Which valve stems for tpms ?

Thanks to Rexlion for the info and to BenK for the link, and thanks Jbarca and BenK for the detailed saga of Jbarca's wheel/stem issues.

The high pressure rubber coated brass stems are what the fellow at my local tire store recommended to use with the 65 psi tire when we talked yesterday. But he wasn't aware of the external tpms sensors I was talking about. And from Rexlion's response if these high pressure rubber coated stems would be ok for tpms use then my situation would probably be much simpler.

Many moons ago I worked after high school at one of the old full service gas stations and I installed many rubber and metal valve stems, but the metal valve stems were always into truck wheels that were made with plenty of flat surface to take the stems and seals and seal properly all the way around. The wheels on my TT are Series06 aluminum wheels from China, and when I first looked at these wheels with tpms in mind the thing that hit me was wondering if I could seal a metal valve stem in these wheels. If the high pressure rubber coated ones will work for tpms then this may be my ticket, but if not I'm afraid I'm going to need to study those wheel stem holes inside and out. Just looking at the outside of the rim the surface may not be flat enough to give a good sealing surface.

If anyone has installed tpms sensors onto Series06 aluminum TT wheels I'd sure like to hear how it went and if simple or not. Here's a link to a pic of their wheel on their website:
http://www.series06.com/series06.html

Thanks to all,
Marty

MartyW wrote:
Thanks to Rexlion for the info and to BenK for the link, and thanks Jbarca and BenK for the detailed saga of Jbarca's wheel/stem issues.

The high pressure rubber coated brass stems are what the fellow at my local tire store recommended to use with the 65 psi tire when we talked yesterday. But he wasn't aware of the external tpms sensors I was talking about. And from Rexlion's response if these high pressure rubber coated stems would be ok for tpms use then my situation would probably be much simpler.

Many moons ago I worked after high school at one of the old full service gas stations and I installed many rubber and metal valve stems, but the metal valve stems were always into truck wheels that were made with plenty of flat surface to take the stems and seals and seal properly all the way around. The wheels on my TT are Series06 aluminum wheels from China, and when I first looked at these wheels with tpms in mind the thing that hit me was wondering if I could seal a metal valve stem in these wheels. If the high pressure rubber coated ones will work for tpms then this may be my ticket, but if not I'm afraid I'm going to need to study those wheel stem holes inside and out. Just looking at the outside of the rim the surface may not be flat enough to give a good sealing surface.

If anyone has installed tpms sensors onto Series06 aluminum TT wheels I'd sure like to hear how it went and if simple or not. Here's a link to a pic of their wheel on their website:
http://www.series06.com/series06.html

Thanks to all,
Marty

Do not use the rubber coated brass valve stems with an external TPMS sensor.

I tried that with my truck and the stem failed after about 10,000 miles and when I was away from home. When I checked the other three stems all were close to failure as the rubber was cracked.

Thanks RCMAN46 for confirming that.

I looked again at our Series06 wheels and I don't believe a metal valve stem is going to be an option with these wheels. Uugh... The aluminum wheel seems to have a half inch or so plastic outer coating and the current regular valve stem is recessed down into a cavity that I don't believe (but not positive) can hold a metal valve stem nut/washer/grommet. The recess is about a half inch deep. I took a couple pics.

http://i.imgur.com/0oXRgQmm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gvS3d3zm.jpg

All input greatly appreciated. These wheels are the old 5 x 4.5 bolt pattern so one thing that comes to mind is possibly looking for an old set of GM steel wheels.

Hi Marty,

I see BenK link my saga on metal stems... on these pressed out rims. I did get the NAPA metal stems to work. I have since upgraded to 16" LT tires and needed new rims. These rims are made to handle a good stem mount. It may be on the 16" rims there is enough room to emboss a flat verse 15" rims they stamp the hole in the curves of the rim. Heck they could of used 90 degree truck stems in the rim ID. But they cost more $$S.



Hard to see but this is a flat here




I too have heard of folks having the the high pressure brass & rubber snaps in fail. While they are better then the all rubber, they are not fatigue proof enough. I also found my local tires shops never heard of TPM's that screw on the stems. They are use to the internal auto sensors so they have no real good back ground on extremal mounted systems.

If your aluminum rims will not work with an external sensor, maybe look at internal sensors. I had buddy use the Orange system in his 26 foot trailer. They worked for him for many years until he sold the camper.

He had the Orange system. I know Jegs sells it. This may be a newer one then he had.

Orange TPM at Jegs

Orange TPM

Consider this a lead. I have never used them, just recall my buddy using them inside the tire.

Good luck and hope this helps

John

These worked for me on recessed aluminum wheels:






Haltec N-1600 valve stems.

The metal washer/spacer od is ~1.5 cm.
The height from the rubber grommet to the top of the valve stem is ~3.3 cm.
The diameter of the end that goes inside the tire is ~1.7 cm

To the OP; My aluminum wheels had the recessed hole too that appeared too small to accept the metal stems. Discount tire installed a stem that would work. Similar to the photo above.

Ron3rd wrote:
To the OP; My aluminum wheels had the recessed hole too that appeared too small to accept the metal stems. Discount tire installed a stem that would work. Similar to the photo above.

Same here my 5th wheel aluminum wheels have valve stems that look just like the ones pictured above. If I remember correct mine were done by Les Schwab Tire.

Posted John's saga because this OP has a wheel OEM that I'm not familiar with
and suspected issues with the type of valve stem

There is a Myers tire catalog embedded in John's thread...it one of my go to
reference catalogs on this topic

It may seem like a static area around the valve stem hole, but all wheels flex
and the higher the weights, the more likely it will flex. Why the seal must
be correct...it moves ever so slightly all the time

Good luck!

PS...Dealers generally only advise on stuff that they carry in stock, can get
easily and know anything about. Working my through college, one job was a tire
monkey and where learned to love Myers as my reference catalog. Still
to this day, reference the Myers catalog

Myers Catalog

Thanks to all for this input. Very much appreciated. Jbarca, great to hear your situation is solved. I looked very briefly at 16" wheels, but with the old 5 x 4.5 bolt pattern I didn't see any right off. They're probably available, but I just didn't see any in my quick look.

And its great to know that others with similar type wheels have found solutions! I haven't yet seen the inside of my rim, without tire on, to see how close the hole is to the rounded areas that caused Jbarca so much grief.

With the valve stem in the wheel and tire mounted I couldn't be sure of the stem hole size so this morning I emailed the Series06 folks and again they were very responsive to my email. They confirmed that the stem hole size in my wheel is 0.453" diameter.

So with the hole size confirmed, it seems like a good first step would be to order one of the Haltec N-1600 valve stems to see how it goes with one wheel (thanks mrekim for that product and measurements). I checked their website and that stem is the 0.453" size and all the other measurements seem to be inline with what would work well. It is listed as an aluminum stem which I hope is strong enough.

BenK, I checked the Myres catalog (thanks for the link) looking for something like the Haltec N-1600 in steel rather than aluminum but I couldn't find anything. If you know of something please let me know.

I'll order the Haltec stem and report back.

Many thanks again to all,
Marty

MartyW wrote:
It is listed as an aluminum stem which I hope is strong enough.

The stem is designed for aluminum wheels, but I'm pretty sure the stem itself is steel. I recall asking the Haltech engineer if the steel washer against the aluminum rim would be a problem due to dissimilar metals and he said the coating on the parts prevents that from being a problem.