What Are the Most Common Semi-Truck Repairs?

With federal safety regulations stating that semi-trucks must be thoroughly inspected once a year by a qualified inspector, ensuring your commercial fleet adopts a proactive maintenance schedule is essential. Regular maintenance ensures your fleet of commercial semi-trucks minimizes downtime, lowers costs, and avoids unnecessary repairs.

S&S Tire is a proactive commercial tire partner that helps customers’ fleets with a wide range of critical services. These include an expansive inventory of commercial tires, 24/7 emergency roadside assistance from 14 commercial tire locations, inspections, tire retreading, truck alignment, tire and wheel balancing and reconditioning, and, most importantly, fleet maintenance.

Here are the most common semi-truck repairs S&S Tire comes across and what you should look for.

Overheating Engine

A semi-truck may experience an overheating engine for all kinds of reasons. A bad or broken radiator cap or torn radiator hose, loose or broken belts, leaking coolant, blown head gasket, and fuel leaks are reasons an engine might overheat. Regardless of the cause, an overheated engine can stop a semi-truck in its tracks and lead to numerous delivery delays.

A thorough and complete inspection by a qualified professional is the only way to determine the severity of these problems. However, in several cases, they’re simply the result of not enacting a proactive maintenance schedule. Enacting routine repairs and maintenance can help you avoid the issues and the high costs of an engine repair.

Tire Blowouts

Commercial tires are highly pressurized tires that experience extensive wear during transit. They support large loads and travel long distances in different road conditions, environments, and terrains. A tire blowout is common but can be avoided with the proper maintenance schedule.

S&S Tire’s 14 commercial truck tire centers has a TIA-certified trainer. These all-important experts assist S&S Tire technicians and provide critical guidance and assistance on tire-changing and tire rotation processes. Regular tire inspection and maintenance go a long way to avoiding tire blowouts.

A proactive inspection and maintenance schedule will help identify overinflated or underinflated tires. Both contribute significantly to tire blowouts. These inspections also review and assess the tires’ treads and depths. Once a tire is identified as needing replacement, our TIA-certified trainer and technicians ensure the proper pressurization and installation of the replacement tire.

In addition to tire rotation and pressurization, S&S Tire provides tire and wheel balancing and reconditioning. Commercial fleets highly value both services as they ensure all the work is done in one S&S Tire location.

Brakes

Brake issues are common with semi-trucks mainly due to the friction and heat generated during braking. This is due to the size, weight, and momentum these large commercial trucks encounter when breaking repeatedly. Without proper maintenance, brake problems can become catastrophic, leading to devastating accidents that put the driver of the semi-truck and other vehicles at risk of severe injury or death.

Starter Issues: Alternator or Battery

Starter issues are expected during the cold winter months, often caused by a faulty alternator or battery close to the end of its life. The good news is that there are plenty of warning signs when experiencing starter issues, giving you plenty of time to correct the problem before it worsens.

You’ll often notice your semi-truck struggling to start and turn over. Sometimes, lights will flicker on and off. These are sure signs that either the alternator or battery needs replacing.

Your Tire and Fleet Maintenance Partner

S&S Tire has developed an unbeatable reputation for service excellence. In business since 1974, S&S Tire has an expansive footprint across Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, and West Virginia and neighboring states. With 14 commercial tire centers, two retreading plants, and several tire wholesale locations, S&S Tire has the skillset, experience, and reputation to keep you on the road.

If you want to learn more about our tire and maintenance services, contact us now.