Pre-launch testing for BKT’s 57” rigid dump truck tyre

Following a corona-related delay, off-highway tyre specialist BKT is gearing up to introduce a new, supersized OTR tyre. It has now produced a prototype of its BKT Earthmax SR 468, a size 40.00 R57 tyre developed for use on rigid dump trucks. Over the coming months, the tyre maker’s engineers will test the prototype ahead of the line’s market debut.

The manufacturing equipment required to produce the giant Earthmax SR 468 arrived at BKT’s factory in Bhuj, India in January, not long before India entered a rigorous, 21-day lockdown. The lockdown and resulting production stop at BKT’s plants delayed the machinery’s installation. BKT didn’t complete this task, with the virtual assistance of the machinery manufacturer, until it resumed full operations.

“Despite the pandemic and the extreme difficulties caused by the situation, in BKT we achieved the impossible: going ahead very determinedly but with a similar focus on people, who for us are the company’s real assets,” says Rajiv Poddar, joint managing director of BKT.

“With this giant 57-inch tyre, the prototype of which has been made thanks to the extraordinary determination of my fellow workers, we wish to send a positive message to the market, to our partner distributors and to our end users,” Poddar adds. “In BKT, research and development into new products which help the company evolve but also the whole sector has not stopped. Thanks to enthusiasm and know-how, BKT always finds new ways to grow, even in the most complex situations.”

Testing until spring 2021

Dilip Vaidya, president and director of Technology at BKT, emphasises that the present situation requires BKT to call upon its strength, energy creativity. “That is what drives BKT’s initiatives and also its products.

“It is a very important moment, a giant product has been created which will now be subject to the most rigorous testing up to the spring of 2021, until we are sure we have achieved the highest possible level of quality and reliability, as always. Only when we are absolutely sure we can offer our users the best Earthmax SR 468 possible, will we officially launch the new 57-inch giant,” Vaidya adds.

The SR 468 is the latest addition to the Earthmax family of all-steel radial tyres for earthmoving applications. The Earthmax SR 468 has an E-4 tread, and BKT says it developed the tread pattern to limit heat build-up, a role it shares with the rubber compound.