Howdy, well, as predicted, the tire valve extensions were a failure. Now we need to find one-piece inside dual wheel tire valve stems for our 24.5" Accuride wheels with TPMS stem caps. Anybody out there know of a source? Oh, yeah, they are 8" long and are a 45 degree angle. Thanks in advance.
Any/every big tire shop?
Happy coaching!
Buswarrior
AS BW says, any truck tire shop can supply and install those stems - they are the most common stem in production, I bet. Every single semi-truck and trailer wheel has them. The same stem is used on inside and outside duals, and front wheels.
Brian
They do not make a 8 inch stem for a Alcoa wheels,they made a 5 inch for awhile but I haven't see those around anymore,only option you have is the extension with the stabilizer now 25 buck each
Camping World has extension kits. Just have to watch them for leaks. I have a couple on mine that have been good for many years. Course you should have an electronic tire pressure monitoring system of some sort too. Good Luck, TomC
Thanks for all the answers. I guess I'll stick with the extensions. I will use Teflon tape on the threads to see if that helps. The stem passes through a rubber stabilizer in the outer Accuride wheel but with a little tension so I guess that is what was causing the leak. Thankfully my TPMS indicated the low pressure while I was parked. Thanks again for all the help.
I don't use extensions, I just reach through the hand-holes on the outer wheel. I guess if you have outer aluminium wheels with very small holes an extension might be in order. When you said Accuride wheels I assumed steel wheels, since my wheels are Accuride steel wheels. All my wheels have the same valve stems so they can be used in any position, about a 4" or 5" long stem.
Brian
Bevans6, Hi. We have aluminum Accuride wheels...inner and outer. We have the stem-cap style TPMS monitors and it makes it pretty near impossible to hand-check my inner tire pressures. The TPMS has worked out really well for us but scrounging around under the bus and between the tires is not my idea of fun, hence the extensions. I thought about brazing the extensions to the short stems but common sense says no. I will go the Teflon tape route and hope for the best.
I had the extensions originally when I purchased the bus but they always leaked and I'm a big user/believer in the teflon tape. Now I have the 5" stems on Alcoa rims and a custom brazed filler extension and a custom brazed matching gauge. I did plumb a pressure gauge to the filler do-hicky so that I can keep the air compressor running until the tire is up to 100psi. I run 100 in all tires for ease. Before I put the pressure gauge on the filler extension, I would have to stop and use the separate gauge and before I could get the filler back on the tire valve, the compressor would kick off and I'd have to run the compressor down to 80psi to get it to kick back on and catch it on the valve after it got higher than the tire pressure and before it kicked off again. ??? I'll take pics if anyone is interested in what I made. It works for me. Now, if you have access to a large shop compressor, this post don't apply. ;D
Will
I bought an 8" hard SS extension with solid hex head and bottom, at Quartzsite, so I can use a wrench to tighten from the exposed end, to check pressure or fill and then take off, as I too have always had leaks from extensions, lvmci...
Extensions leak, break, etc. BTDT. I use hex head valve caps. I welded a hex socket of the right size on the end of a 6" piece of rebar with a little T handle at the other end. Works good for removing and replacing the caps. Then I use straight on long chuck and gauge. I see trailers with constant air supply to the rear tandems. There is an alarm if the air is filling them constantly, so you know there is a leaky tire.
JC
We had some extensions on our 4104 due to having convex ss wheel covers. The hose ends mounted to surface of covers which made it easy to check pressures. The leakage issues started after removing hoses to repair oil seal leakage. I'm convinced that after you disconnect hose once or twice for whatever reason, the rubber seal is deformed somewhat and is difficult to get a reliable seal again. would be nice if seals were replaceable.
If you have tpms, why do you remove to manually check pressure, unless it indicates a low tire. Do any allow adding air without removing? Maybe those premium stainless steel hoses would work better. Maybe check out a couple of trucker forums and see how their experiences are.
The stainless steel hoses are not much better, I stopped using them on all of my trucks. The more connections there are, the more opportunity for leaks.
I use the Alcoa Valve Stem Extension Stabilizer Kit, it came with 2 rubber stabilizers & 2 extensions.
Excellent quality & fit.
I also have a Crossfire equalizer kit installed on the drive axle. I can check the tire pressure with just a glance during my walk around. I've had zero problems in over 2 years.
Be sure you have the right angle valve stem also,I have seen 60 degree stems where they needed to be 45 degrees and 45 where they needed 60 degree stems and owners wonder why in the hell they have problems checking or airing up the inside wheel :(
worse case...i carry one rubber extension.
but i don't leave it on a tire, i just use it if i want to use a clip on chuck for an inner wheel.
learned a long time ago..never trust an extension.