Tire Thumper?

[Owen Sparks]

I went to the local truck stop for something last night and noticed an item for sale that looked for all intents and purposes like an old time police billy club. It was about 18" long with a groved handle and lanyard loop. On the side it plainly said

"USE AS A TIRE THUMPER ONLY."

Does anybody really use these things to thump tires? I did a little searching and found this:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=3441

and this:

http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/wndarchive/19514.html

Evidently the police in some states concider them illegal concealed weapons if they are within reach or under the seat.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Does anybody really use these things to thump tires?

Actually yes. A tire thumper (aka tire billy) is a common tool among professional truck drivers. It is used on tandem mounted tires to check for flats or low air pressure. Some trucking companies require the driver to do such checks at every break/rest stop. Modern tractor/trailers have onboard computers that monitor tire pressure (and even corrects a low tire) automatically. A tire billy in a tractor/trailer rig won't get a second look from LEO but I wouldn't want one in my car at a cop stop.

 

[4thPointOfContact]

Yeppers, they do use them to 'thump tires'.
Anecdotaly, one time I had a disabled car on a semi-deserted road and a trucker stopped to help. (I'm guessing he wasn't being paid by the hour ) and when he climbed down from the cab, he had one of the smaller fire extinguishers in his hand.
After we'd gotten my car back together, I asked if he brought the extinguisher because he was worried there might be a fire or something.


"No, but its steel, it weights five pounds and no one just stands there when you point the nozzle at them and squeeze."

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Ice Knocker

I keep one in my truck box.

After an adventure with ice build-up in the front wheel wells that made it very hard to steer, and after concluding that your standard extended ice scraper was simply not going to do the job, it turned out that a stout 18-inch stick would.

I've carried one ever since.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Yep, used to carry one in a dually pickup I had. You can't get a tire pressure gauge on the inside tire very easily. Pretty common tool.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

More state nonsense foisted on the people by politicians and lobbyists.

I know several truckers who use them for the ascribed purpose. Using one as a weapon would probably be an efficient way to maim or kill someone, given the mass and resulting inertia.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Necessity

Tire thumpers are just a commercial answer to a long-standing need.

First tire thumpers I ever saw were just cut down handles from axes and sledge hammers.

With tires that size, you can't just kick it with your toe to get a sense of how well it's inflated. That, and your toe isn't going to reach the inner tires in any meaningful way.

Just makes sense to use a robust stick.

Presto -- tire thumpers.

I contemplated carrying a fish bat, but they're fatter and poorly suited to reaching into wheel wells. Useful if you're assaulted by a fish, though.

 

[glistam]

An interesting bit of case law I remember finding long ago:

Evidence was insufficient to support finding that a tire thumper found in defendant's car was a "weapon" proscribed by Mo. Rev. Stat. § 571.030.1(1) (Cum. Supp. 2003) and therefore defendant's conviction of unlawful use of a weapon was reversed. The tire thumper had a peaceful use and State did not establish defendant's intent to use it in combat.

--Missouri v Mace, 2006

Interesting in that the defendant was a known drug dealer with priors who was in the middle of a drug deal when police rolled up.

 

[Chuck Dye]

Some trucking companies require the driver to do such checks at every break/rest stop.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules, which have the force of law, require tire and wheel (bearing) checks at 3 hour or 150 mile intervals, which ever comes first, a walk around visual inspection and tire and wheel inspection whenever returning to the truck from a stop.

My thumper is a 2 pound ball peen hammer, $4 at Harbor Freight Tools. Cheaper than almost anything but a length of rebar, the ball end produces more easily interpreted sounds from the tires, it frees frozen brakes better than bars, bats, or batons, and a hammer is a useful thing in general.

 

[xjsnake]

I have one that is is a plastic tube filled with sand. It has an end cap epoxied in place along with a rubber grippy handle and weighs a ton... It works great for its intended purpose and would also be extremely devastating as a defensive weapon if the need ever arose. Picked it up years ago at a truck stop in Kentucky...

 

[kBob]

The son of a friend was in another state and about to get into his car at a gas station. An LEO saw the tire billy under his front seat and arrested him. Attourney advised he plea guilty to avoid time and he now has a felony weapons conviction which prevents him from doing many things like owning a firearm.

Another friend had a "Karate Stick" on his key chain during a traffic stop and was cited for a misdemeanor weapons charge in that state.

Yes, laws can be silly and even hurtful.

This is why I support Cliff Stearns (r) FLA US House in his atempts to make CWLs issued by any state "legal" in all US states.

-kBob

 

[DaisyCutter]

I don't think any person looks at a tire thumper without immediately seeing the potential for use as a weapon.

The context of it's [the thumper's] environment must be considered.


If it's in the trunk or behind the seat, alongside the jumper cables, tire iron, and a half-quart of motor oil, then it's primary use is presumably as a automobile-oriented tool.

If it's under the trenchcoat of the guy on the streetcorner, who's selling herion and doesn't own a car, then it's primary use is presumably unlawful.

 

[Owen Sparks]

I fail to understand how a weapon, even one designed to cause serious bodily injury or death can be illegal to possess when there is a perfectly legal use for deadly force, SELF DEFENSE. Simply having a tool does not necessarily mean that you are planning to use it in an illegal manor.

SELF DEFENSE IS LEGAL and may require a proper tool if your assailant is bigger, stronger or younger.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules, which have the force of law, require tire and wheel (bearing) checks at 3 hour or 150 mile intervals, which ever comes first, a walk around visual inspection and tire and wheel inspection whenever returning to the truck from a stop.

This is true but rarely ever happens.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Simply having a tool does not necessarily mean that you are planning to use it in an illegal manor.

While this is generally true,tools such as lock picks are considered burglary tools and illegal to possess unless you are a licensed locksmith.

 

[ForumSurfer]

My father is old school, vietnam era ex-army. After the military, he drove an 18-wheeler for a living. He gave me an old wooden tire thumper that he actually had to use to thump someone. Of course, he only had the half that had the handle still attached. He told me to go where ever I want in life, but carry a bigger stick than that one if I ever go to Detroit.

 

[Owen Sparks]

I have continued this in the legal forum.

 

[19-3Ben]

I've got a couple of these around. They make great ice breakers for clearing off stairs in the winter time. I love the metal band around the end. They would definitely give someone a good thump. My wife actually has one on her side of the bed for that exact reason.

 

[Buck Kramer]

That's why no one sells "brass knuckles" they sell paper weights.

 

[usmccpl]

My dad drives a truck has ever since he was 21. A 3 lb ball peen sets right between the seats gets used daily to check tires and once when somebody with a knife was looking for a missing lot lizard.

 

[DAdams]

Doesn't everyone have one? I worked at a truck stop for a summer, everyone had one as did the station.

I inhereted my Dad's. He picked his up in Mexico to use on his Airstream. It has carved and funky Aztec Graphics, it resides in my offce next to my Great Grandmothers Cane with the carved lizard.

 

[mortablunt]

A tire thumper is a tool that is great for getting most car owners into trouble.

 

[sm]

Just me, but a cracked hickory axe handle with electrical tape over the crack...

Well it thumps tires, and removes ice, mud and such from fender wells.

Then again anything can and will be defined as a "weapon" if used to stop a threat.

Just coming up as I did and mentored as I was...having the old axe handle is a good idea when going to replace said handle.

*nuff-said*

 

[MM OneSix]

California, if anywhere, is a great place to have the law arbitrarily passed and applied. It is in the shape it is for a reason...

 

[Owen Sparks]

I knew a guy back in high school who carried an axe handle in his car for self defense. The way he got away with possessing a weapon as a minor was that he kept an axe head on the floor along with the little metal wedge in a paper sack. No one could prove that he had not been to a hardware store earlier that day to find a handle that fit.