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i love these kind of rims. is there anytung special about this design? even MB actros has similar.i wish tata and ALL had same wheels

If you have observed a tire being taken off a rim, you will notice there are three varieties (I count four actually)

Type 1. The one-piece rim (actually a wheel disc welded to a flanged wheel rim).
The tire is held in place simply by interference fit.
To take the deflated tire off, you have to use a tire press.
Sometimes you can just step on the tire sidewall to break the bead (meaning unseal the flange to bead lock).
A cruder way was to hammer the sidewall, break the bead, then use multiple tire-irons to forcibly peel the bead over the rim's flange.
Many human injuries result from this process because of the physical force needed and stresses encountered in the tire.

Type 2. The two-piece rim. This kind of wheel has one flange (usually the inner one) that is integral with the part that bolts to the hub.
The other flange is removable and locks in place under pressure of tire inflation.
To take the tire off, you deflate the tire and pry the removable spring flange off. That separates the two pieces and the tire with tube separates from the hub portion. Advantage? You need less physical force to unmount the tire.

Type 3. The three-piece rim with a retaining split spring-lock ring.
Used in heavy Telco and Ashok-Leyland trucks.
The inner flange is integral with the rim base that bolts to the hub.

The other endless flange is detachable and locked in place with the spring-lock ring.
The two separate flanges interlock under pressure of tire inflation.

To take the tire off, you pry the split ring off. That separates the two pieces and the tire with tube separates from the hub portion.

OT: In Nov 2004, at Thiruvallam, Kerala, a speeding brick-lorry's spring-lock ring flew off the front wheel and hit a child killing him on the spot.

Type 4. Military two piece divided wheel. You deflate the tire and undo the clamping bolts holding the two-pieces of the rim together. Voila you separate the tire and tube from the two pieces of rim.

This type of rim was used on the military Willys MB Jeep, the Humvee (HMMWV) and the Chevrolet Staghound.

The Humvee's 12-bolt, 2-part split wheels had beadlocks and a solid rubber runflat. The US Army manual said, you could drive 50 km at 50 km/h on two punctured tires ! Incidentally, the Humvee has a Central Tire Inflation System (CTIS) (From the dashboard, the Humvee can deflate its own tires to 12 psi for driving on loose sand and re-inflate its own tires back to 45-50 psi on reaching solid road).

Ram

tryin to get hold of pics of the older rims. the newer ones look muscular n awesome.
Ram : thats my fav time pass :D


this seems to be an old volvo. diff lamps n rim

there were pics of the old b7r here - The Volvo B7R - Business Standard Motoring.. but this page being on the old site, the pics arent openin

That was informative but, can you provide pictures of each type (preferably on the commercial vehicle thread)

Update on the story behind this picture:

I called up my cousin who's working with Volvo Lathangi's service department in hope of getting some info regarding what had actually happened.

This happened near Calicut and the bus was moving forward in the flooded road. This bus was following another truck and the truck suddenly applied brake causing the Volvo driver to lift his foot the throttle, when this happened the water got into the exhaust pipe and stalled the engine. When this happened the driver could not restart the engine and the bus got stuck in the flood.

He tells me that water had not yet entered the passenger compartment till they had to open the door. Cargo doors were also able to resist the water entering into the cargo hold.

Btw the new Volvo's have a different wheel design because the later Mark2 and the Mark3 (crdi) versions have front disk brake. The Mark3 version has lot of electronics integrated into the engineering which makes the servicing a bit complicated. Many current gen Volvo's get serviced outside the Volvo authorised centers.

The old Mark1 bus had square headlamps and the round one's came in the Mark2 version. But headlamps alone cannot determine the version because some Mark1's have round headlamp which was fitted later.

Ram & Bunny, I can only smile in appreciation, reading your posts about the rims, tyres, et al ..

For all the comfort and sophistication that the Volvo's brought to Indian road travel, I am not all for these Volvo's. I prefer the seating in the 2+1 seating arrangement busses, where there is much more space. The Volvo's I have seen are either 2+2, or sleeper coaches.

I would still take seat #1 in the Volvo .. Love the view.

One major grouse about a lot of these Volvo's - they Smoke. Much more than the good old Leylands & Tata's.

condor : there was this article sometime back in some paper. some operators were found to be mixin kerosene with diesel which then led to the buses smokin.. the 45 seater volvos may be that comfy, but the 41 seaters are. the 2+1 indian buses may have lotsa space, but then they jump all over the place, plus reach late too :)

sankar : nice piece of info there.

:) very nice of you to give that piece of information on wheel rims RAM,thanks

I dont think State transport undertakings too mix kerosene. That's a difference of 1 row of seats. Shouldnt really make that much of a difference in the comfort.

Oh they do it all the more, and sell the saved diesel to the outsiders!

condor : each row gets 11.1% more space in a 41seater configuration as compared to 45. I have travelled on long 10-12 hour routes on ksrtc (45seater) and VRL (41seater) and the difference is apparent

Any Volvo buses running from Amritsar to Manali?

Hvkumar : None..

update : took the 41 seater semi sleeper VRL from Bangalore to Mumbai.... survived the journey!
Left Bangalore Gandhinagar at 4:15pm, and finally the city by around 5pm. Flew to Chitradurga, reached there by around 8:15pm. 15min stop, continued.
The bus had a flat around 15km before Davanagere, driver decided to drive on till Davanagere office! Result : the flat tyre starts smoking, the rear of the cabin starts filling with rubber smoke. Driver had no idea abt this, i had to come forward and tell him, and then he stops, changes the tyre (30min break).
Leave davanagere at 11pm after dinner, arrive Pune swargate at 8:15am, Vashi at 10:30 (flew from Pune to Vashi..)

Overall nice ride, not that bad. it is possible to undertake such looooong trips on buses now :)

Wow.!! That would have been a great journey.
1. Was it a KSRTC volvo ??
2. How much did it cost u?
3. How many kms was the whole journey?

If any of you happen to take seat #1, and have to face a sudden braking situation, unless you are prepared for it, it's like a nightmare.
Our Airavath (KSRTC Volvo) bus to Mangalore was running late by about 2.3hrs, last month (remember the famous flooding on the night of the Sep 13th?). The driver was racing on the Nelamangala-Hassan route, and a truck appeared opposite direction, in a bend, while our bus was in the process of overtaking another bus! The braking, though spot-on, is a bit scary. A few of the front row curtains on either sides simply opened up. i had taken seat #5, and was awake then, but the sudden loss of momentum causes passengers to almost get pushed out of their seats!!!.
The bus is among the latest models, and looks neat too, especially the headlight, now being a part of the bumper area, and the rear glass, which is glued to the body, ie. no beading around it (more like the Safari's rear quarter and tailgate glass). All in all, its a great bus, simply floats over the roughest of the roads.
Last row seats can best be avoided, as the blower blows cool air over the head, flowing straight out of the luggage rack :). they can't be reclined much too.