Tires just won?t hold air.

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JoeandJane

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 30, 2014
Posts
188
Location
Tucson AZ
Long story short, a couple years ago I had my (then favorite) mechanic talk me into installing some extensions to my rear duallies to make them easier to access.  I have had nothing but problems with them holding air since.  Had them back to him numerous times to fix them.  Last year had a blowout and now 6 new tires, but alas the rears still don?t hold air.  Checked them today and one was virtually flat.  I do have a monitoring system but have not yet installed it because of these continuing problems.  How do I determine a QUALIFIED tech to take them to?  Take them to Camping World?  Truck service center?  Ideally I would like new and dependable extensions installed, or if those are just impractical, go back to the old way.
 
Tire shop techs are often sadly lacking in any real knowledge - they learn on the job and get little training in why a tire is inflated to some particular pressure or how to find problems.

Is this on your Minnie Winnie 31c?  What extensions are you using (brand & type)? Do all six tires lose air?  Does the air loss stop when you remove the extensions? What are you trying to achieve with the extensions?  Better access to the outer dual valve stem or something more than that?

Are you aware that you do not have to have the outer dual valve mounted in the usual awkward manner? That is done simply to make it easier to rotate a wheel to a different position, something you rarely (if ever) need to do.
 
JoeandJane said:
Long story short, a couple years ago I had my (then favorite) mechanic talk me into installing some extensions to my rear duallies to make them easier to access.  I have had nothing but problems with them holding air since.  Had them back to him numerous times to fix them.  Last year had a blowout and now 6 new tires, but alas the rears still don?t hold air.  Checked them today and one was virtually flat.  I do have a monitoring system but have not yet installed it because of these continuing problems.  How do I determine a QUALIFIED tech to take them to?  Take them to Camping World?  Truck service center?  Ideally I would like new and dependable extensions installed, or if those are just impractical, go back to the old way.

From what I'm reading, and with limited information looks to me the extensions are the culprit. You stated that the problems started after you installed them,so I'd start there.
Good luck.

Corky
 
Any trucking companies in town? Call around and ask who does their tires. Call that tire company and mention the trucking company by name as a referral.

I wouldn't trust the chain tire stores with tricycle tires. A real truck tire dealer is an entirely different animal.
 
I agree with Corky.
Take the rig to a truck Tire outfit.
GCR Tires has been able to assist with everything I've ever thrown at them, and they are reasonably priced.

I had two wheels on my rig that were doing the same thing. turned out to be the rubber gasket where the stem inserted in the rim.

 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Tire shop techs are often sadly lacking in any real knowledge - they learn on the job and get little training in why a tire is inflated to some particular pressure or how to find problems.

Is this on your Minnie Winnie 31c?  What extensions are you using (brand & type)? Do all six tires lose air?  Does the air loss stop when you remove the extensions? What are you trying to achieve with the extensions?  Better access to the outer dual valve stem or something more than that?

Are you aware that you do not have to have the outer dual valve mounted in the usual awkward manner? That is done simply to make it easier to rotate a wheel to a different position, something you rarely (if ever) need to do.

Yes on Minnie.  Don?t know what brand.  No, just rear.  Better access.  Other than with extension, how do you get better access to outer wheel?
 
Are these the extensions that install in the place of the rubber valve stems? or do they simply screw onto the existing rubber valve stems. The all metal, one piece, mounted int he wheel in the place of the rubber stems, are probably either Tire Man or Borg stems. I had the Borg stems installed in two of the rear wheels. They were supposed to be prebent to fit, but were difficult to install in the seal in the rim and didn't fit properly. Borg suggested we bend to fit (soft brass stems) but I finally decided to remove them and install the proper rubber/brass 80 psi rated truck type valve stems that wheels had before.

I'm not picky about looks, I want decent, but practical, so I REMOVED the wheel simulators that make checking tire pressures so difficult, and bought a pressure gauge and extended chuck for servicing and "service thru the cap " type caps. See my post in the thread linked to below.

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,110691.msg997520.html#msg997520

This allows me to check and service all of the tire pressures in about ten minutes and also allows inspection of lugnuts and the ends of the axle hubs for leaks, etc. I call it the "naked" look. Constantly removing and reinstalling wheel simulators, loosing them due to improper installation or weakening of the spring fingers, etc, and buying expensive replacements should not have to be part of enjoying an RV. I enjoy mine without the wheel simulators. If you own a GM 4500 chassis Class C they make some nice looking center hub caps for their front wheels and rear duallys.

There are several different dual chuck tire gauges that will work, key is they have to have a straight chuck and a 45 degree back angle chuck. The ones with BOTH chuck ends at a 45 angle will NOT work. Learn to service your own tires and don't trust anyone else to do something so important.

Charles

 
Valve stem extensions fall into two catagories, useless and junk.  I threw mine away years ago.  Get a dual head air chuck and by reaching around a bit you can get good access to the inner dual to check and add air as necessary.  Truck stops also sell dual head pressure gages.  Get one of those too.  Their worth every penny of the price.
 
one of the best things I did was to get rid of my extensions....I first changed them to rigid ones, but still had problems.

I had to remove the wheel simulators because the holes were too small to get in to the inner, but I wish I'd done that years ago.  I have the simulators in my house attic for re-sale....
 
I have had braided extensions on every class A  that I've owned, and never had any problems with any of them. And I'm on my 4th class A in 18 years. I've purchased them from Ebay and CW, but I don't buy the cheapest ones out there. My duels don't loose any more air than the front, but the pressure does change with the temp.
 
I've used both solid and braided extensions on gas chassis coaches and had very few problems. The only real problem was when a bracket that holds the outer end of a long braided hose broke loose, allowing the hose to flop around until it got damaged. The solid ones worked fine as long as they were installed well, i.e. tightened firmly and not rubbed by the wheel trim ring (simulator).

A friend had poorly aligned wheel simulator on his DP and it actually rubbed a groove in a 4" long solid extension, and that was a commercial grade heavy truck extension. It was a tiny crack in the metal and a very slow leak.  No matter how good the quality, it can take only so much metal-on-metal wear.

I think it is obvious that adding an extension creates another potential source of failure, but I don't see it as a big worry factor. If you need an extension to get reasonable access to the valve stem to check pressure or add a TPMS sensor, buy a good quality extension and do it.
 
HappyWanderer said:
Any trucking companies in town? Call around and ask who does their tires. Call that tire company and mention the trucking company by name as a referral.

I wouldn't trust the chain tire stores with tricycle tires. A real truck tire dealer is an entirely different animal.

I agree 100%. I own a small trucking company (dump trucks). We haul local. I have an excellent tire shop do our work. I buy all our tires from them, even though I can get them cheaper other places. Its worth it for the EXCELLENT service I get. My trucks go to the front of the line when we get a flat. We always replace valve stems when we get new tires.

If a truck tire shop is keeping the truckers happy with their service......they will more than keep a RV owner happy, especially if they buy their tires from them.
 
I just had to tighten the "needle" valve that the extensions fit into.  I don't like extensions because I haven't found a pair that was solid enough to press against to add air and didn't move all around the attached wheel. 

I wonder if it didn't loosen the needle valve as I took the extension off. 

For me, I am just going to figure out how to add air (which may involve temporarily adding a straight extension) and then leaving them extension less.  Maybe I will figure a way to get air in and checked without those dang things!
 
Hi there JoeandJane,
Boy, do I feel for you folks! Couple of years ago, had the same problems. Finally found out that if we put solid extensions on then we had to change stems to brass(metal) stems. Was told that if you put on solid metal(brass extensions) with rubber stems then they will leak. Did this plus six new tires then we've had no more problems. Don't know if this will help. It did help us. Good luck and happy motoring!!
 
If you must use flexible extensions, I recommend only using a "zero pressure" style. These do not hold the tire valve stem open under normal conditions, and will not leak air if the hose is damaged. They have a wire inside that opens the valve stem only when an air chuck is pressed on the other end for airing up the tire.
 
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