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How Heavy Duty Truck Parts Are Moved Or Suspended And Why You Should Not Perform The Repairs Yourself

by Cherly Fowler

Heavy duty truck parts are quite massive and very heavy. Automotive repair shops for these trucks have to maneuver the parts around the shop in some very atypical ways (when compared to how parts are moved and installed in passenger vehicles). To get a better idea of just how these parts are moved around a repair shop and why you should not attempt heavy duty truck repairs yourself, the following information is included.

Hoists, Chains, Pulley Systems and Overhead Cranes

When automotive technicians are working on heavy duty truck engines, they use several instruments to hoist and lift the engine parts up (to remove or to install them). Among these machines, the mechanics might use pulleys and chains, electric winch systems, transmission hoists/cranes and even overhead cranes (which are typically used in the industrial sector for picking up and moving extremely large and heavy loads). If the mechanic needs to get underneath the truck to remove something like an axle, he or she may use a special hydraulic lift or jack meant just for heavy duty and commercial trucks, or he/she might drive the vehicle over a pit where the mechanic may remove the damaged part from underneath the vehicle.

Why You Should Never Attempt to Perform These Repairs Yourself

When a repair shop for heavy duty trucks is busily working on one or more trucks, at least two (if not more) technicians are removing, securing, lifting and holding parts in place while the parts are bolted in or unbolted. The massive size and weight of just about any part from these trucks is such that it could seriously crush and injure one person, regardless of the equipment he or she is using to remove or install a part. Additionally, if the lifting equipment should fail, the part would fall on anyone within reach, and a single technician working on the problem by him- or herself might not survive or may not be discovered in the shop until several hours later.

That said, even if you have some of the lifting equipment that these specialty mechanics have and you have basic knowledge of what is wrong with your truck and how to fix it, you should never attempt repairs or parts replacements on your own. The professionals never work on heavy duty trucks alone for the very reasons previously mentioned, and you should not either. Leave these very dangerous repairs and parts replacement jobs to the professionals from an auto shop like King George Truck & Tire Center.

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