SolidBoss Rolls Out Improved Telehandler Tire

SolidBoss, South Haven, Mich., has rolled out an improved Aperture solid tire for telehandlers. The new version features redesigned apertures in the tire and larger areas on the face of the lugs.

The redesigning was completed in September, and SolidBoss introduced the improved tire at Maximum Capacity’s Lift and Access Showcase in Scottsdale, Ariz. earlier in November.

SolidBoss President Bob Gilkenson, who manned the SolidBoss display at the Showcase, explains that the updated tire features fewer lugs that have larger faces to distribute loadings over a larger area. “Tires are designed to distribute loadings over the entire tread, but telehandlers often climb up onto foundations, curbs, or plank roads. That puts a lot of pressure on a small area of tire,” says Gilkenson.

In some cases, that concentrated pressure eventually caused pieces of lug to break off, so SolidBoss redesigned the tire with fewer but larger lugs to spread the load.

In addition, SolidBoss made the opening of the apertures on the outside of the tire smaller, to help keep dirt, debris, rebar, and other foreign material from getting into the holes. Although the outside opening is smaller, the inside aperture is the same size as before in order to dissipate heat and to soften the ride. The aperture is now shaped like a bottle neck instead of a straight bore.

Gilkenson says that the SolidBoss tires are expected to provide four times the life of a pneumatic tire filled with foam, and as much as five to eight times the life on a machine used in rental service. He says that although there’s no test data yet, “some rental companies think the tire may last the full working life of a machine.”  He notes that SolidBoss had tracked at least one set of tires that were installed in 2004 and are still on the machine now, in 2011.

The 14.00 x 24 size are available now; the 13.00 x 24 size will be available in January or February of 2012, says Gilkenson.