Low Sidewall Titan Loader Tyre Offers Cost Savings

During a conference call on February 25, Titan International chairman and CEO Maurice Taylor Jr. disclosed that the company intends to produce its first 73.5-inch low sidewall OTR tyres by April. Prototype 73.5 steel wheels have already been produced at Titan’s wheel production facility in Quincy, Illinois, and preparations for the tyre are now underway at the company’s Bryon, Ohio factory.

“We have built our first wheel, and hopefully in the first part of April have our first tyre,” stated Taylor. The new tyre’s external diameter will be the same as that of conventional 63-inch OTR radials, however Taylor states the lower sidewall profile offers a number of advantages, for both the end user and Titan.

“There’s a lot of people that are saying ‘well, why are you doing this?’ Well, the first thing is, it will improve, we believe, the product for the end customer. And when you can do that, and you’re the only one that makes it, you can get fairly large margins,” Taylor elaborated. “We are moving into loader tyres. Loader tyres are much different in the radial side than the haul truck (tyres). The reason being is they (mine operators) put chains over the treads of loader tyres. They do this to extend the life (of the tyre) because the chains hit all the rocks as you’re digging in.

“The special chains generally run to approximately $100,000 so you can see it costs a lot of money to put a set of chains on to save tyres,” Taylor continued. “Well, the unique thing about having a larger wheel and keeping the tyre OD (outer diameter) the same is that the sidewalls of the tyres have to be protected by these chains too. And instead of having a sidewall of a tyre that may be approximately 30 to 36-inches, if you can take ten inches off it and have it only 20-something inches, this reduces probably in the neighbourhood of 15 to 20 per cent of those chains. So it all adds up to lower cost per ton of ore or whatever you’re doing. We’re really excited about that and believe that with the wheel we’ll have the whole field covered.”

Upon the completion of successful field tests, Titan anticipates offering the tyre for sale by the third quarter of 2010.