Posted by Joe Lorenzino on Tuesday, February 03, 2004 at 9:14PM :
In Reply to: Combat wheels posted by Fred Coldwell on Tuesday, February 03, 2004 at 7:21PM :
Just about lost an employee at work the same way. Our old Towmotor forklift at the shop has a bolt together 2 piece wheel much the same as a combat wheel, but in a 12" size. Before Christmas, I asked one of the "farm kids" at work to take the wheels off the forklift so we could install the tire chains. I thought I heard the impact wrench running a little too much, and by the time I got over there, he only had 2 nuts left to remove on the first wheel. 5 hold the wheel onto the machine, and the other 5 with the cotter pins hold the wheel halves together. He had just started with 1, and rattled 8 them off going around in a circle, shearing the cotter pins off with the impact as he went. The tire has about 100psi in it, and the rim halves were bent open 1 1/2" on the far side. I pulled the valve core, and after the air was gone, removed the 1 remaining mounting nut to remove the wheel assembly. When he saw how bent the rims were, he sort of understood what the problem was, and would have been if I hadn't stopped him. When we put it back together, I had him paint the wheel-half nuts Day Glow red before installing them and their cotter pins. I know he is going to remember this lesson, as he was pretty shaken up by how close he came to getting hurt.