Tire sensors

Not only are there different sizes but also different types.  A stop at Harbor Freight Tools will give you an opportunity to compare.

I installed the Pressure Pro on a 40' with tag + toad and am quite pleased.  They have been trouble-free and easy to use.  The peace of mind is tremendous, especially since tire failures on the toad don't show up on the rear camera, and probably would not be noticeable on the tag or rear tires till too late.

I got the right fittings but forgot to get back to this thread.

My system delivers 110 lbs.  Enough to get me going again but the proper pressure for my tires is 120 and even 130 under a max load.  So I have to look at my air hookup as emergency only.  Dang.  I am still not going to carry a compressor.

Pressure sensors would have been nice recently for me.  Bought an enclosed trailer to tow behind my truckcamper, right tire was low when we bought it, so we put air in.  Over next 2 days checked it and it seemed fine.  Within the first 5 miles on the highway (at the start of a 1200 mile trip!), the tire must have either blown or dropped pressure dramatically, and it shredded. 

This was early on the 4th of July!  Fortunately for me Lowes was open, and they found me a tire at the nearest store.  Jolene was home and the store was between where she was and where I was, she was able to pick it up, get it inflated to porper pressure and deliver to me.  Put it on and away we went.  (OK, no spare, but it is an option and they had none in the store we bought the trailer at) 

In shredding, the tire chewed up the fender, and the marker light wiring on the fender.  I checked to see what the mfg would do, and they issued an RGA and replaced the trailer!  Same day as my call!  Great service! 

Next opportunity to have the pressure pro was on my truck.  Air pressure looked fine, but hadn't gotten around to actually checking till I put the camper on, so went over to add a little and the metal (cool looking) caps had oxidized to the stem!  No way were these coming off, I tried pliers, 2 pliers, no help, so before I popped them out of the wheel, I drove over to my favorite mechanic (4:15 on a Fri!) and he pulled each wheel, broke the bead and reseated new stems. (with plain plastic caps)  That would have been a good opp to install the PP's had I been ready.

Looks like the range is long enough for me to see all 4 on truck, plus the 2 on the trailer.

Bill

You have described the reasons why I was near the head of the line to buy my first PressurePro system and promote it like I do. I had 2 trailer tire failures when towing my car and learned about them from passers by pointing. Luckily I only had minor damage. I consider the trailer/toad to be the major benefit of PP.

Smoky said:

I got the right fittings but forgot to get back to this thread.

My system delivers 110 lbs.  Enough to get me going again but the proper pressure for my tires is 120 and even 130 under a max load.  So I have to look at my air hookup as emergency only.  Dang.  I am still not going to carry a compressor.

Click to expand...

Smoky

Your gauges may normally read 110psi but when the compressor is running, which it will do while you are airing up, the pressure should go as high as 120-130psi before cutting off.

You say the "proper pressure for my tires is 120 and even 130 under a max load". Have you have the coach 4 corner weighed to determine that? Sounds awfully high, even for a full-timer ;D

Bernie:

Newmar posts a chart at the driver seat for all tires.  It says 120 for all 6 tires.  The tires themselves are max rated at 130.  I figure with my extra loading 125 would be prudent?

The tire pressures posted by Nemare are for when loaded to maximum gross weight also given on that sticker.  You should never exceed the GVWR of the coach so should never have need to raise the air pressure above 120PSI.  Also are the rims rated for a higher pressure than 120PSI?  Usually has the max air pressure stamped on the wheel.

The best thing to do is to have the coach weighed to determine correct air pressure for your weight.  Best to weigh each corner individually. Second best is to weight the front and rear axle separately divide the total single axle weight by 2 then use that figure to determine proper pressure for each tire on each axle.  Tire pressures should be the same on both sides of a given axle.

You can find the tire pressure charts on your tire manufacturers web sight.  Find your size tire and your weight on each tire as determined from  weighing the coach to find the correct pressure for your tire at your weight.

Michelin provides a couple very infiormative videos on their web sight at: http://www.michelinrvtires.com/michelinrvtires/other/RvVideos.jsp.

The information provided in these videos apply to all tires regardless of manufacturer.

Prpoer tire inflation is very important.

Smoky said:

Bernie:

Newmar posts a chart at the driver seat for all tires.  It says 120 for all 6 tires.  The tires themselves are max rated at 130.  I figure with my extra loading 125 would be prudent

Click to expand...

Smoky

All coaches are required to have that sticker. All it tells you is what is the tire pressure required for the carrying capacity of your coach. For example, if your front axle is rated for 12k#s, and your rear axle for 18k#s, the tires have to be inflated to a certain pressure, say 120 in your case, in order to support the 30k#s total weight of your coach when fully loaded to the weight limit.

If you have your coach weighed and find that the total weight is only 25k#s, the pressures required in the tires would drop substantially. This is based on corner weighing, each tire or pair of tires put on a different scale and the the coach weighed in it's normal travel trim; full fuel, water and propane, empty holding tanks and passengers on board.
The resulting weights (highest figure for each axle is used, not total axle weight) are then compared to the charts put out by the tire company that provided your tires and, for your tire model and size, the inflation pressure to carry that weight is shown. Add 10% for safety factor and you have your correct traveling tire pressures.

Smoky

We had this discussion in detail previously and I recall explaining how to read one of the tire inflation charts based on 4-corner weighing of the coach.

Ron and Bernie, I assume that the sticker pressure for max load relates to the original tires of the coach.  Different tires may require different pressures for the same load carrying capacity. My original tires required 110 pounds for the load, the replacements only 85.

Robert

I would always go by the tire manufacturer recommendations and tire inflation charts.

caltex said:

Ron and Bernie, I assume that the sticker pressure for max load relates to the original tires of the coach.  Different tires may require different pressures for the same load carrying capacity. My original tires required 110 pounds for the load, the replacements only 85.

Click to expand...

Robert

I would also have to assume (with trepidation) that the sticker refers to OEM equipment. The coach may have come with load range F rated tires and you replaced them with load range G or H. That would reduce the required pressure.

Bernie, Ron, Tom:

I already know all this and have seen the film clips.  As Tom pointed out we have had a full discussion on this before.

The difference now is that I have a real problem I am working on, not a theoretical one.

Part of the real problem I mentioned in other threads, my apologies for not repeating it here, is that I can find no weigh station in Maryland open to the public.  I have discussed this before.  In addition my dealer is unable to find me one.  We can criticize the dealer all we want, but that fact is not going to change and I have to deal with it.

So I am faced with figuring out the best approach to take until i can get weighed.  My solution at the moment, is to work with the only two "knowns" I can find.  The inflation chart to the right of the driver seat.  And the max tire pressure rated on the Michelin tires.

After a discussion with Newmar, they have explained that as long as I do not exceed the tire rated pressure, I am better off having too much pressure than too little pressure. I may suffer a rougher ride as a result but will be safer.  I do not exceed 55 mph, so I am in pretty good shape for operating this way until I can get to an out of state weigh station.

I am opting for 125 psi as a safety factor unless someone has more input for me.

I do not like being in this situation, but am trying to figure out the best possible temporary solution.

Smoky

Have you tried calling the MDSHA to ask if they would allow you to weigh at one of their highway truck scales? You could explain the safety issue. Just a thought.

This Flying J in MD has a scale. However, some of the FJ scales I've seen are elevated and not conducive to weighing dirrent parts of your coach.

Smoky

If you have nothing else available, the scales at a truck stop will give you a reasonable axle weight which you can use (add about 500 #s to allow for side to side discrepancies) and then use the charts. Better than flying blind.

Smoky;
Don't know where you are in Md. but check this link
http://www.catscale.com/cgi-bin/locgen.cgi?state=MD
This provides locations for nine CAT scales in Maryland.
Good luck 

Tom:

That Flying J is almost at the Delaware border and not anywhere near where I will be.

I will try calling the MD state weight people but I doubt if they will allow me on their scales.  They open their scales on a random check basis and there is always a LONG line of trucks whenever they are flagging them down.  I tried stopping at one on route 301 and they were very rude and hollered at me on the loudspeakers to get back on to the highway IMMEDIATELY.  Also I do not believe they do anything more than weigh the total vehicle and speed the truckers through at about 1 every 30 seconds.  Their sole objective is pulling trucks off the road that exceed weights.  I will check by phone to see if I can get around this somehow.  I ran into the same problem in 2003 when I tried using an Idaho state scales for my trailer.  What I really need is a friendly Maryland truck stop with big rig access.

The list of cat scales might be helpful.  The only one near my travels next week is the Hagerstown ones so I will call them today and see what they can offer.

My dealer tells me this is a constant customer problem and that all of their customers have to go out of state to be weighed.

Since I have been at this for months, it is doubtful I will be weighed in Maryland.

The advice I have received from Newmar is likely the best and that is to run at 125 psi until I can locate a friendly weigh station, likely in Ohio.  Keep in mind folks I can't even find a place that can fill my tires(other than RV dealers), much less weigh me.  All the gas station air pumps are useless at this psi rating.  I have two more nights here at Lothian MD (Duncan Campgrounds) then head up to the dealer in Thurmont MD for some minor warranty work and the 125 psi adjustment.  Then on to Gettysburg for 7 nights, and then finally heading west to Montana.

At this point words cannot express how happy I will be to finally leave the state of Maryland. 

The last two weeks have been a virtual nightmare of the process of shedding all of our 50 years of gathering "stuff".  At one point I had to go through several thousand pieces of paper, one by one, to shred anything that would be an identity theft problem.  This is just one tiny example of the myriad tasks we had to work through to get ready for fulltiming.  While we were doing this we have also completly filled a full sized dumpster of house trash.

It is an odd experience getting a phone call at 4 am while parked beside the house you "used" to own and being told you have 15 minutes to move your 38,000 pound MH out of the driveway to make room for a Caterpillar machine. 

The campground we are currently in leaves much to be desired.  But it is the only one within commuting distance of the home we used to own,  We have been commuting every day to make sure the auctioneer does not take the wrong stuff, and to sort, and to burn and shred, and to argue with the wife about not just loading the coach because she sees another empty space.

We finally fully loaded our cargo van and yesterday I had the pleasure of towing it down to my son's house in southern MD for storage.  I handed over the keys to the Dodge Ram and we unhooked it from the cargo trailer and re-hooked it to the 30 foot travel trailer I have given him.  Only to discover that the tags had expired on the travel trailer on July 31.  And that I could not find the title to the van (likely burned or shredded in error lol).

So today it is off to the DMV for a new title and signing them over to my son, then to the DNR to meet the auctioneer to replace the title for my dinghy so that the new buyer can take ownership, then back to the Solomons Holiday which my son manages to leave titles for him, then off to my HMO to pick up my new post cataract operation glasses, then back to the post office to give them my escapee forwarding address.  None of these locations are near each other ugh.  I have yet to have a day at the pool in this noisy busy and very old campground.  The Admiral has had 3 days at the pool and I am jealous. 

Sharon and I keep telling each other this nightmare will end and soon we will be tasting the fruits of our labors and seeing this country the way it really should be seen and experiencing the great sense of NEW FOUND FREEDOM!!!  WOOT!! ;D ;D ;D

Smoky - currently parked in Lothian MD

p.s.  realized the Millersville cat station is near Lothian, so I will call them also today.

Hang in there Smoky your just about there.