Airless valve extenders

As a general rule CW sells name-brand quality stuff. Extenders, as a group, are not as good as the TireMan or Borg custom brass, one piece, specialized valves.
Some are dangerous, and some installations are dangerous.

Braided/Stainless/Airless? I'd call them "almost as good as TM/Borg" PROVIDED:

1. The Tire Valves themselves are ALL METAL. Don't mount Extenders/Extensions/Adapters to "rubber" valves, even the "high pressure" ones. Rubber valves aren't that good to begin with, and added weight causes early failure.
2. You secure the Extender to the RIM, inboard of the Wheel Simulator. Don't attach to the Simulator itself. If the Sim comes off, the extender can tether it to the wheel till something breaks, and it'll beat up your coach body till it lets go. OR, it'll tear a valve(s) off and let the air out of the tire(s). Sim comes off, you want it GONE!

Unless your valves are already METAL, you should have METAL ones installed before installing Extenders. If pulling wheels, breaking tires down to install valves, rebalancing and reinstalling wheels has to be done, skip Extenders and have TM/Borg installed.

TM comes as a set of Six, making front tires easier to check too. TM also comes with six "air through" caps. All you do is walk up with your gauge/air chuck and push it on. I have Borg valves with air through gaps (aka Gator Caps, Crocodile Caps or V2B Caps) and I can check all tires in minutes. That makes checking a pleasure instead of misery. Adding to the pleasure, these setups just don't leak! I used to check air before every trip. Now I also check AFTER every trip. If a leak developed (like a nail...) I want to know about it before a "day of" final check. But the brass valves DON'T LEAK! I checked on New Years Day and added a little air. Haven't needed to add again since. Just confirm that everything's still OK.

EDIT: You have Six Robblees stores out there. That's where I got my Borg valves and price was much less than Tire Man. I also got metal valves for Fronts and Spare from them. Take a look at your Ford wheels before you get the Front/Spare valves. The shortest METAL valves won't let you get a gauge/chuck onto them. My V2B caps added enough length to work. You don't notice it with rubber valves because they'll flex out of the way. And ours LEAKED when I pushed on them like that. Part of why I made the switch to All Metal. Maybe Six Robblees would furnish/install the valves.

I have the airless extenders on my E-450 and I am not a fan of them. The first set that came on the coach would not work. One of them on the second set came loose when the bracket attaching to wheel came off. I lost no air but it was bent to the point of not being usable.

I now have a simple $16 truck air gauge that has a 90 degree chuck that allows me to easily check the inner wheels. Likewise I put a 90 degree chuck on my tire fill hose. These allow me to service the inner wheels without removing the wheel simulators.

If you go to a commercial truck tire dealer, they have caps that you install so that you do not need valve cap covers. They keep the dirt out but allow you to use the tire gauge without removing them.

Save yourself $50 or $60 on extenders.

This is what the airless caps look like.



Six Robblees has these, Schrader Brand in this case. They had the Borg valves on hand in Anchorage for our 8 "hand hole" (those tiny ones!) wheels and could get others.

I got these at Six Robblees



for the other three wheels (Fronts, Spare) and they weren't long enough to clear the center of the rim for a gauge, but it works with those airless caps.

Beware with shops that deal in larger trucks. The common valve hole size for them is .625" and our light truck size (same as cars) is .453". Some valves are adaptable to either size.

Thanks J-D great information...
Excellent pictures made your point.
I learn something new everyday.

OK, Pictures Then...

This is the DL1E kit that Six Robblees had in Anchorage. I bought it there and carted it home in luggage.

Our chassis has the 8 little round "hand" (if you're an Infant!)holes. Simulators made the holes even smaller. This kit was the first custom set I'd ever seen. I'd gone to a major truck tire chain in ANC called Phelps Tire. They coached me on lots of dual tire facts and directed me to Six Robblees for the valves. 6R had one or two kits on display, DL1E only. Price marked $110. When I asked "How Much?" they looked in the computer and said "$62.50." I left them on the counter till I came back with the three valves for the other tires.

Kit consists of a pair of very long valves that fit the inner duals. They pass through the hand holes of both wheels and reach to where I can check/add air. The rubber discs go in the inner wheel hand holes to absorb vibration. Then the crooked ones go in the outer duals and turn back into the hand holes. Then there's a package of Loctite for the threaded nut that holds the inside end of the valve. All that and an Instruction Sheet. I took all my wheels off and carted them to the Navy base, where their shop broke the beads down, changed valves and balanced the wheels. Two tires were worn on one edge and I wanted them "flipped" on the rims and Navy did that too.

I shared the 6R info here and a number of us ordered them. Had to look the number up on Borg (now yourtireshopsupply.com) and place a phone order. The price kept going up. My guess is they're around $100, close to the $110 price for brass valves which is what I got. Chrome is #10 more a set and I'm not that vain. The Borg kits contained only what I listed above. Tire Man claims to be the original, and their kit is for six wheels, includes air-through caps. That seems like a better deal to most of us.

I have airless extenders and metal valve stems. I'm happy with them.

I have the Dually Tire Valve Kit #DL1FC Chrome that I am selling for $45.00 plus shipping. They were only used for 1 week and come with new sealing rings, they go for $120.00 new.

DL1F

Looks like this. The "C" means Chrome over Brass and adds $10 to the price.

That's a very good deal for the correct application. Is this the late model Fords that got away from the 8-roung-hole wheels to 4-oval-hole?

Will a TPMS sensor work on an airless extender?

My TPMS sensors did not work with the airless extenders so I had to remove them. The sensors are more stable anyway when they are not on extenders.