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Never a dull moment…
Yesterday I was getting the bus ready to move to the next location and I noticed one of the front tire valve stems being loose. Not good. I checked them all and found one of the outside duals having lost its valve stem nut. I have been driving like that for at least 1000 miles. The only thing holding in the valve was the tire air pressure. No air was leaking though.
After hunting around for a local replacement, I did find an angled valve stem replacement with a nut that fit my valve at a truck tire place. How did this happen? Well, I put on new tires about 7 months ago. Looked like they knew what they were doing but got to double check everything I guess.
I still have to find a way to tighten the loose valve stem on the front tire as the nut is on the inside of the wheel. Raising the bus and turning the wheel fully might give me enough access to the valve stem nut. Of course, there is no way to check the inner dual valve stems.
In any case, this experience just reinforces that pre-flight checks are a good thing.
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6 Replies
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I use a written list of items checked prior to any bus trip, both inside and outside.
AL
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I found the nut gone on a Royale I had on the front wheel, never lost a pound. Put a new nut back on and all was good.
I added a valve stem picture for those that haven’t seen how the stem is held in the wheel with the “O” ring.
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I had a loose valve stem on a tag wheel after having new tires put on also. The Pressure Pro I bought and installed myself gave me a low pressure warning that enabled me to locate the leak promptly. Probably saving the tire sidewall. It was a very slow leak that would loose maybe 1# every day or two. So a good TPMS is a valuable accessory folks. New valve stems when having all new tires placed should be mandatory, Dont ya think? Lightbulb / Hello !
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Tom, thanks for the picture-that shows the nut I was missing.
I replaced the nut on the outside dual rim- no more issues. I tried to get at the somewhat loose nut on the left front tire from the inside but the brake rotor is in the way. I’ll have to take a closer look next time I have the bus up on ramps.
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I have been called anal with regard to worrying if I have double checked everything at the 5000 mile service intervals and my pre-trip inspections.
But I can say with confidence I have had roadside problems unrelated to things I inspect prior to a trip or during normal service. Some were the things I found and kicked myself for not catching them, others were total surprises and off the charts.
I think a valve stem problem might have gone unnoticed if it happened when I was using pressure pro, but it might not have it I was manually checking pressures prior to a trip. I don’t know, but one thing is for sure it was a good catch and no harm was done.
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The reason I found that small leak is that I was logging My tire pressures daily for a few weeks in a row along with tempature readings. Pressures fluctuate more than I thought they would due to temp changes. Any good tool or instrument is only as good as the human using it and their working knowledge of its parameters. Play with it , use it , understand it.
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