Foam-Filled vs. Solid Tires: The Telehandler Debate
In this episode, host Cameron Macias and guest Rob dive into the world of material handling with a focus on telehandlers and their tires. They explore the evolution of tire types, comparing foam-filled and solid tires, and discuss the economic factors that drive decisions in the rental industry. The conversation highlights the importance of tire specifications, the challenges of standardization, and how different tire designs impact performance. They also touch on the need for better data collection, application-based tire choices, and share insights on the future of foam filling in telehandler tires.
🔧 Topics Covered:
Telehandler tire evolution: from 13.00-24 to 28-inch and beyond
Foam-filled vs. solid tires in material handling applications
OSHA safety considerations and flat-proofing
Cost, maintenance, and ROI for rental fleets
Standardization challenges with tire sizes and wheel types
Real-world tire service logistics and downtime
Data gaps in tire longevity and performance tracking
The future of foam filling and solid tire adoption
Show Notes:
Episode: Foam-Filled vs Solid Tires: The Telehandler Debate
Host: Joseph and ROI Rob
Runtime: 31 minutes
Summary: In this episode of Around the Bead, the hosts continue their Material Handling Series with guest Rob to unpack the world of telehandler tires—from the history of common sizes to the ongoing shift toward foam-filled and solid solutions. The discussion explores why rental fleets choose certain setups, the real-world maintenance and safety implications, and how procurement and asset management shape tire decisions. They also dig into why tire standardization could transform the industry and whether foam filling has a future in the next two decades.
What You'll Learn:
Why telehandler tires are one of the most commoditized segments in the tire industry
How foam filling (polyfill) works, its costs, and why it’s both essential and frustrating
The key differences in ride quality and safety between solid, foam-filled, and pneumatic tires
How rental company procurement decisions impact tire quality and lifespan
The challenges around tire standardization, data tracking, and service infrastructure
Why solid tires haven’t yet fully replaced foam fill—and what might change that
Links:
Visit our website for full transcripts and resources
Subscribe to the podcast
Sign up for the newsletter
Transcript (Excerpt)
00:01 [Music]
00:34 Good day and welcome back to Around the Bead podcast. Today we are continuing
00:39 with our material handling series starring guest Rob to talk about Teleahandlers, JLG lifts, Gradalls, Sky
00:47 Tracks, and the tires that are on them. Rob, welcome back. Are you ready to kick
00:52 the tires? Let's go, buddy. Okay. So, uh these lifts, they're mostly
00:58 in rental fleets nowadays. United Reynolds, Sunb Belt, Herk, you know, all
01:04 the names. Oh, yeah. Um it's almost one of the most commoditized tires out
01:09 there. 1300,400 24s were the only tires for as
01:16 long as I've been alive. Um we'll talk about 28 in. Um are those still
01:21 prevalent today? Is the 1324 going away? I don't know if it's going away.
01:26 Obviously, there's so many machines out there that it still exists for. Um, uh,
01:32 we still do a good number of them, but yeah, there's there's the 1424 and then
01:37 there's of other sizes now, right? It's like it's like passenger and light truck tires. I feel like every year they
01:43 create a a new machine, they come out with a new tire size. So, okay, I'm with
01:48 you. There's more than there used to be, but what 3707 7528 uh the
01:54 47528 and now 1300400 28s. Yep. Yep. And then you 17 155 17525s. Yeah. Yep. And
02:04 then you've got some of the smaller machines with 1265 equivalents. And there's there's all kinds of stuff out
02:10 there all right. Fair enough. Um all of them are foam filled or solid. you know,
02:16 they should be and we would think they are. Some of them um
02:22 I guess you know the big companies, let's call it United Rental Sunb Belt. They're really good at being foam filter solid. Yeah. Um when Ahern was doing it
02:30 before United Reynolds bought them out and Extreme was manufacturing them. Yeah. If they came uh specked with air
02:38 Yeah. like a pneumatic tire, they kept it a pneumatic tire. So, uh, but as
02:44 they've taken over, we've seen more and more of it go to foam filled or solid. I I heard a rumor that there's OSHA
02:50 regulation to have aerial lifts have flatproof tires. Do we have Do we have
02:56 anything on that? I don't I don't know if there is an OSHA regulation. I mean, it makes sense. Think about it. I mean,
03:02 you're putting something how far up in the air that weighs how much? Uh, what what's a flat do to that? You know, I
03:08 I'm not going to promote government regulation on this show, but I get it. If I was in one of those things, one of
03:15 the aerial lifts, and a tire went flat, that would be a freaking moment for me.
03:21 Yeah. How about we just promote common sense, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. So, they're solid. Polyfill is
03:28 pretty standard nowadays. What is polyfill for our listeners out there? Foam fill, flat proofing. comes by a
03:36 bunch of different names, but is essentially the same thing. Yeah. Bottom line is it's it's two compounds mixed
03:41 together to fill up the inside of a tire and essentially create a somewhat hard
03:49 uh but cushioned fill mix that essentially takes the air out of the inside of the tire and the tire can't go
03:56 flat. Right. Right. So, you can run a nail, a steak, a whatever piece of rebar into it you want. The tire's still going
04:02 to hold the same shape. But what's what's really cool to me on it and I think is unique is it it's holding the
04:09 same air pressure that was desired for that pneumatic tire. Yes. Right. So you
04:16 could you can fill it with foam, but it is essentially operating at 8 PSI, 55
04:22 PSI, whatever the desired PSI was. Correct. It's not creating some big
04:28 extra-l large bubble on a tire or something. Well, not an extra-L large bubble or extra stiff. Um, it has a
04:34 completely different operating uh operating purpose, so to speak, compared
04:39 to a solid tire, which is has its set durometer rubber, and it's going to be
04:45 as stiff as the tire is built. Exactly. So, polyfill, um, you're filling two
04:52 liquids in there. Um, it's very expensive. Yes. Very messy process. We'll we'll certainly take this podcast
04:59 out on the road and show people how messy it can be. Um, one of the
05:05 questions I've thought is and and you've heard me use this example is foam filling is so expensive. Um, yet the
05:12 tire for teleandlers is really commoditized. It's, hey, I want the cheapest possible option I can get. But
05:19 the way I'm thinking of it is that's like throwing a 502 in a Civic, right?
05:25 It doesn't have the structure to support longevity. Wouldn't you want the best
05:31 possible tire? If you're going to put that fixed investment of foam fill into into a teleandler tire, you can't get it
05:38 out. You can't return the the foam fill. Yeah. It depends on how you look at it,
05:43 right? Because um we'll talk about and I'm going to bring up something we've talked about in
05:49 previous podcasts. There's retreading, right? Some people will want to retread with the foam still in there and retread
05:56 that that 1324. Sure. Some people uh
06:01 their deal is they want a new tire and new foam every time on that. They want to make sure it's the most secure it
06:07 possibly is. regulations have come so far with with manufacturers and building tires that
06:14 they're built to it seems to a certain standard that the maybe not the cheapest
06:20 one, but some of the maybe lesserk known brands built just as well good of a tire
06:26 that with the foam in it as long as it holds the bead is going to do just fine. Well, it it's not a high endurance
06:32 application. No, you're not running speeds. So, no speed. Um, weight is I I
06:40 I would probably argue that you have more tire on there than you need for the for the weight in most situations. Yeah.
06:47 Um, scrub isn't a thing. Um, so yeah, you don't need a complex compound to
06:54 answer those questions. No, the most important part is not getting flats and not having to change tires, period.
07:00 Right. Yeah. So, okay. I I see your point. And I just think I would and we
07:06 obviously in the tire industry don't promote this, but more tread depth, more tread depth, more tread depth, more
07:11 wear, but that would kind of be my thought process. If I was a rental manager, I'm going to spend 500, 600,
07:18 $1,000 foam filling a tire. I want to put it with the most amount of tread on it, whether I'm recapping it or not.
07:26 Yeah. And then it's it's kind of it's user specific too a little bit because
07:31 most of the rental companies they're they're basically looking to keep those
07:36 in the system for four or five years and then they're turning those over and
07:42 getting new machines and trying to either sell them or ship them off or what have you. Right. So the interesting
07:48 thing was we had one manufacturer create a solid tire. Yeah. Um and it looked
07:54 great. super meaty and uh it was going to wear forever. Well, it turns out it's at least a seven-year tire. The problem
08:01 with that is the rental company runs it for five years and then they want to turn it over and that tire just happens
08:07 to be at a point where they've got to replace it to have a meteor tire on there and it's so darn expensive with
08:13 that seven-year tire. Yeah. That they're looking for the cheapest option possible to go put back on there. So asset
08:19 management and procure procurement thought process seems to be something
08:24 that has uh certainly impacted the industry and the decisions that are made
08:30 there. Yeah. Right. So you talk about a seven a sevenyear lifespan on a tire. I hear this time and time again. Hey, I
08:36 don't want to spend the money because I'm going to move this equipment to another yard and I want them to incur that expense. Yeah. Exactly. And then
08:43 you you have rental managers, uh, equipment managers who understand that
08:49 investment. Hey, I just spent however many however many bucks to foam fill tires. That's my asset. Some rental
08:57 companies keep that asset in the system. Some don't. Um, and so they want to keep
09:03 that. Whereas on a it's almost impossible to track that in any system that you have a core like a battery
09:10 core. Yeah. That's something we've always struggled with. Yeah. Whereas on a solid tire side, I always thought
09:16 solid tires would just take over rental really quick because it'd be easy for
09:22 procurement to understand. Procurement goes in and says, "Hey, we want everybody to bid on our business. Here's the RFP." Um, all right. You have this
09:29 much 30 seconds of tread and this is what it costs and we're doing cost per 30 second. You guys bid it. But it
09:35 hasn't taken over. Yeah. No, it hasn't. part of its availability um uh and understanding it and then
09:43 expense, right? Because just what we talked about, a lot of these guys are looking for the cheapest tire and in
09:50 nine times out of 10 the solid tire is going to be more expensive. Yeah. Right. So,
09:57 um for for example, some regions what they'll do, we talked about moving equipment around. Uh some of the rental
10:04 companies I'll talk to a location manager and I'll try to sell them on quality and discuss how this tire will
10:10 last longer and be safer for their renters and so on and so forth. And a
10:15 lot of times the answer I get is well the problem is if I spend extra money on that it hits my branch and I pay for it
10:22 and then tomorrow the branch 45 miles away calls and has a rental for it and
10:28 takes that unit and rents it. Yeah, I will never get ROI on the expense on that tire. So, why shouldn't I just put
10:35 the cheapest item on there I can? Yeah. So, it's kind of an interesting industry. Uh, and it I guess it it
10:42 completely spins from everything we've talked about so far, right? As far as wear and mileage and everything else.
10:48 It's just get me by. Yeah. Well, and so much of it is rebuilt. Yeah. Right. You're rebuilding it back to the
10:54 customer. Damages, uh, costs. to you to run an amortization table to to see your
11:00 total maintenance on that equipment and building that into your cost that you ultimately charge your customer. Yeah,
11:06 absolutely. Um, another component I was thinking about last night on the solids
11:11 is pressing them, right? So, the wheel two two components really, the wheels
11:16 are much much more expensive for 28 in solids, 24in solids. Mhm. Um and then
11:23 the presses themselves. We operate in the material handling business. We press forklift tires every single day, you
11:30 know, uh across the western United States. But not all forklift dealers are
11:37 rental teleahandler supporting dealers. Absolutely. So the person that has the
11:43 equipment for the press, right, often isn't big enough to do the teleahandler
11:48 business. Yep. And on the other side, there's not enough teleahandler presses that can handle
11:55 teleahandler tires in the right locations across the US. So if you're a procurement manager for a big rental
12:00 fleet and you're like, "Yes, we want to go forward with this tire." There's not enough infrastructure to support it. Exactly. Yeah. Yep. So who makes uh
12:08 solid tires today? A lot of a lot of different companies are making them. Um,
12:14 uh, Camo, otr, um, Continental, right? Continental.
12:21 Yep. They had that 1328 and a couple different options. Is the 1328 the same
12:26 thing as the 3707528. It It's all interchangeable, right? So,
12:32 just like the 1424 is interchangeable with the 28 in. Now, you can you can
12:37 move them all around. Okay. So, let's talk about that for a little bit. So the the 28 in stuff to me, I remember it
12:43 coming on the scene when Firestone won the G JLG contract. Mhm. So that was the
12:49 first time that tire had come out. What was pitched to me is that this is attractive to a rental fleet because
12:56 it's got a narrower sidewall, meaning less opportunity for impact.
13:02 Interesting. That was how they won the won the contract. Um, now everybody makes that tire much more economically
13:09 and those are the winners in the space. You have otr with the 1300,400 28. I haven't seen a a ton of
13:17 that, but the low sidewall uh we've seen this in certain specialty niches uh
13:24 tighten obviously on the A side. Um and then also with the advent of 8756529s
13:33 um the low sidewall 29 inch fitments for earth mover. Um do you think that's the
13:40 concept is is the low impact? I mean do we need to get an engineer on the show to teach us something? Where's Phil when
13:46 we need him? Right. Well Phil will be on the show for sure. Yeah. Um yeah I I
13:51 absolutely think that. I mean, I can't think of any other reason besides people trying to create patents on a on a
13:58 different size or something to, you know, control the market. But, yeah, it's it's the less impact, right? Even
14:05 though they're solid or foam filled, the less impact we can can put on a tire,
14:10 the longer it will last. Because with the foam fills and the solids where we seem to have to change them the most
14:16 frequently is where they're impacting um like railroad crossings or some kind of
14:24 object in the ground and taking a big enough chunk out of the shoulder or the sidewall of them that it uh it can uh
14:32 deteriorate their stability. Right. So, it becomes an issue and we have to get them changed out. So, and then that's
14:41 when it gets really expensive because you kind of want to keep it matched because most of these machines are four-wheel drive, right? So, you start
14:47 looking at changing something before it needs to be changed and you got to do all four. It's pretty expensive. Yeah.
14:52 So, yeah, any any any impact you can save the better. I I've been a firm believer that if the wheels ever get
14:59 standardized across, you know, all platforms that you're going to see a huge change in the
15:06 industry. Yeah. Yeah. If everything is on the same wheel across the industry.
15:11 Oh my gosh. And you don't have to worry about um offsets and eight hole versus
15:17 10hole, coin versus flat, and so on and so forth. Yeah. Man, what a difference it would make. And then you could
15:24 standardize a solid tire that just works right and fits those wheels and then you
15:29 can reduce cost on it. So I think it'd be huge. Yeah. I'm going to tell a story
15:34 real quick. I'm just thinking of this and this is kind of my own almost BDE
15:40 big dog energy moment. But one of my first uh real serious service calls was
15:46 uh a great all job and it was a foam fil job. Um, the person wanted full new set.
15:53 So, tires, foamed, uh, the wheels, the whole thing. And, uh, it was like a
15:59 4hour call, so four hours one direction. Oh, wow. Um, uh, boom truck, of course.
16:05 Um, and I hadn't really done a lot of boom work. Um, and go all the way down there, four hours, get to the job site,
16:13 it's the wrong freaking wheels. Oh god. Um, so for the listeners that may not be familiar, that's like a few thousand
16:20 mistake on someone's part because you can't unfoam them. That foam is permanent in the tires. Somebody ordered
16:28 the wrong wheels or somebody gave the wrong information. And that was my whole
16:33 day was four hours down there. Hey, this ain't going to work. Ain't going to work. And four hours back. Yeah. Talk
16:39 about a loss of a day, right? Gosh. I mean that the the company losing me for
16:44 the day wasn't the big hit, but the whatever had to happen between the salesperson and the customer on that
16:51 that was probably the biggest loss of the day. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Wow. Um, so yeah, standardization of wheels I
16:59 think would certainly help uh solids come along um because you could swap
17:04 them out much easier. And that's something that we've seen the industry be supported by guys like us, other
17:12 people in industry that have wheel inventory, can do exchanges relatively
17:17 easily. Um, but it requires a lot of capital to get started on that. It absolutely does and we've worked hard to
17:24 uh to acquire enough wheels to do full exchange programs whether it's new tires
17:30 or solids um or foam filled retreads. Right. So, it's something we offer
17:35 across the board and it's helped a lot. But yeah, God, what a difference standardization of wheels would make to
17:40 know that we've got 10 or 12 in each store rather than we've got four of these and eight of these and four of
17:47 those. Yeah, it's it's crazy. Yeah. Well, you're you're bringing up the the
17:52 movement of equipment and the timeline on this, and it's making me think about you and the data team. Um, we don't have
17:60 that data on how long 7-year solids are running. How long
18:05 a 1424 recapped on its second time with this foam fill uh is running. Is that
18:13 data even possible to get? Is that a mission that we're just going downhill on?
18:19 It's it's when we talk about the ease of acquiring data, it would definitely be
18:25 the harder one out there, right? Because the machine moves so slow, the tire
18:31 wears so slow. It'd be a long-term kind of investment in that data to try to
18:38 monitor it. I think it's the reason you see a moving just to the cheapest tire, right? because no one has ever taken the
18:45 time to really create data on how long a foam filled or a solid teleahand tire
18:50 lasts. You know where we could do it is we could do it in Hawaii. Yeah. And the reason I'm saying that is because
18:57 they're not going to move it out of the state. They're probably not going to even move it off island ever. Yeah. It's
19:02 not it's not cost effective now to move something from Texas to Missouri
19:08 uh where you're not going to be able to track it anymore. That happens all the time. Mhm. But the inventory in Hawaii
19:14 is it's going to take us a lot longer. It's a lot less hours. It's going to give us some different data because of
19:20 the lava rock. But uh at least it's not going to move. Yeah. But we're there and they're there and it's not going
19:25 anywhere, right? That's a that's an interesting idea. I'd be interested if if any anybody in the rental industry is
19:32 even interested in that data. Maybe it's not a priority for them. Yeah. Um I I don't know. I don't know either to be
19:38 honest. I I've you know I've never been asked like why this tire or why that
19:44 tire. Yeah. Really to be honest the calls that come from the rental industry are hey I need a set for this tea
19:51 handler and okay what's the machine make model? Here it is. It's got 1424s on it.
19:57 Yes or no. I have a set or don't and I can get them to you tomorrow. No one's ever stopped to say what brand tire is
20:04 that? Um and you know it's it's it's why how long will it last me? It's why most
20:10 major manufacturers have left the space altogether. Yeah. Well, on the other side of that is uh I think when you know
20:18 telea handlers were new and to the world you saw more construction companies owning their own and independent
20:25 contractors owning their own. Yeah. Where it's not feasible to to do that anymore. You just rent it, use it for
20:31 the two week or three month job you have and then return them and let somebody else maintain it and worry about it for
20:38 the next guy. The equipment is astronomical in price. I mean you you have to be massive in order to justify a
20:44 fleet of greatalls. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, um, solid tires, uh, versus foam
20:52 filled grater tires, teleahandler tires, is is there an application where one
20:58 does better than another, you think? Um, in the in the teleahandler
21:07 industry, it depends on how rough uh the environment or the surfaces are is where
21:13 you might look to do something different, right? If there's a lot of
21:18 um if it's a demolition type environment that the machine's going to be working in, uh taking down building where
21:25 they've already broken up concrete and there's rebar and sharp edges, I'd probably lean towards a solid tire.
21:30 Yeah. Right. That's going to withstand it a little bit better. Um uh where a
21:35 guy is moving a machine uh we'll do the same thing on skid steers, right? Yeah.
21:40 So, not to completely change subject, but if you go to a skid steer and you look at solid foam fill or uh or a
21:48 pneumatic tire, uh take for instance a guy in an asphalting paving application,
21:53 right? They're on hot asphalt, they're on concrete demo type stuff all day long. Um they want a solid tire with as
22:01 much deep thick rubber as they can possibly get, but with aperture holes to be nice to their operators, right? So, I
22:08 want to talk about the operators, but to as far as the application, I feel like all the marketing for solid
22:16 28 in 24in teleahandler tires is in this perfect warehouse, right? Where they're
22:22 just building some a new Amazon distribution center something and it's
22:27 they're just running on a concrete pad. Yeah. Um, so I don't see the solids in
22:33 the heavy duty applications. I'm obviously not everywhere or severe applications I should say, but uh the
22:39 the operator I would love to hear hopefully operators are listening. Um if you are I want to hear your opinion on
22:46 how does it feel to drive a solid tire versus a foam fill.
22:55 I've so I've operated a couple. Yeah. And but where we've operated was not uh
23:01 was not on perfect concrete surfaces. Really? No. No. Um uh in my in my
23:08 experience, I did work for for Camso and we used to do something called the Camso Experience, right? So one of the events
23:14 we did was we rented out a a a dirt bike track in in Denver. Yeah. And then we
23:20 rented equipment from United Rents and we put solids on some, foam on the other, pneumatic on the other, and we
23:25 drove them in real world environments to understand and we had customers come out and do the same. Yeah. Um, it's
23:32 definitely interesting with the solid. It's a stiffer ride for sure. The foam does give a little bit. It's not
23:38 extremely uh noticeable just because the machine's so slow, right? You're not getting up to 10 miles an hour, 20 miles
23:46 an hour, 30 miles an hour with these machines. you're kind of creeping. If there are operators who have operated
23:51 them 30 miles an hour, please chime in. Let's hear about it. Right. So, so yeah, it absolutely makes
23:59 a difference. Obviously, your pneumatic is going to be the softest, right? because the tire gets to flex so much
24:06 and but I I personally like the stability of the solid tire
24:13 because you know when you're you know you're picking up a pallet of bricks and putting it 30 feet up in the air I want
24:21 to feel stiff and solid. You don't want to sit on a chair that's, you know, got a one one leg a little shorter than the
24:28 rest, right? And you're teeter tottering. No. Oh, man. GH. So, yeah, I
24:34 I like the solid tires on them. Well, before before I forget, there are technically different types of foam
24:40 fill, right? There are. Okay. So, it's it's it's largely a commoditized game.
24:46 Hey, what's the cheapest you could possibly get? Mhm. But they do have some that make different durometer.
24:54 Yeah. So you have your standard foam fill um and then you have a um a heavy
24:59 duty foam fill. Yeah. So tech tech typically in Isn't there an ultra soft too for a didn't someone create that? I
25:06 believe so. Um I don't have a lot of experience with that. Most of mine is in the uh the teleah handler uh skid steer
25:15 or loader applications. Yeah. um when you go into a heavier duty or loader
25:20 application, you want a heavyduty foam, right? Because of the amount of flex that tire offers, it needs to withstand
25:27 it. Yeah. Um but yeah, there's different and then there's different ways of putting foam in a tire, right? Yeah. And
25:34 there's there's ways to cheapen up the amount of foam that goes into a tire. Okay. So, for for viewers clarity, I'm
25:42 going to group them into three categories. You have what's called pure fill which is just both liquids in fill
25:48 it to the max done over with. Yes. Uh then you have the OE version which is
25:54 that mixed with rubber crumb. Right. So at these facilities that are producing
26:00 foam filled tires for original equipment they are mixing it with rubber crumb in
26:06 order to make it more economical. Mhm. And then on the dealer distributor side,
26:12 it's mixing pure fill with previous pure fill. That's ground up, used used
26:19 grounds, so to speak, mixing it together, and there's different percentages with that. Yeah. It's a
26:25 blend. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Um, but as far as the the fill itself, there are
26:31 different types. It's just I I I just haven't heard anybody have them in stock
26:37 in order to offer them. I mean, they exist in in websites only. Yeah. Um, but for the most part, there's a medium fill
26:43 that everybody uses. Yeah. Basically, everyone pretty much uses the standard fill and then you're doing it one of the
26:50 two ways, like you said, at the dealers. They're either doing um they're either doing the blend or they're doing virgin
26:55 fill, right? Um and then you run into the instance where some people will do what they call a chunk fill. Yep. where
27:02 they'll essentially try to very neatly cut the foam fill out of a used tire and
27:08 then place it back into a new tire and then fill liquid around it to to fill it
27:13 up. So, um there's a couple different ways to do it. Um each with their own
27:18 advantages or disadvantages whether it be you know mostly all relating to
27:25 cost. So per perhaps my final question does foam filling teleahandler tires
27:33 exist in 20 years
27:38 from a guy who has to deal with it. I hope not. So and you've heard me say this about
27:44 retreading. You've heard me say this other parts of the industry. If the customer is unhappy and if most of the
27:49 supply chain down to the customer is unhappy then it's ready to be broke and get fixed. Um, I don't think the
27:57 customers are unhappy. I think rental yards are pretty happy with that process. Um, but maybe we're not hearing
28:03 them. Maybe they are frustrated with the turnaround time on foam fill. Um, or the pricing or, you know, just how the whole
28:10 operation works. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, it's I mean, honestly, it's a it's a little bit of a nightmare for them
28:16 when uh the exchange isn't readily available, right? I mean, you know, you
28:22 think about it, if your dealer doesn't have an exchange set up for you, you're essentially putting that machine on
28:27 blocks. Yeah. Um, so you take it, put it on blocks, take the wheels and tires off
28:33 on Monday. Your dealer picks it up on Tuesday. They've got to then on Wednesday cut the old foam and tire off
28:42 and remount a new one. It's a ton of labor. And then start filling it on Thursday. Okay. Then it's got to lay
28:47 flat for 48 hours before you can deliver it and give the foam a chance to harden.
28:52 So you you put the machine down for a week, right? Easily. Yeah. The advantages of the solid is they
28:58 typically come as assemblies and it's you're ready to rock and you can just or you cut off and press the new one on and
29:04 you're back out the next day. You eliminate that 48 hour wait period after it's foamed. Yeah. So, um the solid has
29:11 its advantage where it is a little bit more expensive in some some spots right now. It it definitely has unique
29:16 advantages. Yeah, I still think the service footprint, no matter what the solution is, uh is a gap there. Um
29:24 people have tried to build these giant foam fill centers and supply the whole nation. Um it's so heavy, it's so big.
29:31 Once freight costs come into play, it's unsustainable. Um we've talked about the solids and how
29:37 you need the heavy duty press in order to do it. There's not enough business out there to sustain one press just with
29:44 24 inch solids. Correct. Um so, uh it's it's a service service challenge there
29:50 and and a product challenge. Yeah. And I think those reasons are why you typically see one what I'll call real
29:59 player. Yeah. Uh in the service industry for per market, right? Yeah. Just
30:04 because everybody can't afford to invest and and try to do the whole thing. No.
30:09 So well uh certainly a lot of things we identified for improvement there but to me it's one of the most rewarding
30:16 industries uh to be a part of because you see teleahandlers everywhere and so when you see them building football
30:22 stadiums and warehouses and you're driving by on the freeway and you went
30:28 out and did that service call, it feels like you built part of that structure. Yeah, it's it's we're it's why we're
30:34 here, right? To keep America running and and part of that infrastructure. Um,
30:39 it's just a lot of fun to know that, you know, by by rushing through that stuff and taking care of it for those people
30:45 that you're you're helping move us forward. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Okay. Well, uh, audience, listeners, viewers,
30:54 um, you got comments on teleahandlers, rental industry, put them in the comments, thank you for listening. We'll
30:60 see you next time on Material Handling Around the Beat. Let's air this one up. Thanks, Joe.
31:08 [Music]
