knute2
11-22-2008, 05:14 PM
So this week was a lot of fun and challenging, you could kind of feel that things were going to pick up a lot this week in the learning process. I was very excited for Monday night’s class and as usual I got there early. I am always worried about something happening on my way that will delay me from arriving to anything when it comes to something big like this. I was the same way when I was playing hockey, I would always be in the locker room 30 to 60 minutes before the time we really had to be there (which was an hour before the game). Being there early was always nice; I could relax, stretch, and get mentally prepared and not feel rushed. I have taken the same approach from my hockey days to Pit Crew School. A few hours before class I will eat something that won’t make me feel sick when it comes to running around. I usually leave around 5 and get there around 5:30, and have 30 minutes to relax and start thinking about the next 3 hours.
Monday night started off outside with our 6 minute run and warm-up drills, the coach’s also threw in a few new drills to do that involve quick sprinting, stop’s and go’s and getting low doing a shuffle. Then as a group we gathered around and got a demonstration on how to tape a tire. This was the start of learning how to carry and Index a tire, starting with taping the tire as a self guide for the tire carrier.
Now many of you know each wheel had 5 lug nut eyes holes, as a carrier you want to find one (and its usually only one) that has a straight shot up the wheel to the tire that has nothing in the way. This way you can take a long thin strip of bright colorful tape and line it up to the eye hole all the way to the top of the tire. We call this part of the tire where the tape is our “Rifle Eye”. I guess the story behind that is the thinner the barrel is in a rifle the more accurate the shot will be. In this case the thinner this tape is and how centered it is to the eye hole, the more accurate your rifle eye will be.
Now as you see on every wheel they all have holes on them. I don’t know the proper name so I just call them holes to make the wheel look cool. Now your rifle eye is perfectly between two of these holes and we take a thicker piece of tape and lay it to the right of your rifle eye between the next set of holes on the wheel. However this piece of tape you start on the sidewall of the tire and bring it half way across the tire. These two pieces of tape are your guidelines to properly indexing the tire on the hub as quickly as possible. Now the best way for me to describe this to tell you where your hands will be is imagine the tire as a clock. Your rifle eye will be at 12 o’clock, your left hand will be on the larger piece of tape at 10 o’clock, and your right hand will be at 6 o’clock directly across from your rifle eye. That is where your hands will be on the tire when the tire is placed on the hub.
Before we actually started indexing tires we all got our own tire and taped it up. Then we stood in two lines with plenty of space and went through the motions of a tire carrier when placing it on the hub. As you approach the wheel on the left side of the changer you place the tire between your legs and have it facing the car at a 45 degree angle towards the hub. The tire should perfectly fit between the front fender and the hub if it were to be rolled forward. Your hands will be properly placed on the tire though your rifle eye will actually be near 2 o’clock and your left hand near 12. Your right hand is still directly across from your rifle eye. As you imagine the old tire being pulled off of the hub you take a step forward with your right foot, get very low to the grown by dropping your butt like a baseball catcher and rotate the tire onto the hub. Your right hand should be placed directly at 6 o’clock and you use it to slam the tire with a lot of power onto the hub and woo la, in less than a second that tire should be ready for 5 new lug nuts. Not as easy as it sounds lol.
Now I always thought I would end up being a tire carrier because of my size, I’m taller, bigger and stronger; your changers are usually shorter and quicker. The first few time I would keep missing and struggling but that is what this school is for. Coaches remind us we will struggle but with practice and commitment we will get better as time goes on. I was slowly getting frustrated so I took a break and watched the others who weren’t doing much better; it was a struggle all around. Though I listened and watched and by the end of the night when we went back to indexing I was getting it down and doing better.
The second part of the night was fun as we learned how to do taps. First thing I thought was “what are taps?” My friend in class Dave told me and he was very excited because he wants to be a changer. We would take old air guns that had maybe 18 inches of an air hose on it and just hit lug nuts. First we got our knee pads on and learned how to properly hold the air gun. You place your right hand around the handle and hold the trigger flat down the whole time. Your left hand is around the big top part of the gun placed like a C grip. While doing taps they wanted us to slow down a little and hit all lug nuts hard. What I remember most that was being preached was that we may be pulling the gun too far back after we hit every lug nut, don’t pull it as far back and just go straight to the next lug nut in a clock wise motion.
Doing taps was fun though not as hard as indexing tires. The hardest part was getting low low low to the ground, while still having your feet vertical and toes on the ground. If you can get in the right position all you have to do is continue to do taps everyday and get quicker, accurate and never miss one. If you can do that you maybe could be a changer, however like a said before “not as easy as it sounds”.
Class ended on Monday night and everyone was hungry, so we all went down the road to Hooters to eat a lot of wings, I think Hooters has the best wings in the world. I was also super excited at Hooters, though it wasn’t for the girls. I was excited because they were able to find the Boston Bruins game on the TV and put it on for me. So I got to eat wings and watch the Bruins game, can’t really finish the night off any better than that. The Bruins won and they are really hot right now (11-1-1 in their last 13 games). For those who don’t know I am all about the Bruins. Yeah I hope the Sox and Patriots do well, but I’m a die-hard Boston Bruins fan. If you ever want to know anything about he Bruins just ask me (more on that later).
Monday night started off outside with our 6 minute run and warm-up drills, the coach’s also threw in a few new drills to do that involve quick sprinting, stop’s and go’s and getting low doing a shuffle. Then as a group we gathered around and got a demonstration on how to tape a tire. This was the start of learning how to carry and Index a tire, starting with taping the tire as a self guide for the tire carrier.
Now many of you know each wheel had 5 lug nut eyes holes, as a carrier you want to find one (and its usually only one) that has a straight shot up the wheel to the tire that has nothing in the way. This way you can take a long thin strip of bright colorful tape and line it up to the eye hole all the way to the top of the tire. We call this part of the tire where the tape is our “Rifle Eye”. I guess the story behind that is the thinner the barrel is in a rifle the more accurate the shot will be. In this case the thinner this tape is and how centered it is to the eye hole, the more accurate your rifle eye will be.
Now as you see on every wheel they all have holes on them. I don’t know the proper name so I just call them holes to make the wheel look cool. Now your rifle eye is perfectly between two of these holes and we take a thicker piece of tape and lay it to the right of your rifle eye between the next set of holes on the wheel. However this piece of tape you start on the sidewall of the tire and bring it half way across the tire. These two pieces of tape are your guidelines to properly indexing the tire on the hub as quickly as possible. Now the best way for me to describe this to tell you where your hands will be is imagine the tire as a clock. Your rifle eye will be at 12 o’clock, your left hand will be on the larger piece of tape at 10 o’clock, and your right hand will be at 6 o’clock directly across from your rifle eye. That is where your hands will be on the tire when the tire is placed on the hub.
Before we actually started indexing tires we all got our own tire and taped it up. Then we stood in two lines with plenty of space and went through the motions of a tire carrier when placing it on the hub. As you approach the wheel on the left side of the changer you place the tire between your legs and have it facing the car at a 45 degree angle towards the hub. The tire should perfectly fit between the front fender and the hub if it were to be rolled forward. Your hands will be properly placed on the tire though your rifle eye will actually be near 2 o’clock and your left hand near 12. Your right hand is still directly across from your rifle eye. As you imagine the old tire being pulled off of the hub you take a step forward with your right foot, get very low to the grown by dropping your butt like a baseball catcher and rotate the tire onto the hub. Your right hand should be placed directly at 6 o’clock and you use it to slam the tire with a lot of power onto the hub and woo la, in less than a second that tire should be ready for 5 new lug nuts. Not as easy as it sounds lol.
Now I always thought I would end up being a tire carrier because of my size, I’m taller, bigger and stronger; your changers are usually shorter and quicker. The first few time I would keep missing and struggling but that is what this school is for. Coaches remind us we will struggle but with practice and commitment we will get better as time goes on. I was slowly getting frustrated so I took a break and watched the others who weren’t doing much better; it was a struggle all around. Though I listened and watched and by the end of the night when we went back to indexing I was getting it down and doing better.
The second part of the night was fun as we learned how to do taps. First thing I thought was “what are taps?” My friend in class Dave told me and he was very excited because he wants to be a changer. We would take old air guns that had maybe 18 inches of an air hose on it and just hit lug nuts. First we got our knee pads on and learned how to properly hold the air gun. You place your right hand around the handle and hold the trigger flat down the whole time. Your left hand is around the big top part of the gun placed like a C grip. While doing taps they wanted us to slow down a little and hit all lug nuts hard. What I remember most that was being preached was that we may be pulling the gun too far back after we hit every lug nut, don’t pull it as far back and just go straight to the next lug nut in a clock wise motion.
Doing taps was fun though not as hard as indexing tires. The hardest part was getting low low low to the ground, while still having your feet vertical and toes on the ground. If you can get in the right position all you have to do is continue to do taps everyday and get quicker, accurate and never miss one. If you can do that you maybe could be a changer, however like a said before “not as easy as it sounds”.
Class ended on Monday night and everyone was hungry, so we all went down the road to Hooters to eat a lot of wings, I think Hooters has the best wings in the world. I was also super excited at Hooters, though it wasn’t for the girls. I was excited because they were able to find the Boston Bruins game on the TV and put it on for me. So I got to eat wings and watch the Bruins game, can’t really finish the night off any better than that. The Bruins won and they are really hot right now (11-1-1 in their last 13 games). For those who don’t know I am all about the Bruins. Yeah I hope the Sox and Patriots do well, but I’m a die-hard Boston Bruins fan. If you ever want to know anything about he Bruins just ask me (more on that later).