Question on a 2017 Ram dually

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Butch50 you are making this WAAAAY harder than it should be. It's NOT hard to add or remove air on the inner rubber/plastic valve stems. A solid push is all that is needed in alignment with the stem.

Checking tire pressures on the go is very easy also no different than setting the cruise control!

I have had this system since my 11 RAM Dually and now 15 with ZERO issues.

x2. I find it easy as well; just be sure that the outer tires are installed with the stems well away from the inners.

Butch50 you are making this WAAAAY harder than it should be. It's NOT hard to add or remove air on the inner rubber/plastic valve stems. A solid push is all that is needed in alignment with the stem.

Checking tire pressures on the go is very easy also no different than setting the cruise control!

I have had this system since my 11 RAM Dually and now 15 with ZERO issues.

I don't find getting to the pressure display distracting at all. I can navigate to the pressures without taking my eyes off the road using the steering wheel mounted arrows. I press the down arrow once to get from the digital speedometer to the tire pressure screen. Reading the pressures while diving is no different than checking my speed; something that I do several times a minute.

For someone meticulous about pressures it wouldn't be a bad idea just to leave the screen up. I mean Ram has provided you with a way to monitor your pressures without additional expense, extensions, supports, or transmitting units. I can see you have your mind set on a TPMS system so I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. Spend your money or don't spend your money however you want. But using the system that you already have is something worth considering.

proxim2020 wrote:
I have rubber valves on the inner wheels on my 18' DRW. If you have the factory plastic valve extenders try removing them and filling up the tires. It can be difficult to fill up the tire using those plastic extenders. The end of the plastic extenders are narrower than a standard schrader valve so you have to be perfectly aligned to get an air into them. It's much easier to just put the chuck right on the valve. Also get a longer air chuck. I had a shorter 5 in long air chuck and struggled to get it aligned properly. It's much easier to align with the 9 inch chuck that I use now and can fill the inner tires with ease.

You're right that you won't get an alert for your pressures since the truck came with a TPIS (Information System) instead of TPMS (Monitor System). However, it's not necessary to have the the pressure screen up all the time. Just scroll to it every once in a while to view the pressures.

I have a long air chuck now and I agree that the extensions are what make it a pain.

The problem I have with the just checking the TPIS screen once in a while is this is time you have to mess with you info center and scroll through it and it is a distraction from driving. Also you could just have looked at the screen and gone back to the gauge screen and with in minutes you could run over something and start leaking air and never know it especially with one of the rear duals. That is why I like having my TPMS monitor my tires all the time and alarm me when I'm losing pressure.

I think I'll go with the metal valves the Scott gave me a link to this way I can still have the dash reading and I can add a solid extension to it with a dounut hole rubber support for the extension. This would allow me to put my TPMS doggle on the end of the tire.

In case you folks can't tell I'm paranoid about my tire pressures and like to keep an eye on them. If one on my monitors stop sending and I get and alarm from it I'm looking for a place to pull over and check what is going on.

For folks that don't believe in TPMS my wife and I were heading out in our Jeep one day and I switched lanes and I heard a thunk and asked my wife if she seen anything I ran over. She didn't but down the road about 8 miles just when we started to hit stop and go traffic I got a tire pressure alarm and the tire was going down at a pretty good rate. We finally got to an exit and there was a Walmart there and we pulled in and the took the Jeep right in. A few minutes later they came in and asked me if I wanted what was left of the screwdriver that I ran over. All that was left was about a 8" shank and the tip of the screwdriver. The shaft was bent at almost a 90* angle. They checked the tire all over and the tire looked fine and did not see that it hit any cords. So patched it and we were on our way and never had a bit of trouble with the tire.

Another time on my wife's Toyota Highlander we were driving along and the TPMS chimed and I pulled over and the was a nail in the sidewall of the tire. We weren't that far to the Toyota dealer so we pulled in there and they put the spare on and we weren't that lucky that time as we had to get a new tire for it.

So maybe you can see why I like having TPMS on the vehicle.

I have rubber valves on the inner wheels on my 18' DRW. If you have the factory plastic valve extenders try removing them and filling up the tires. It can be difficult to fill up the tire using those plastic extenders. The end of the plastic extenders are narrower than a standard schrader valve so you have to be perfectly aligned to get an air into them. It's much easier to just put the chuck right on the valve. Also get a longer air chuck. I had a shorter 5 in long air chuck and struggled to get it aligned properly. It's much easier to align with the 9 inch chuck that I use now and can fill the inner tires with ease.

You're right that you won't get an alert for your pressures since the truck came with a TPIS (Information System) instead of TPMS (Monitor System). However, it's not necessary to have the the pressure screen up all the time. Just scroll to it every once in a while to view the pressures.

SidecarFlip wrote:
I don't want anything to do with rubba stems period. Reason being most are imported and tend to suffer from rot failure. All my vehicles have metal bolt on stems. Even the ones with TPMS which I consider to be for people who never check their TP. Took the bulb out of my 2014 so it didn't illuminate anymore.

I check my tires all the time but I also run TPMS. As I just posted I checked the tires in the AM and later that day one trailer tire started to loose pressure. My TPMS alarmed me to it and I stopped to check it out. Sure enough it was down to 70# from 80.

Now if I didn't have a TPMS I would not have known that I had a tire going down till it was probably flat or had a blow out because heat buildup because of low pressure. My TPMS also warns you of heat which could indicate a wheel bearing going bad or is bad.

I want to see people that don't believe in TPMS run down the road and check their tire pressure at 60 MPH, that would make for a very good video for You Tube. :B

ScottG wrote:
OK, I think I finally found them again.
How about these: Linkaroonie

Thank you for the link. In the end this is probably going to go with/ I was hopping to find a 4" long valve stem with the tire pressure monitor on it. But I think I can work with these.

Thanks again

Cummins12V98 wrote:
If you use the "proper" inflation device the inner wheels are a piece of cake to inflate and deflate. You DON'T need extenders. There is no screw on cap you just push on double ended air chuck. To deflate I use the chuck without an air hose attached.

Give this a try it really is EZ!!!

Your sensors are inside of the wheels.

Is your inner wheel valve stem metal or rubber? My outer is metal and the inner is rubber. It would have been better if they had put them the other way with rubber on the outside and metal on the inside.

I have the double headed air pressure gauge and the double headed air chuck. I have had duallies for years but I have always had metal in the past on both inners and outters. My last rig was a International Durastar that had a MH built on the chassis with 22.5 tires. The inside dual had metal valve stems and I never had a problem with it. This new one with the rubber valves it just wobbles all over the place when you put pressure on it and when trying to air up it is leaking more air than you are getting in. Kind of a losing battle with less air than when I started and that was just trying to get a reading.

Kind of a pain in the you know where. I have already tried it and had to fight it each time I have done it.

I would also like to put my after market TPMS doggles on it that I have used in the past to monitor my pressures as I drive. They don't play good with rubber valve stems and are not recommended for them. I have had after market TPMS for years and they have really worked good for me. On one of my rigs I checked the tire pressure in the morning and all checked good but as I was driving down the road after about 3 to 4 hours of driving I got an alarm on one of my trailer tires. Pulled over and checked the pressure and it was down to 70 from 80 that I had checked earlier. I started to put in air and could hear air leaking. Some way or another the nut on my steel valve had become a little loose and it was leaking air there. I just got a wrench out and tightened it a bit and filled up the tire and all was great again. So here is a case where a TPMS system could have saved me a very expensive repair down the road.

I have metal ones on order right now for my new 5er and should be here Monday so I can have the metal installed and then can use my TPMS on the 5er again.

If you use the "proper" inflation device the inner wheels are a piece of cake to inflate and deflate. You DON'T need extenders. There is no screw on cap you just push on double ended air chuck. To deflate I use the chuck without an air hose attached.

Give this a try it really is EZ!!!

Your sensors are inside of the wheels.

SidecarFlip wrote:
I don't want anything to do with rubba stems period. Reason being most are imported and tend to suffer from rot failure. All my vehicles have metal bolt on stems. Even the ones with TPMS which I consider to be for people who never check their TP. Took the bulb out of my 2014 so it didn't illuminate anymore.

I agree with your opinion of tpms nannies. But......don't metal valve stems have rubber seals?