Filling Tires

[kenb1023]

Reading these posts i went and looked at my owner's manual on airing the tires.  It shows a picture of a person with a long extension hose and standing to the side to air up the tires.  My pickup tires are 16" run 85# and I never heard of standing to the side.  My MH has 22.5" and looks like I need 110# in the front and 100# in the rear.  Not much more than the PU.  Are these tires that dangerous?  This is my first MH and I am still learning.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Anything with that much pressure is potentially very dangerous. Most truck tires shops now use a cage to surround a tire while airing it up - it only takes one tire explosion to make you a believer! If you work all day with tires that might be damaged, sooner or later one is going to pop on you and 3-5 lbs chunks of rubber-coated steel flying at 100+ mph is nothing to joke about. These videos may help convince you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwOjYrOUSY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkiz1uWCF0Y

RV owners aren't exposed as often simply because they don't fill dozens of tires every day, but the risk is still there. And they are generally just topping up a slightly low tire anyway. It's still smart to try to keep yourself out of the way just in case, but probably not a big risk unless you have reason to suspect tire damage, e.g. it has suddenly gotten very low.

I had a tire explode on a previous coach, a 96 Southwind with 16" tires at about 80 psi. A road service tech repaired a flat rear tire - the valve had failed so the fix seemed simple.  He put it back on and aired it up to spec while the coach was still up a bit on its own jacks.  I raised my jacks as the tech climbed into his truck along side the coach, letting the full weight of the coach back onto the tire, and it blew apart with a huge bang. Scared me and the wife way up front and inside, but the poor road service tech was only about 8 feet away when it happened. He was white as a ghost when I ran outside to see the damage!  A small chunk of rubber had hit the truck but not him.  I should also mention that the tire had gone flat on the highway and I had to drive a mile or so to find  a safe place to pull off - there was a rest area close by. The weight was carried by the other dual, but apparently the flat one had suffered internal structural damage even in that short time.

 

[Tom]

Our SIL was injured several years ago when a truck tire blew as he was airing up. His employer didn't provide cages. The explosion knocked him across the shop, and the resulting injuries prevented him from working for a couple of years.

 

[kenb1023]

Anything with that much pressure is potentially very dangerous. Most truck tires shops now use a cage to surround a tire while airing it up - it only takes one tire explosion to make you a believer! If you work all day with tires that might be damaged, sooner or later one is going to pop on you and 3-5 lbs chunks of rubber-coated steel flying at 100+ mph is nothing to joke about. These videos may help convince you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwOjYrOUSY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkiz1uWCF0Y

RV owners aren't exposed as often simply because they don't fill dozens of tires every day, but the risk is still there. And they are generally just topping up a slightly low tire anyway. It's still smart to try to keep yourself out of the way just in case, but probably not a big risk unless you have reason to suspect tire damage, e.g. it has suddenly gotten very low.

Thanks, I feel a little better.  I was thinking of adding an air system like what is on a lot of off road jeeps.  2.5 gal tank and a high volume high pressure compressor for filling the 37" off road tires.  There is so much room in the under carage I figure I can stick the tank and compressor in the rails and run lines to each wheel well.

 

[Wolf Pack Fan]

Hard to tell in those videos, but they're most likely split ring wheels.  Those are not produced any more and it's not likely any modern vehicle has them.  They're supposedly no longer legal.  For good reason, they're dangerous.  I had one blow on me many years ago, but the split ring was facing the ground and had forklift tines holding it to the ground on the top side.