It is hard to imagine a tougher place to be a tire than Chuckran Auto Parts, where machinery operators pull engines and transmissions from cars with hydraulic jaws. By teaming up with Alliance Tire Americas and putting a wide range of Galaxy brand tires to the test, Andrew Chuckran has learned a thing or two about tires.
By Steve Werblow
The process is straight out of a robot/dinosaur movie mashup: an operator approaches a car with a John Deere 624H, pins it down with huge forks, reaches in with a hydraulic mandible and wrenches the engine out. After placing the engine aside for further recycling, he returns and, with a tug, emerges holding the transmission bell casing. In recycling鈥檚 most dramatic process, a car is reduced in a moment to a carcass by a giant, steel Tyrannosaurus.
At Chuckran鈥檚 Auto Parts in Bridgewater, MA, the loader with the engine puller never loses its appetite鈥攖he company recycles an average of 30,000 cars per year. With a steady stream of cars flowing in for processing, efficiency is vital. Scattered shards of steel and aluminum would cripple the tires on most machines in moments, but there is no time for downtime.
That is why鈥攆or all the millions of dollars鈥� worth of machinery and inventory on his family鈥檚 70-acre property鈥擜ndrew Chuckran spends a surprising amount of time thinking about tires. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 do this without good equipment, and the tires being as cost-effective as they are, it makes this possible,鈥� he notes. 鈥淚 guarantee you will not find a more aggressive application than this one.鈥�
Smooth Going
Since its founding in 1949 by Chuckran鈥檚 grandfather, the company has kept up with advances in tire and machinery technology. Andrew Chuckran鈥攚ho operates the business with his father Alan and cousin Rich鈥攕ays he has been surprised by some of the lessons he has learned about tires in recent years, especially since he teamed up with Alliance Tire Americas Northeast Business Development Manager, Shawn Sweet, to put a wide range of Galaxy brand tires to the test.
鈥淪hawn has used my company as kind of a testing ground for certain types of tires,鈥� Chukran notes. The recycling yard was one of the early proving grounds for Galaxy Severe Duty Solid (SDS) tires, including the 25.5-25 Super Smooth SDS.
鈥淚nitially, we thought tread would be important to us,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e come to find out that we鈥檙e not doing real high speeds, so tread doesn鈥檛 really matter. We鈥檝e gone to solid, smooth tires that we press onto a John Deere OEM wheel.鈥�
Sweet points out that the flat tread radius of the Galaxy Super Smooth distributes weight and torque evenly in contact with the ground, reducing wear and minimizing damage to the yard surface. 鈥淲e build solid Galaxy tires with lug and block tread patterns for environments where traction is important, but in a situation like Andy鈥檚, he can get even longer wear from a smooth contact patch because he鈥檚 spreading the load evenly across the entire surface of the tire and he鈥檚 not exposing blocks or lugs to sharp debris,鈥� Sweet explains. 鈥淭he chunk-resistant compound of the Super Smooth SDS minimizes damage from shards of metal, and the tire鈥檚 solid construction eliminates any concern of puncture damage.鈥�
Chuckran adds that he appreciates the depth of the rubber compound on the Super Smooth. 鈥淲e鈥檝e also had tires that have a wheel that is two or three times this size, a gigantic wheel with less rubber,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut with those, before you know it, you鈥檙e down to the metal. We鈥檝e had these Galaxy tires for about a year, and there鈥檚 very little wear at all.鈥�
Maintenance Matters
Chuckran points out that rotating the tires on his engine-eating loaders is an important step in extending their service life. 鈥淥bviously, the front tires take the brunt of the abuse,鈥� he notes. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e riding over the debris if you bring the cars to the same area. Every few months, we鈥檒l swap the fronts to the back.鈥�
Because solid tires cost twice as much as pneumatic tires鈥攐r more鈥攖he Chuckrans use them where they will enjoy months or years more service life than they would get from pneumatic tires. For machinery in other parts of the operation where debris is not as threatening, including the John Deere 624H and 624K loaders that move cars from station to station around the yard, they use tough Galaxy pneumatics, including the Galaxy LHD 500.
We can get at least a year, perhaps two, out of the premium pneumatic tires if we pull the debris out of them and check the air,鈥� Chuckran says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e in abusive situations, just not as abusive.鈥�
Meanwhile, for the most abusive situations鈥攖he epic engine-pulling station鈥擜ndy Chuckran is sold on his Galaxy solid tires. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never had a tire this good,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese could last three to five years. We couldn鈥檛 do this job without good equipment. These tires being as cost-effective as they are makes it possible.鈥� | WA
Steve Werblow writes for Alliance Tire Americas (ATA) (Wakefield, MA). Alliance Tire Americas is the American sales and marketing arm of Alliance Tire Group (ATG), a global leader in OTR, mining, agricultural and logging tires. ATG鈥檚 Alliance, Galaxy and Primex brands have earned global reputations for excellence and performance. For more information, call (800) 343-3276 or (781) 321-3910 or visit www.atgtire.com.