-
Cold Does Stuff
Few days into a two week trip. First time had the bus out in subfreezing temps. Got to Fort Collins CO three days ago, no problems. Getting ready to head to Santa Fe tomorrow. This morning Pressure Pro shows inside left drive tire 55 PSI. Ugh. Was fine on trip here. Worst fears enter mind, nail in tire, bad valve etc. This same tire had low pressure while sitting a couple months in storage last winter, found PressurePro sensor maybe a little loose, repressurized tire to spec put sensor back on a little snugger, months later no pressure loss so figured all was good.
So today, in the morning cold head outside armed with soapy water spray bottle and check entire tire tread and sidewalls/rim mounting areas. No leaks. Move bus, check part of tire that was on ground. No leaks. Spray around valve stem – slow leak found, white shaving cream like foam building up around stem nut area. How to tighten nut without taking outer wheel off I ponder? Crowfoot to the rescue! Had set of these from a prior life as a mechanic and fortunately had them with me. Stuck it on a long extension, poked it in through hole in outer wheel and sure enough the stem nut was very loose, could almost turn the extension without a ratchet on it. Snugged it down, retested, no more leak.
LESSONS LEARNED
- Every one needs a TPMS. Bad things would have followed heading down the road with pressure this low and falling.
- If you do not subscribe to the two tool repair strategy – a credit card and a cell (flip) phone – a crowfoot wrench of the appropriate size is handy to have along.
- When a tire loses pressure, find out definitively where it leaked out while still in space dock (for you Star Trek fans) not while out on a mission. Tires don’t just “lose” pressure without a hole somewhere.
In retrospect what probably happened in storage last winter, the bus got cold enough that the valve stem leaked, later when I found low pressure and “fixed” the leak, it was warm enough that it did not leak again, until back in low teens temps here in Colorado. I theorize that the rubber bushing/gasket between the stem and wheel gets a little less springy/rubbery – a technical term – or just plain shrinks when it gets cold, and if already a little lose = leak.
-
3 Replies
-
Good job David, Pressure Pro to the rescue.
Years ago I found my steer tire stem nut so loose it was ready to fall off. No leak, but it could have been real bad..
-
How did you get your crowfoot plus extension through the holes in the wheel? And how did you turn the extension. I’m not doubting you, but I’m having a mental block on how this would work.
(I lost a valve nut last year, so I’d like to double check them all but they are impossible to get to except for the two outer duals.)
-
The holes in my Alcoa? aluminum wheels are big enough that if you just tilt the crowfoot and extension slightly, it will pass through the hole. From that point you simply slide the wrench over the stem follow it down to the nut and turn. You turn the extension with a ratchet as you would normally use an extension. Does not have to be very tight, not sure of exact torque spec, but I go by feel. It is about as tight as you would make it if you just grasped the head of the ratchet between thumb and first finger snugly and turned. Too tight and you could squeeze the rubber out from between the wheel and the nut and have a bigger problem to deal with.
The wrench looks bigger than it is in the picture. It is on the end of 3/8 drive extension. Mine took a 1/2″ crowfoot.
If the holes in your wheels are smaller, an old distributor wrench might work, they are a box end wrench with a 90 degree bend about an inch or so from the end, then another bend at the other end to serve as a handle.
Log in to reply.