Tire, slow leak?

[adamdegraff]

Hey All, just a quick question here. I'm in Baraboo, WI, near the Dells and there is a possibility that I might have a slow leak in one of my drive tires. All other tires are holding pressure, but this one dropped to 103 PSI from 120. I am parked right now and it seems to be holding there, but I'll know for sure tomorrow when I try to ad air. If it is leaking, what should I do. I'm parked. Do I use my roadside assistance? It is the outside drive tire. Do I drive it somewhere and have them take it off, patch it and put it back on? Any people in this area that you know of? I'm heading to Minn/St.Pual area. Never dealt with this before, so any advice would be welcome.

Thanks!

Adam

[BrianE]

Adam,

If you check pressure every day and you are actually down 17psi, then you probably have a slow leak. Would stop at a truck stop or truck tire outlet and check it carefully with a technician for a nail or a cut. Since it's a driver, you might get away with airing it up and waiting for an encore. You can usually limp to a truck stop or tire dealer on the other dual but it's taking a chance. :eek:

[Ray Davis]

Make sure to check it again. I had one time a large drop in pressure in one tire. I refilled, and it was fine. It turned out that the simple act of checking the pressure caused something to clog in the filler, and make a leak. Adding air back into the tire cleared the blockage, and the tire was fine.

However, it would have been nice to realize it was low while driving. I had checked in the morning, prior to leaving, and by the time I arrived at POG2, the tire was quite low.

Hence my desire for a TPMS on this new bus.


ray

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Why are you putting 120 lbs in the drive tires? They are probably only carrying about 5500lbs each if that.

If you want to put your mind at ease visually inspect it with a bottle of soapy water. Spray the bead as well as the tread.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Now, Joe. You know better. Any time we have a problem with a drive axle tire it is always the inner tire.

Ditto on the leaky Schrader valve. Until I got the double seal, fill through valve stem caps it was a crap shoot checking pressures. Most of the time they sealed, and then I installed the cap as my second seal. But if they did not seal (you can tell both by the sound, and if the cap hisses when removed the next time they are checked) I tried to give them a shot of air in the hopes that it would seal.

This is why you need a hose that reaches all your tires so you can air them up from the bus.

Joe is correct about pressures. Weigh the bus, each axle, and then use the Michelin chart for the correct tire pressure.

http://www.alltiresupply.com/p-43-098.html
http://www.michelintruck.com/michelintruck/tires-retreads/load-inflation-tables.jsp

Every one of us has had to go through this.

[ajducote]

I had a slow leak once that was caused by a loose nut that holds the valve stem in the rim. A half turn to tighten it and all was well again.

[adamdegraff]

Adam,

If you check pressure every day and you are actually down 17psi, then you probably have a slow leak. Would stop at a truck stop or truck tire outlet and check it carefully with a technician for a nail or a cut. Since it's a driver, you might get away with airing it up and waiting for an encore. You can usually limp to a truck stop or tire dealer on the other dual but it's taking a chance. :eek:

Thanks for all the advice! Is there a way to check online for a truck tire outlet or a place that can service my tires that is on my route? I guess I'm not sure what exactly I am looking for. It's not like I'm driving my car and can stop at any old service station.

Oh, and I'm putting 120 in my drive tires because that is what Marathon said to put in. No other reason. I do need to get my bus weighed. Where do I do that? Flying J? Any old bathroom scale? I know I'm on the heavy side.

Thanks!

Adam

[dalej]

I do need to get my bus weighed-Adam


Adam, if you can make it over to Spearfish, we are have a bus weighing on Tuesday morning. We will learn what weights are on each tire and what should be in the tires for air pressure.

If not we can post our results and you will see whats the correct pressure for each tire.

[Ray Davis]

Adam,

Most major truck stops have scales. I'm sure the TA truck stops do for sure. It costs about $8 to weigh your coach.

It's not quite as good as a complete independent wheel weight, but better than not weighing.

Pull on to the scales. There are generally 4 independent scales there. Arrange your coach so that each axle is on a different scale. That way you'll get a weight for all three axles. Divide by two will give you a per tire weight (approximately assuming equal loading).

Then, use the pressure charts Jon posted to correctly set your tire pressure.

Ray

[Ray Davis]

Adam,

A google search of "mobile truck tire service near Baraboo WI" leads many possibilities, although none right there.

Try calling:

Pomp's Tire Services‎
2301 Kilgust Rd, Monona, WI - (608) 222-6763‎


They are about 50 miles away, however if they can't help I would assume they could refer you to someone who could.


Ray

[Ray Davis]

These guys look promising, and closer, about 22 miles.

ASAP Truck & Trailer Repair‎ - more info »
516 Mc Evoy Street, Mauston, WI - (877) 272-7922‎


Ray

[BrianE]

We should all add this website to our Internet Bookmarks, it's invaluable: http://www.truckdown.com/ :)

[Ray Davis]

Wow, that is MOST excellent Brian!

Using that, I come up with

PROLUBE (AMBEST) (17.1 miles away)
W9290 County Highway CS (I-90 at Exit 115)
Poynette, Wisconsin United States


Telephone (608) 251-7340
Toll Free (800) 649-7340
After Hours (608) 251-7340
FAX (608) 635-4414
Email jwendt@centurytel.net

[adamdegraff]

Thank you all very much. Ray, thanks especially for all the specific help. And Brian, you are right, that website is fantastic!!

Will let you know what happens,

Adam

[dalej]

Can anyone read the chart for a 235/80R22.5 and let me know if this is a misprint. It can't be right. I'm looking at single use for the steer and tag.

This is on the Michelin web site. I was printing it for the Rally and don't think it's right.

[adamdegraff]

OK, I tracked my slow leak down to the seal on my pressure pro tire sensor. (Certainly a negative of the pressure pro unit!) Replaced the seal, easy enough, and no problems. Soapy water did the deed.

In other news, I weighed my bus. I was intimidated by the scale lady, so wasn't able to get all three axles on three different scales (now I see how I could have though). The results:

Total weight, 45,780
Front, 14,529
Rear two axles, 31,260

Ummm, so what does this mean. Am I doing OK? Seems heavy in front, but then again, my generator is right behind my drivers side, front wheels.

I was only about half full on water when I weighed in and was empty on black and grey water.

I'm running with 125psi in front, 120 in drive, and 100 in tag, ONLY because that is what Marathon did when I got serviced there 5 months ago.

Any opinions?

Thanks,

Adam

[BrianE]

Adam,

Download this: http://www.michelinrvtires.com/michelinrv/toolbox/reference-material.jsp. It will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about weights and loads on your tires. Happy reading!

[Ray Davis]

Adam,

The weight up front is good. YOu are allowed 9000 lbs on a 315/80 tire. Given that your front axle weight is about 7250, the Michelin Tire pressure (page 29 of the Michelin RV Brochure listed in the link above), indicates that your fronts should be no less than 105 pounds. It seems like you don't need to run all the way to 125. You could probably bring it safely down to 110. If you get above an an axle weight of 15.8k, you'd need to go up to the next level.

As for your rears, it's hard to say, since you didn't get an independent balance. Rarely does the drive axle or tags need more than the fronts, so you are probably OK to run something like 110, 105, 100.

It won't hurt to have it drive and tag at 110, 100 as you have now, but you may not need quite that much.

If possible, try to get another weight with just your rears on different scales, or if you are out at an RV park, sometimes they have local people who will come and weigh your coach right there in the spot.

The good news is that it's better to be a bit over inflated, rather than under inflated. It will basically make for a stiffer, perhaps more unconfortable right on your front tires.

Ray

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Ever see those flatbed trailers with spread axles? Well they can legally carry 20000 pounds on each axle and often if loaded are right there at 40000 on the trlr cause usually the truck rides the best that way. There are 2 common tire sizes for such, 11-22.5 or 12-24.5 both sizes at a lesser weight rating than what we have on our buses. 999 out of 1000 you will see run 100lbs air pressure.

Most here have either bran new or real close to bran new and pull them at the first sign of cracking.

I would love to be at a truck stop scale to see the reaction of onlookers when a motorhome owner pulls in to weigh the drive axle one side at a time. Good Grief. What of the air bags if one side of the drives is say 1000lbs more than the other, will that cause sleepless nights.

100lbs all the way around folks 110/115 max on the steers for those heavier front ends.

How many here have 8 different pressures in 8 different tires? Fess up you know who you are.

What would be the biggest difference from one side to the other that anyone could confirm?

[truk4u]

Joe you old gear jammer, I have to disagree....

I bought a 2004 CC Allure, 40' with tag axle. (ya I know, this is before I became Prevost smart). Out of the box, with the factory weight ticket in the paperwork, it was 1,100 lbs heavier on one drive side vs the other. Had I not read the paperwork and followed up with my own weighing of each side at the QT Truckstop in Adairsville, GA, I may have seriously exceeding the axle ratings by overloading the heavy side.

Since then, I weigh everything side to side, just to get a reasonable balance of all the components.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

No doubt you are not alone. Risk of seriously overloading one side of the axle? What were those #s.

I have to go on my own experiance. After you have tailgated or spread a load out of a dump trlr a couple of thousand times with no failures you begin to get a better picture of just how much it would take to actually overload an axle housing and tire. Raising the trailer all the way up before popping the gate and then proceding as fast as you can in third gear with the whole load (24TON) pluse the weight of the trlr on that one back axle. That was on super singles so that would be 30 ton on that axle and 15 ton per tire. I had 100lbs in the tires.

When a loader puts stone in a dump trlr very rarly does it end up perfictly centered and just a couple of inches one way or another would amount to thousands off from side to side. A perfect load was not the norm. Not unusuall for it to be WAY off center. The tires on the heavy side squat SLIGHTLY more. 1000lbs difference from one side to another would not even be noticable by viewing the tires if at the same pressure.

The average heavy load for a motorhome would be about 3.5 ton on a tire, most being 2.5.