Mercedes Sprinter dually tire pressure

j-d wrote:
Then you probably found BORG Dually Valves. My valves are Borg, short for Bill Falkenborg, and I can vouch for Bill's fast helpful service. His site was down awhile but it's running now. Chuck Carvitto's Tire-Man site is easier to find. Bill's kits are less expensive with the same quality, you just get a rear kit instead of a six wheel kit. Tires don't have to be dismounted to install this kit. I'm sure, though, the bead needs to be broken down.

You said two key words which are "RUBBER VALVES" and you really want to be rid of those.

Listen, Brother, I was a holdout. Several years of frustrating tire checks. Try to do it with the simulators on. Finally take them off. Still couldn't keep the air gauge or chuck on with that rubber stem. If tire didn't need air before I started it did by the time I got the gauge to stay on without leaking. Meanwhile guys here were saying Do It. Best Thing You Can Do. You'll Love Them. All true.

Bill and Chuck are great guys with great products and service. I started with Bill and he's the one I can recommend from personal experience. Chuck is another "Nice Guy" (in Bill's words). The only way you can goof this decision is to not get rid of the rubber valves and install something that won't leak and you can access. For most dual wheels, that takes you to Bill and Chuck.

Ditto j-d. Ordered from Bill Falkenborg & well worth the cost. You'll probably need a professional to install.

You do not need to run 80 PSI in the tires. At 61# that gives you the max rear axle weight allowable of a little over 7700# on the rear axle. I run mine just a little over the 61 on the rears. They are at 65. This just give a little more leeway. When I weighed mine I had 6160 on the rear axle. So this is way under what the rear axle is rated for. With me in it and loaded minus the wife, dog and water. If you run them at 80PSI you are going to have a very rough ride and way over the rear axle rating and probably wear tires in the middle of the tread surface.

Well, the deed that started this whole topic string is done folks.....I had the six steel valve stems I got from Bill installed 2 days ago at my local small town tire shop. All considering it went fairly well...with me hovering nearby to observe and kibitz from time to time. I did all six tires and surprisingly the front gave the most trouble because the ones provided with the kit were really too short to adequately clear the hub cap...and they also needed some bending to keep from touching the wheel cover. They are still closer to the wheel cover than I would have liked, but hopefully it won't be a problem? Luckily I had also ordered six of the little 3/4" flow thru caps and that just made the new stems long enough to easily get a gauge on them. The rear dual wheel installations actually went in the best with a little bit of bending necessary which the shop tried when I showed them Bill's installation sheet. We'll see how they perform on the road and with a little time on them....I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Thanks to all who posted and gave me the benefit of your experience! Snoop

PS: I do have a question about tire pressure? The tire shop recommended 80PSI, and the door jamb tag says 61PSI on all six tires. I probably carry only about 4 or 5 hundred pounds of weight in the RV which includes myself and am inclined to inflate my tires to the 61 PSI figure. Any suggestions?

I think it may have something to do with the wheel simulators or the absence of same. I'm trying to remember if the Navy did the bending on my two inners when first installed at their shop or if I did it when I got the wheels home. I later damaged one and just bent the replacement myself. That one I remember, was only a couple months ago, and EASY.

Well I hope so jd! I can't imagine why they wouldn't make it correctly with no need to bend the stem? I mean what's the use buying something custom made for my application if it then has to be altered? I will let everyone know how the installation goes when I get around to taking my rig in! Thank you all for sharing your experiences and opinions on this topic. Snoop

You can bank on Bill's advice. If the set is like I think it'll be, the Fronts and the Rear Outers will go right in place and not require any bending.
The Rear Inner Valves will likely be LONG, like maybe 7-inches, and the kit will come with rubber Stabilizers. All the shop has to do is install the Inner Valve, then lay them on the floor. Inner Valve pointed Up, Outer Dual on top of it facing as if mounted on the axle. The long Inner Valve will probably need to be bent just a little to get it to line up with one of the "hand holes" in the Outer wheel, with the Stabilizer mounted in it. Easiest way is to use two small box-end wrenches slipped down over the valve. One holds the part between where it mounts to the wheel steady so you bend only the outer end of the valve. They're solid brass and pretty stiff, but the wrenches allow plenty of leverage to bend them in a controlled manner.

Air-Through Caps are the icing on the cake! You'll be able to check all six in under six. They probably won't need air unless something is actually wrong with a tire. And you can do it with any kind of air gauge, any kind of air chuck. NO messing around.

Thanks for all the advice....it is greatly appreciated! I have ordered a full set of 6 metal valves from Bill @duallyvalves.com and have a local tire shop who says they do work on Rvs all the time and will charge ten dollars a wheel to change out the stems! So this anal fixation of mine to be able to easily check my tire pressures will cost me about $200, but money well spent IMO if it works? I also ordered the flow thru caps to get out a little further beyond the damned wheel covers! Lol My only remaining concern is that Bill told me that some bending of the stems might be necessary? Well I guess time will tell if my local shop is up to it? Snoop

Wayne Dohnal wrote:

I have yet to hear of anyone having air loss issues with Borg/Tire Man metal stems.

I've had multiple problems, not with the stems but with the installation. At my tire place the young adults that do the work are fine people who do the standard stuff well. Hand them the nonstandard stems and they don't have a clue what do do with them. Thread locker? Deer-in-headlights stare. Torque to xx inch pounds? Deer in headlights stare. I have to take one of my leaky stems in soon for the 3rd try. Carried the AC powered air compressor on my last trip and had to use it every day on the one wheel.

You can't blame the product due to lack of competence of the installer. This is not rocket science.

The bending I've done has been with box end wrenches too. Might have been reading one of Gene's posts. The long inner is pretty easy to bend and yes the Borg and Tire-Man stems are Brass. Natural or Chrome, still Brass.

Air-through Caps are wonderful! NAPA has a set of four in their stores for about $5. Tire-Man Chuck claims we can check six tires in 10 minutes. That is easily attainable with air-through. Besides the RV, we have a Ford minivan with rubber valve stems, a Toyota with rubber stems, and a Nissan pickup with metal stems on its TPMS valves. I can check the six RV tires WAY faster than the four on any of those three other vehicles.

Wayne Dohnal - I had a similar experience, but this time it was the tire guy who used the box end of a combination box/open end wrench to do the bending. Very carefully making very small corrections and moved the wrench up and down the stem to alter the end point. He also donated the air through stem caps.