This true, my thoughts were along the same lines, it was probably flat and the ring was not aligned. The truck I was driving that had the blow out was an early 80's model, was only about 6 years old when I was driving it, yet the front steering tires had split/lock rings on them.
Having been around equipment like this for many years, a good part of my youth and later years in the construction industry, several of which were as an equipment operator and tractor trailer driver, I can clearly see how easy it is for something like this to happen, especially to someone new on the job or not educated or familiar with these components, knowing when to stop, call the shop, a mechanic and or someone trained to deal with these kind of wheels within the company. Definitely not a mechanic, but when things were slow in the winter, there was a skeleton crew not laid off (you had to be a good worker to be kept on, riff raff was always fired or laid off every year) for the winter that would be kept on for snow removal, mechanics helper, parts chaser etc., you learn about some things, this was one of them.
The design and configurations of these are what they are and as you said, are still prevalent on equipment, so are the pressures, 100-150 psi is something to respect no matter what you're dealing with
They (media) said it was a freak accident, and to a newspaper writer that may be the case or the general opinion of a reporter, but to anyone with even remote knowledge of these wheel configurations knows you could accurately predict what would happen when inflating the tire on one with the lock ring mis-aligned, not using a protection cage etc. you would know that it is a hazard and that the machine would have to be sidelined until a knowledgable person can arrive to the site with the correct tools and equipment to repair the wheel.
This accident should not have happened, all it would have taken was some general safety training relative to the companies fleet of equipment, a placard above the wheel well or something warning the operator on the tire or fender, somewhere ! It's like handing someone a grenade without the pin, who knows nothing about them, it's fine until you let go of it. It just sucks, a guy does 2 tours in a combat zone and comes home and has this happen.
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