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Pressure Pro & Valve Extensions
Well,
Let me be another person to attest to the value of the pressure pro system. On my first day after leaving Jeff’s with new tires (and new a bunch of other things under the bus) I had a tire pressure problem heading up thru Nashville. My pressure pro, via my silverleaf system, alerted me to the fact my inside D/drive tire was losing air at about 1 psi per 15 min. Not good.
Long story short, got to a Love’s Truck Stop and they removed and tested the tires and put air in them only to find the valve extension for the inside D/drive tire had a leak. So, I went to Napa, used my discount, and bought a new one. Love’s put it on and charged me … zero. Great guys!
Anyway, those of you who have pressure pros, do you have to use valve extenders for the inside drive tires or do they make some kind of wrench that you can screw the sensor onto the inside tire valve? I say this because I stopped at Freightliner and they said they don’t even carry valve extenders because truckers consider them so unreliable. I then went to NAPA, who had exactly one left in stock, and the clear told me he never sells them to truckers.
Is there a better solution to when using the Pressure Pro system, to avoiding using valve extenders or putting on some type of valve extenders that are more reliable?
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37 Replies
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I am not sure but on 365s u need a little extension , but on the drive tires 315s u don’t need them put sensor right on valve stem off tire no extensions , get 3/4 inche PVC pipe with a coupler to join another 3/4 it will fit right on sensor and u can reach through wheel to valve stem and unscrew it and put it back on
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Peter is correct, take a 2 or 3 foot section of 3/4 inch PVC pipe and glue a coupling on one end.
If the holes in the 365 wheels are as big or bigger than the 315 it will slide right through to the inside tire.
But first the valve stem on the inside tire has to line up perfectly with one of the holes in the outter wheel.
Then if you are using Centramtic wheel ballancers, the slots in the wheel ballancers has to line up with all the holes.
It works pretty good but the inside valve stem has to be aimed perfectly so the tool will get the sensor threaded on correctly.
Good Luck
P. S. The SilverLeaf error codes can be erased. If your controll is like mine, push the diognostic button to see a list of the codes and then there is a delete function in the menu to get rid of all the codes.
I don’t think this erases the codes from the ECM just the SilverLeaf.
If it won’t work this way call Martin or Dale at SilverLeaf for instructions.
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Buddy he has 365s on the steer and tag I think and 315s on the drives
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If you use valve stem extensions make sure as part of the pre trip inspection they are checked very carefully.
Your risk of a problem climbs if you use them. Peter is correct with how to avoid their use.
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Thanks! Don’t want to use them. Will make a wrench as described from the PVC. Great idea. …
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Hmm… Have you not looked at the video for Pressure Pro and how to eliminate the prone to failure inside dual extenstion?
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Tom:
Most people like the videos, but the narrator’s voice grates on their nerves, so they never finish watching!
What? You are the narrator? Oops, my bad!
3-F
BTW, you did cover the extensions in that video very well, as well as the ‘tool’ to use.
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Over time this is why valve stem extensions need to be part of a periodic inspection.
That extension was used with the rubber grommet installed in the outer drive wheel. The wear you see is from road grit that gets between the extension and the grommet. The grit wears the extension and will not wear the rubber grommet. Centrifigal force is why it is worn only on one side. The extension flexes significantly at highway speeds and if you do not wear through the extension, you still risk a fatigue failure on the valve stem where it bends after coming out of the wheel.
For the convenience of valve stem extensions you have to be aware of the tradeoff.
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I am of the same mind set as Jon get rid of them period, nothing but trouble can come of it ,
i have the alligator valve caps fill through , I have never had to put air in the tires in a ten month tour , I check them but never a problem never lost air
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Like Peter I use these valve stem caps. They function as a double seal and rarely do my tires require air, and then it is usually due to a drop in ambient temps creating a drop in tire pressures.
https://www.alltiresupply.com/product/double-seal-cap-inflate-thru-valve-cap-50box
There is nothing I would like better than to have a set of Pressure Pro sensors, but the way these valve stem caps have all but eliminated pressure loss in my tires makes it very difficult to me to go back to a single seal valve stem cap such as on Pressure Pro. Again. like almost everything else there is a trade off and I am losing the reporting of a tire pressure issue in exchange for assurances my valve seal is nearly bullet proof.
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When I said get rid of them I was talking about the valve extensions not the pressure pro , I had pressure pro on two coaches and I liked them lots but both other coaches had 315s all around, but on the 365s on front and tag the holes are smaller and you need just a little extention on to use them , but I found wheels with the same size holes as the 315s
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Jon,
Are you saying that you bought a box of 50? Would you like to sell some? We would need 8….
Let me know.
Mark
(nine zero one) Three seven eight – one nine five eight.
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Peter,
My pressure pro sensors are operating fine on my new 365 tires with no extensions.
I do have to have both exterior drive axle removed to line up the centramatix tire balancer so I can get my home made wrench to line up with the valve thru the hole. Hopefully I’ll get that done next week.
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Buddy,
My silverleaf has no codes in its history as it ignores the “MID 166” code. Unfortunately, the DDEC has not ignored it. Prevost said it’s not their issue, call Silverleaf. Silverleaf says they can only erase their history, not the DDEC. Ugh …
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Will a tire pressure monitoring system screw on to and function properly on the flow thru caps you use, Jon?
Davy
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