Aircraft Tires
Care and Maintenance Tire Care and Maintenance
1. Purpose
This manual forwards information relevant to maintenance and servicing of Bridgestone aircraft tires; new and retreaded. The practices and supporting information presented hereinafter are intended to maximize tire performance and life in service by ensuring appropriate procedure in inspection, storage, and maintenance.
2. Inspection Prior to Mounting
Upon receipt and before assembling with wheel, the tire should be visually inspected for anomalies that may have occurred during transportation. Such as :
- Deterioration of sidewall markings impeding to confirm tire identification such as; brand name, size, ply rating, serial number, part number, authorization number (TSO, etc.) and fabrication date.
- Permanent deformation of tire profile or radial-runout, unless disappear in 24 hours after inflation.
- Permanent deformation (bent, kink) at bead area.
- Surface deterioration; such as swelling, hardness, cracking, and discoloration due to contamination. Check condition after removing the contaminants by alcohol and water.
- Surface blister, unless disappear in 24 hours after inflation.
3. Mounting Tires on Wheels
The mounting of aircraft tires requires careful attention and adherence to established procedures.
Care should be taken to abide by wheel/airframe manufacturer's instructions for assembling wheels and mounting tires.
Bridgestone commercial aircraft tires are tubeless. It is prohibited to mount these tires with an inner tube unless otherwise specified.
Standard tire/wheel mounting procedure
In general, it is recommended to mount without grease or lubricated agents on the tire bead area. A tire with adjusted balance is stamped with a red dot on the sidewall immediately above the bead to indicate the lightweight point of the tire.
The following step-by-step instructions generally apply for mounting tubeless tires on split wheels :
- Make sure that the tire is clean inside. Visually inspect the bead area and wipe them clean with a cloth moistened with denatured alcohol, allow the tire beads to dry.
- Wipe the "O-ring" seal of the wheel halves with an alcohol dampened cloth. Lubricate the O-ring seal with a light coat of grease following manufacturer's instructions, if any. Place seal carefully in its groove without stretching or twisting.
- Place the tire on the inboard wheel half being careful not to disturb the "O-ring".
- Set the outboard half in the tire. Align red-dot on tire with the wheel valve or wheel's heaviest point if indicated.
Align bolt holes in accordance with manufacturer's instructions. - Install wheel bolts, washers and nuts, tighten in a criss-cross fashion, and torque according to the wheel manufacturer's instructions.
- Inflate the assembly to the rated inflation pressure.
Make sure to do this inflation in a safety cage.
In case bead-fitting is not appropriate, spray de-ionized water over tire bead area before the inflation. - Ensure "tire rim line" is perfectly concentric to the wheel flange edge on both sides.
Category Link:
Tire Care and Maintenance
- 10. Removal by tire condition other than tread wear
11. Dismounting Bias Tires
12. Dismounting Radial Tires
13. Remounting of tires
14. Tire condition unsuitable for retreading - 15. Matching Tire Diameters
16. Tire Flat-spot
17. Protection from Contamination
18. Maintenance of Airport Surfaces - 19. Tires in Other than Aircraft Service
20. Storage of Tires
21. Handlings of tires
22. Transportation & Storage of Tire/Wheel Assemblies
23. Precautions during Unloading
24. Service Claim Memorandum
