Extension Valves on Inside Dually, Yes or No

OLYLEN wrote:
Got mine from Les Schwab for $15, good metal Crome. But to mount all 4 was a $100 bill. Check your local truck tire dealer, they should have what you want without spending too much.

LEN

Wait, see if I read this right...$15 for the Alligator caps and $100 to install? :h

Charles. I use the setup you described, long air chuck, and Alligator caps. Thanks for the tip and link to Air Head Chuck Nuts. Very much appreciated.

Got mine from Les Schwab for $15, good metal Crome. But to mount all 4 was a $100 bill. Check your local truck tire dealer, they should have what you want without spending too much.

LEN

Before my trip to Alaska I purchased Tire Man valve extenders and had them installed by Discount Tire. Then to moniter air pressure added the TST 507 flow through TPMS. My concern was getting best quality, good reliable performance and not necessarily what it cost. After many miles of travel I must say these two products together took away much of the worry about tires.

I'd venture Charles' valves weren't installed properly. As he noted, the instructions say you have to bend that long one to get it through the hand holes and the rubber stabilizer if applicable.
I, too, took wheels off and carted all seven to the auto shop on the local Navy base. We went over the Instructions together stressing bending the stems, stacking outer wheel onto inner (and I brought a Simulator as well) to check alignment, and LocTite to keep the mounting nuts tight. Zero problems. I doubt there are many wheels harder to align valves to, than the Fords 1992-2007 with those tiny round holes. Even with simulators that have still smaller holes, my valves line right up. I mount our wheels with the two valves opposite minus one stud. That's because there's a 7/16" hole in the 8-lug pattern between two holes. I threaded those holes 1/2" SAE to match a lug bolt from a trailer. I can "drive" that lug bolt and force stuck wheels off of the hubs. If I lined the two wheels up with valves opposite, those threaded holes would line up. I'd be screwing the wheels together instead of pushing them apart...

Harvey51 wrote:
When we bought our 4 year old MH, I didn't buy special stems. The used Ford had plastic extenders on the valve stems and I managed quite nicely with pressure gauges like this and a similar inflation head for my compressor.
P
The straight on end is necessary for the inner wheel and the backward angle one for the outer s which must have the valve stem long enough to be close to the rim opening. I have had a service station add air twice and they both had the appropriate inflation tool. I rarely use my portable air pump but it is a comfort to have for sure,

I never had trouble that a plastic extender but a metal one I tried failed to close after I checked the pressure at a rest stop. I got the darn thing off quickly enough to limp to a service station.

With the first set of new tires I got Costco to install longer valve stems (rubber) and have never needed extenders since. I also decided to put regular valve caps on to keep things clean, using a short length of plastic tubing with a wood dowel holder to take off and put them back on. It takes about 5 minutes to check all the tire pressures. Would be a little faster if I marked the spot on the rim where the stems are located. The Costco installer thoughtfully installed the wheels so both inner and outer valves are in the same big rim opening.

The gauges shown by Harvey are the type I recommend. It makes checking pressures with standard stems very easy.

For balance purposes, the wheels should have been mounted with the stems 180 degrees apart, directly opposite each other.

I tried the Borg stems on my Sprinter and quickly gave up and had the tire shop break down the wheels and remove them. We reinstalled standard rubber/brass 80 psi truck stems. I had jacked it up and home and pulled the wheels, part of the problem was that I quickly discovered that it was very difficult to install the wheels without damaging the stems, the stems also did not fit properly even though they were supposed to be bent properly and also that the long stem on the inner wheel makes it impossible to interchange it to any other position without breaking it down and swapping the stems, and this requires more seals as you damage the seals getting it apart.

To Borg's credit, they promptly refunded me all of my money and I was happy. Possibly on other vehicles they fit better, but the problem of non-interchangeability of rims with the long stems and the difficulty of mounting wheels on the vehicle without damaging the stems is still present.

I do not run wheel simulators. I removed them as soon as I got the vehicle home when I bought it. I use a slime gauge similar to the one Harvey shows, plus a Milton 12 inch long straight/reverse angle air chuck https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QI1WEA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Plus German made brass Alligator V2B service thru the cap, valve stem caps. Keeps dirt out of the stem, but eliminates the need to remove caps to service or check pressure. https://www.amazon.com/Alligator-V2B-Inflate-Through-Valve/dp/B014VCY3S2/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1502234646&sr=1-1&keywords=alliGATOR+tire+caps





The Milton chuck has grooves inside the ends to allow it to "lock on" to the thread on a valve stem or the machined locking grooves (which are not threads) on the Alligator caps. This makes the chuck frustrating to use, so I replaced the seal retainer/end nuts on the Milton with smooth, ungrooved ones, https://www.miltonindustries.com/dual-head-chuck-nut.html



Charles

When we bought our 4 year old MH, I didn't buy special stems. The used Ford had plastic extenders on the valve stems and I managed quite nicely with pressure gauges like this and a similar inflation head for my compressor.
P
The straight on end is necessary for the inner wheel and the backward angle one for the outer s which must have the valve stem long enough to be close to the rim opening. I have had a service station add air twice and they both had the appropriate inflation tool. I rarely use my portable air pump but it is a comfort to have for sure,

I never had trouble that a plastic extender but a metal one I tried failed to close after I checked the pressure at a rest stop. I got the darn thing off quickly enough to limp to a service station.

With the first set of new tires I got Costco to install longer valve stems (rubber) and have never needed extenders since. I also decided to put regular valve caps on to keep things clean, using a short length of plastic tubing with a wood dowel holder to take off and put them back on. It takes about 5 minutes to check all the tire pressures. Would be a little faster if I marked the spot on the rim where the stems are located. The Costco installer thoughtfully installed the wheels so both inner and outer valves are in the same big rim opening.

I may be in the minority (at least as far as this poll goes), but I just use air-through valve caps. They do extend the length of the valve by maybe a half inch, and let one add air or check pressure without removing the valve caps. The extra bit of length is enough (barely) to get a chuck on the inner ones without too much drama. A dually chuck with the inner wheel foot straight on, rather than at an angle to the body, seems to be the most useful for my rig. The ones with the end angled are more common, though.

Even with extended valve stems, the air through valve caps are super convenient.

txnese wrote:
I bought this kit for 2004 Fourwinds 5000 28A back in November 2017, so far so good, very convenient.

https://yourtireshopsupply.com/product/7192/dl1ecfr-chrome-duallyvalve-kit-with-front-stems

Quoted Link is for the BORG Dually Valves. A few years ago, Camping World started selling them, and the price was VERY good. I don't know if they're still carrying them, or how much of the product line. Fords with the 8 or 10 small "hand holes" (really? infant hand, maybe) were are the greatest need for custom valves. When I bought ours at Six Robblees, it was the only kit they stocked. Four Brass Rear Stems and Two Rubber Stabilizers.