Community Forums

ClarkBowen · 04-12-2008, 06:38 PM

I went to check my tire pressures today and discovered that on the rear outside tires the the valve stems make a 90 degree turn and point into one of the holes in the alloy wheels instead of out towards me and my air hose. I wouldn't be able to rotate the valve stem as it would hit the edge of the wheel hole if I did.
Is this right?
How would you check or fill them. Both wheels/tires are the same.

Clark

ClarkBowen · 04-12-2008, 06:38 PM

I went to check my tire pressures today and discovered that on the rear outside tires the the valve stems make a 90 degree turn and point into one of the holes in the alloy wheels instead of out towards me and my air hose. I wouldn't be able to rotate the valve stem as it would hit the edge of the wheel hole if I did.
Is this right?
How would you check or fill them. Both wheels/tires are the same.

Clark

Jeff and Cheryl · 04-12-2008, 07:55 PM

Clark,

You would THINK that the outside tire valve stem was supposed to point out. HOWEVER, they are designed to face in, toward the inside dual. A dual foot air gage is needed to check the air. I would suggest a truck stop or camping world. I picked up a gage at Pilot that works really well. I've tried 3 from Camping World and all three failed within 15 uses. Others may have had better luck. Hope this helps.

takepride · 04-12-2008, 09:08 PM

Clark:

Yes, inward is correct. I understand it is intended to prevent damage from flying debris.

The dual foot (direction) fillers and testers work on these. I've read (too many times) that the digital testers are far superior to the analog (or mechanical) testers. They are available everywhere.

RotorWing · 04-13-2008, 03:44 AM

Actually, your outside duals are the same as the inside ones and the fronts, they are just flipped around to work on the outside. This makes it easier for the tire shops to mount all six wheels tires the same way with out having to figure out which one goes where. This is the same concept on dually pickups and big rigs.

Chris

ClarkBowen · 04-13-2008, 06:02 AM

Thanks.
You can sure tell the RV newbie on the block.
I even have the Camping World gauge that has the second chuck facing in the correct direction.

Clark

takepride · 04-13-2008, 06:22 PM

I like RotorWing's explanation better than what Camping World and their lemmings told me. Makes more sense.

Signed,
Former Lemming

Route 66 · 04-14-2008, 02:50 AM

On rigs with aluminum wheels, the inner duals have steel wheels, so the inner and outer wheels are never rotated.

Newmar's Accuride wheels have the outer aluminum wheel's valve stem facing outward for convenience.

Have Alpine will travel. · 04-14-2008, 01:51 PM

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My local Les Schwab Tire guy tells me that all truck wheels are manufactured with a valve stem hole that dictates the placement of the valve stem to point only one way. So all outside duel stems point in and all inside duel stems point out. On large trucks the duel tires maybe rotated to have a longer better wear pattern thus the placement of valve stems make sense, but us motor home drivers would not want to rotate the duels putting nice shining wheels on the inside and the rusty dull wheels on the outside.
I sure would like to have both duel valve stems pointing out to make it a lot easier to check the tire air pressure. Maybe some day they will make a valve stem to do that.
I found in Home Depot all different options for making up an air hose to connect to the engine's air compressor to a dual foot pressure gauge with a shut off valve to fill the tire to the correct pressure. Did not see a digital gauge which would be easy to read.

Rick Coleman · 04-14-2008, 03:21 PM

Clark- Soon after buying my Alpine I saw an ad in Motorhome Magazine for Borg Tire Supply Co. which sells one piece valve stems. I bought a set of chromed brass 1-piece units for my wheels (I think it was about $125) and all my rear valve stems face outwards. It wasn't horribly expensive to have the tires remounted with these stems. If you live in So Cal you could have them remounted at Pete's Tire. Did a good job and they were very reasonable. I did this so that I could use a Pressure Pro monitoring system and needed all outward facing valve stems.

They didn't overstate their value. My motorhome sat for over 4 months and the tires lost less than 5 lbs of air each.

You can reach them at borgtiresupply.com

ClarkBowen · 04-14-2008, 06:18 PM

Thanks Rick. I'll take a look.
Clark

Renipladlo · 05-09-2008, 06:07 AM

Hmmm, many tire shops are using nitrogen to fill tires now because it won't leak out of the rubber, molucles are larger than the rubber, at least that's what I have been told. Safer as well. But we check and add air as needed so we mix it with the nitrogen, duliting the stuff. My question is what is the max available pressure from the onboard compressor? Will it get to 125lbs psi to get the tires up to max? Or should I get a small one to carry around?