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I use a quality brass tube extension (not a flexible one).

I use the rubber wheel insert as you do.

Additionally I install over the extension a piece of quality rubber fuel hose that fits tightly over the extension.

This hose is rubber against the rubber insert and the entire assembly is snug.

I have experienced no sign of wear on any valve stem or adjacent wheel component in several years.

Note: I remove all my wheels and check all components assotiated annually.

I know I have a pic but they are not always easily found when I want them for posting.

The reason you had wear is that the extension was not tight in the insert (it can not be even if new) and when it rubs the insert it wears away.

JIM

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Good catch DKO, Jon has been preaching the downside to those rubber plugs for years. I don’t use any extensions and installed short stainless valve stems when I put on new tires.

I also use Pressure Pro (I’m a dealer for them) and you can easily screw/unscrew the sensor with a tool that you can make from Home Depot for about two bucks. Just get a piece of 3/4 PVC and glue a coupler on the end and your good to go. The sensor fits perfect. Looks like this:

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Thanks Jim and Tom. Good information from two different points of view to consider. You are both comfortable with the steps you have taken to monitor the inside tire and yet you approach it completely different. That is what I love about this place.

Anybody else care to comment on your own approach or Jim and Tom’s ideas?

DKO

[Don]

While Jim’s method avoids excessive valve stem wear it does not address the second issue with valve stem extensions. Further, his attention to detail with inspections will not show or prevent the second issue.

For years I have been posting photos that show the condition DKO depicted. Yet folks still opt for the easy answer and they think the rubber grommet keeps them safe. Many years ago during a seminar folks from Prevost made it abundantly clear the problem with valve stem extensions is the extra weight they impose causes flexing right at the bend on the valve stem at the wheel. That extra weight eventually causes a failure due to fatigue and when it does fail it is catastrophic usually resulting in a rapid loss of air to the inner drive tire.

We have enough potential when driving to have tire failures, so I’ll opt for using the standard short valve stem and I reach it with a long straight foot tire fill valve and pressure gauge combined. I use fill-through-cap valve stem caps so all I have to do is put the chuck on the valve stem cap and check and fill that way.

[Fred]

Thanks, Jon. That is exactly what I am looking for… Strong, clearly stated opinions.

DKO

[Bob]

I use Smart Tire to monitor my tire pressure and wheel temperature, the sensors are mounted on the rim and internal to the tire. The gauge is on the dash. I did’t like the idea of adding something to the valve stem that could cause failure due to excessive weight, as Jon stated and/or was an extension of sorts waiting to get wacked by some external force.

This is just my opinion and my way of “going”. As they say each to his own.

PS The first way I got around valve extensions was to modify a valve stem extension and thread it on only when I wanted to check the tire pressure. It would then be removed and stored away.

My wheels have smaller holes in them than the new wheels. Checking through the hole is more difficult.

just sayin, JIM

[John]

Actually the hole size in the wheels relates to the tires originally mounted on them and their capacity. On the coaches originally equipped 120 tires the wheels had larger holes than the wheels that had 315 tires. Even on coaches with 365 tires for tag and steer, which have very large holes, the 315 s on the drive axle have the wheels with smaller holes, but I am still able to reach in and hit the stem with my tire chuck. I doubt if it takes more than 30 seconds with the stems capped with the thru-the-cap fill method to check and fill.

http://www.alltiresupply.com/p-43-098.html

As we know from the recent discussion on fuel tanks we all have different opinions and tolerances for risk. Valve stem extensions make it very easy to check tire pressures and I presume the risk of valve stem failure is slight but it just happens to be a risk I will avoid.

[David]

I have had valve stem extension failer i wont use them…..

[orren]

I had an extension on a previous coach that apparently got loose as I was driving. The result was similar to letting air out of the tire . By the time I reached my destination, I discovered that I had driven 100 miles with just one rear tire on one side of a non tag set up. Besides the obvious issue of a blow out, it also stresses the surviving tire to the point that it should be replaced.

Wave

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Wave is absolutely correct and for folks that are not aware all tire companies are consistent in saying any tire that has been driven with 20% less air pressure than the weight being carried calls for should be scrapped. The tire may look perfectly fine after being driven while underinflated, but if it fails it usually ends up being what they call a “zipper” failure in which it opens up as though there had been a zipper at the point of failure.

One member has suffered hearing issues as a result of airing up a tire that then had a zipper failure while he was completing the airing. It exploded with such force it blew the fender off his coach and gave him serious ear injuries. He might have been even more severly injured if it had been the outer dual instead of the inner dual. The outer tire and wheel actually protected him.

If that kind of failure occurs while driving it is possible to take out air bags, brake chambers, or do body damage.

[Charles]

>> Thanks, Jon. That is exactly what I am looking for… Strong, clearly stated opinions.

>>DKO

I did a double take when I just read that! What else would you expect from Jon?! 😉

Next time mine goes in for work the extenders are coming off. I love the technology aspect of having a monitor. Maybe Liberty could install for me….

[JIM]

I purchased the Pressure Pro system about the time I started this thread. I installed it and it is working good so far. I have travelled about 3000 miles since then.

The first few trips I was checking the pressures manually as usual just to double check. Now I pull of two or three monitors and check those tires to make sure the monitoring system matches the manual guage. I am not sure it is a good thing to become too comfortable with the monitoring system but so far so good.

DKO

[Edward & Sandy]

I’m using Jon’s method. The extensions and the tire pressure monitors have been removed, no more minor leaks. Checking pressures is easy with the flow through outer cap and gauge probe similar to the ones Jon is using. I check pressures before every trip and use an infrared temperature gauge to check tire and hub temperature at each rest stop.

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“I’m using Jon’s method. The extensions and the tire pressure monitors have been removed, no more minor leaks. Checking pressures is easy with the flow through outer cap and gauge probe similar to the ones Jon is using. I check pressures before every trip and use an infrared temperature gauge to check tire and hub temperature at each rest stop.”

I have always checked pressures before traveling but I became concerned when two of the aluminum rims on my trailer started leaking this summer. One started leaking in June the other in late July.

They are not cracked, they have became porous and are leaking through the metal. I caught them before it was too late by diligently checking at periodic stops. IF I had driven another hour each time I would have had a blow out or would have ruined the tires by running them too low.

All my diligence may not catch a tire that is losing air slowly like these were but a tire pressure monitor system “should.”

DKO

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Jim, where did you get smart tire put on at? I did not think they were available any more. I had them put on my CC in Oregon. I like them and would get them if possible, Les Shwabb put mine on.