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I was going to contacts Pete's tire service today, and ask them what it would cost to put in secondary stems for the purpose of a monitor.
I like the looks of the new Doran unit (not pressure pro, but the RV 360). The owners manual shows it to be very configurable, where some of the older units aren't quite.
One question, would adding an extra stem (and sensor @ .7 oz) mean I should rebalance the tires?
Also, can these valve based systems work with tires which have equal in them?
Ray
Dale,
Straight out for a valve stem used for filling might not work if you want to use a dual foot fill chuck. I don't believe you can get it between the stem and the hub cap.
All of mine are bent and with the combination fill / pressure gauge valve I use (that I got at Wal-Mart) filling is easy.
I have been told (but not certain), that this practice was done on trucks so that the outer dually could be reversed and put on the inside. I think on our buses where we're not going to rotate the inner/outer dually, that aiming the stem out or up would be perfectly reasonable.Quote:
I have always wondered why my outside driver valve stem is bent at a 90 and then heads back toward the center of the duals. I would think a little short stem, straight out would work much better.
Ray
Ray,
I do not use weights, but Equal in my tires. If I were to add a second stem, whatever imbalance that creates would be dealt with by the Equal. If you are adding them to the drive wheels locate the added stems 180 degrees apart and they should not make any difference.
So, a final clarfication. If you were doing the dual-stem approach, would you install the extra stem on all wheels, or just the drives, or just the inner drive?
Probably from an ease-of-use standpoint it would be easier to have extra stems on all wheels, as you'd never have to pull off the sensor to fill, even if it were easily accessible? Also, I guess less chance of a leak when re-installing.
Ray, I would add a second stem, a straight short one on all wheels including the tag and steer. Obviously that would put the sensor on the back side of the wheel, accessbile only from under the coach, but if you only have to change sensors every 4 or five years that does not pose a problem.
With respect to your comment about reversing the wheels that is correct. You can get away with putting the outer drive valve stem in another position if you feel it facilitates filling, but why? A dual foot air chuck can be used with no more effort than filling a tag or steer.
I use the dual chuck for filling. I just don't like removing the little caps. Mine come out right inside the wheel holes. It's a thumb and one finger job and when it's cold I hate the thought of dropping the little thing.
You should get the caps that you can fill through. I've had those on both of my buses, and they are great. They add an extra seal, but you can fill right through them.
I recently had a slow leak on a tag axle, the tire gods were showing me mercy since it is usually the inner dual that has a problem, and it was a bad seal on the valve stem where it seals around the wheel not the core. More holes in the wheels for additional valve stems simply mean more chances of failure and problems. To me, there are enough existing problem areas on a tire and wheel assembly without adding more.
Go with the SmarTire system mounted internally and you don't have to worry about straight stem, bent stems, drilling holes, etc. I have used SmarTire on previously owned coaches and had it installed on my Prevost when I purchased it without any regrets.
Dale, use the caps that are a double seal and that you can air up the tires without removing them.
I'll give you 8 in Sevierville if you remind me.