers in this Forum. Take advantage of it all. There is another Truckers Forum" Down the Road", as Brett put it in one of his posts. I spent less than 2 weeks in there. Too much trash talk and SUPER TRUCKERS for my taste. Good Luck!

So I guess it's normal to drive with one flat tire? One night I found a flat doing a post trip inspection, and when I called in the guy directed me to a repair shop an hour away, but when I asked "oh, so it's ok to drive with a flat" he said "no, I thought it was just worn out" and he sent a repair truck. Then the next time I had a flat the guy asked how I felt about driving to a repair shop 7 miles away and I said "I can do that", then it occurred to me that maybe that's what the guy wanted me to do the first time, but when I asked straight out he had to tell me no, it wasn't OK.

During training I picked up a trailer with a flat. My trainer just had us roll with it since it was on the inside. It wasn't totally flat but definitely not at the right pressure.

Technically, it's not ok to drive with a flat, but if it's just a little deflated many drivers won't have a problem driving it to a shop. OnRoad prefers to send you to a shop since it's cheaper and easier, but ultimately you are the driver and don't have to take the risk. They may be cool about it or get upset with you, but regardless you're not going to lose your job for refusing to drive with a flat.

Depending on how flat it is and how far, I might take it to a shop; but if it was going to mess up my whole plan, I might give them a hard time about driving with a flat and let them send someone to me. The key is that you can drive it but you don't have to.

Hmm...ok, yeah, I see. I guess the surprising part to me was that they might hope that I would just drive to a shop, but it makes sense. The first time it happened I preferred a road call anyway, since it was done during my 10 and going to a shop likely would have made the load late. Also, I had a full load with near max weight on the tandems , and the tire was so flat that it looked like it would come off the rim.

That's a difficult call... Maybe travelling along a quiet road, but on a busy one? What happens if that tire disintegrates and a piece of rubber hitting the a car behind causes an accident or in the worst case a fatality?

That's a difficult call... Maybe travelling along a quiet road, but on a busy one? What happens if that tire disintegrates and a piece of rubber hitting the a car behind causes an accident or in the worst case a fatality?

Right. That's why I said "depending" on how flat the tire was and how far I'd have to drive. That's also why I said it's your call. On Road can ask all the questions they want, but they can't see it in person and they don't have to drive it. When tractor man says it's "flat," I bet it wasn't really flat otherwise he wouldn't have driven an hour with it. "Flat" could mean deflated enough you know it has a significant leak, or falling off the rim flat--just depends on who you talk to. I wouldn't drive anywhere with a "falling off the rim flat" as that's a serious safety issue, but I dont have an issue driving 20 miles with one trailer tire (out of eight total) that lost 30-40 psi over a ten hour break, as long as I'm taking it directly to a shop.

Does that help? I just want to make sure you understand we're not saying it's ok to take a serious safety risk. There are different levels of flat, and having 7 other tires to hold the weight on a tandem axle really helps to hold the weight.

Let me re- phrase. Tire was out of air. With dual tires, the one that is out of air will not be "flat". That is why we "Thump" them. I use a 4 lb. Sledge. When a tire is full of air, the hammer bounces and kind of sounds like a basket ball. When it is "out of air", the hammer does not bounce and it makes a dull thud. I'm sorry this digressed into semantics.

Paul, I wasn't questioning your judgement or anyone else's for that matter, but rather putting it out there as something to think about before a driver makes that decision to drive with a flat tire.

You Guys can only check your tires when the sun is up???

Heh. No, I can check them in the dark, too, but you can miss things at night, even with a flashlight, that you will spot in the daytime. Sidewall cuts can be easy to miss in the dark.

Danny clarifies a clarification:

Paul, I wasn't questioning your judgement or anyone else's for that matter, but rather putting it out there as something to think about before a driver makes that decision to drive with a flat tire.

Yes, there's a decision to be made. I would not drive with a low tire simply from pick up to delivery. But I might drive to the "nearest" tire service. Yes, you add in whether the drive will cost you drive or 14 hr time, and the weight of the remaining seven tires.

Here's an added factor: how long will it take for the service truck to arrive compared to the time it would take to drive yourself to the shop?

Handy hint #1: as Tractor Man says, it's not a simple thump-and-your-hammer-bounces. You need to listen like the tire is a tuning fork. Even have your hand on the tire to feel it. If you get the practice, you can tell when a tire is even 10 pounds low - and 10 pounds will also get you a citation if the officer pulls out his air gauge.

Handy hint #2: looking at the tire, if the surface/ tread is really black and rough, the tire is off the rim. This is a point to tell the On Road operator, or the service technician. A tire on the rim, which you might be able to fill at the fuel line, is a light gray and smooth.

I wish I could drive on a flat. The flat tire I got put me out of service until the repair guy showed up. Running with super singles isn't always a good thing.

I wish I could drive on a flat. The flat tire I got put me out of service until the repair guy showed up. Running with super singles isn't always a good thing.

Since you run them, what is the advantage to super singles? Is it a weight or mileage thing? Or Both? It seems to me you lose the redundancy of the dual tires. I really don't see the up side. Although, they LOOK COOL!