Rim-Lock®

Installing, or removing, a wheel assembly that can weigh as much as 9t is a complex and dangerous exercise. The current process still relies heavily on soft controls to protect our teams from potentially fatal accidents: Exclusion Zones, Signage, positive communications and demarcation. These controls all share a common problem. 

Team members are still required to access an area where there is a very real risk of being injured or in the worst of circumstances, being crushed. 

Rim-Lock® retainers have been created to instantly and securely lock a wheel assembly in place without the need for any manual interaction from personnel.  

By removing the human element from a “crush zone”, the risk of fatality can be eliminated. 

The Rim-Lock® retainers are placed on the nave plate of the wheel assembly to be installed, at a point when the tyre and rim do not present any danger of uncontrolled movement. 

Once all personnel are clear of the “crush zone”, a tyre-manipulator can safely fit the wheel assembly onto the vehicle, without the need for any further manual interaction from any personnel. 

At no time during the installation of the wheel assembly to the vehicle, will anyone be required to place themselves between an unsecured load and the tyre-manipulator. 

Rim-Lock® retainers contain a unique and patent protected internal mechanism that engages with the stud, instantly locking onto the thread and securing the assembly in position, without the need for any rotation of the retainers. 

With the risk of unplanned movements eliminated, the vehicle’s standard retainers/nuts can now safely be installed, and the Rim-Lock® retainers can be removed. 

Rim-Lock® retainers have undergone an extensive review and FEA process by a Registered Professional Engineer (The full “Design Risk Assessment” is available on request).   

Engineering Certification has rated each individual retainer at 7.5t, with a 1.5 times safety factor applied. However, destructive testing achieved 38 ton for our 50mm Barrel and 53 ton for the 59mm Barrel.  

Rim-Lock® retainers are a tool that can be re-used, and if maintained through OEM servicing, will withstand the harshest of operating conditions while maintaining maximum performance. 

The Rim-Lock® can easily be integrated into current site SOP’s & work instructions and will create a safer work environment for every person involved. 

The Rim-Lock® innovation is at its core a re-invention of the humble “nut” (i.e. nuts and bolts, or fasteners of the wheel assembly of vehicles). 

The retainers can be customised to suit most situations where there is a need to instantly and securely lock a wheel assembly in place, without the need for any manual interaction from personnel. 

It is not a product that aims to replace the function or the use of a nut as an essential partner of the bolt.  

However, it will function as a tool that can be used in all circumstances where safety and speed are essential for the mechanical fastening of a wheel assembly to a vehicle. 

Eliminate the risk. Lock it safely with Rim-Lock®

Contact us to learn more about Rim-Lock®.