Fill up air in inner wheel

10forty2 wrote:
For what it's worth to the OP, this is what I used to replace the original valve stems and to eliminate the braided extenders.

Dually Solid Valve Stems

I used to highly recommend the solid dually valve stems like these. Put them on when first bought our Motorhome back in 2012. However, after using them for a few years now and learned a thing or two over the years, I do NOT use or recommend them any more.

I thought they were the perfect solution. One, single, one piece valve, no risk of leaking, and quick and easy to check, top off ALL tires, inner and outer.

Here's the problem: I can't explain why, but the long ones that go on inner tires....They WILL leak. Have no idea how or where, but they do. I was constantly putting air in the rear inners, but rest of tires did not leak at all. Got rid of those valve stems on inners, and the leaking stopped immediately.

Seemed they leaked the most, when climate changed from warm to cold or vice versa, which made me wonder if the issue is with the kind of metal these valves are made of, and maybe they expand/contract at too much different a rate than the wheels, causing leaking? Not sure. I know some will say this is normal with any/all valve stems, but I'm here to tell you, when I took off these valve stems, the leaking quit almost completely. The difference was drastic, and immediate. These dually valve stems, the long one for the inner...They LEAK, there is/was no denying it.

Tire shop examined them (dually stems) very closely when they came off. Valve was not loose, rubber seal inside was not leaking or crushed. They couldn't explain it, either, but agreed from what I found, that those long dually valve stems needed to go.

Now, I use braided extensions on inners, the airless kind. Meaning, even if the extension works loose or tears apart, no air will leak, because there is no air in it except when you hook a gauge or air pump to it. This is what I recommend for the inners, but you MUST make sure they are airless. You don't want any kind of extension that can leak air if it works loose.

For the outers, for now I am still using the dually one piece U shaped valves, as they don't seem to leak as bad. If I can ever find airless U shaped valve extensions, I'll use those on the outers and do away with the dually valves on outers, too.

Bottom line: AIRLESS valve extensions are the way to go, and the only thing I trust now.