Titan Test 63-Inch Tyre on World’s Largest Bull Wheel

Following the construction of a bull wheel measuring 24 feet in height – the largest of its kind in the world – Titan Tire has begun testing its 63-inch tyre. Built in February 2008, the tyre required an equally imposing piece of testing machinery; a prerequisite more than adequately matched by the corporation’s newest piece of bespoke engineering. The bull wheel is used to run the tyres at varying speeds and loads, allowing the performance of the tyre to be measured in controlled conditions.

The tyre, weighing in at 12,500 pounds (easily exceeding five and a half tons) and measuring 13.5 feet – or just over four metres – is the first of its dimensions manufactured at the firm’s Quincy, Illinois plant. In testing the tyre, the gargantuan bull wheel is loaded with weights approaching 500,000 pounds and used at speeds ascending to 45 mph. The company compares the bull wheel to NASA’s device for testing its handling gear for space shuttles, claiming their wheel is much larger.

The bull wheel will be used to confirm the characteristics of the tyre in use, as the machine will allow Titan to subject the tyre to the equivalent of the pressures of a year in the field in a mere ten days. The company’s Chairman and CEO, Maurice M. Taylor Jr. announced that the bull wheel project was completed within the $8 million budget and that the machine could test “two giant tyres at a time.” He continued, stating defiantly, “There were many who doubted Titan’s ability to produce and test this tyre: never underestimate a small entrepreneurial company. This tyre has surpassed all of Titan’s expectations.”