OOSC, Part II, Item 14. i. Hubs, 4. Missing Hub Cap Bolt

Currently there is no violation for a hubcap missing a securement bolt, unless there is an active leak. I recently inspected a tractor trailer that was missing 1 of 8 hubcap bolts in a wheel assembly (see attached pictures). There was evidence that oil was leaking from where the bolt was missing. However, at the time of the inspection there was no active leak. With the style of hubcap this tractor was equipped with there was no possible way roadside to determine if there was any oil left in the axle assembly. The driver stated he did not notice the oil on the rim when he did his pre-trip. Leaking hubs and missing hub caps were previously acted upon by CVSA and there were several OOS violations added to the CVSA OOS criteria. However, the issue of a missing component such as a hubcap bolt was not addressed.

Since the hub assembly is addressed only in the CVSA Out of Service criteria, there is currently no violation for a hubcap bolt missing and no way for the inspector to notify the carrier that their vehicle has a potentially serious issue with their wheel hub assembly. With the hubcap such as this, there was no active leak. However, it was previously leaking from where the bolt was missing and there was no means roadside to tell if there was any oil left in the axle assembly.

There needs to be an added OOS violation of Hubcap Bolt Missing with evidence of a leak or no oil remaining in the hub assembly. An alternative would be to add a note in the hub section that references Ops Policy 15 to cite 396.3a1 (not out of service), so that the issue can be corrected by the carrier, upon the conclusion of the trip.