Fill up air in inner wheel

[richhoward]

First time trying to fill air in the inside wheel on the back of the motorhome and curious if anyone has any tips? I can get the outside tire just fine but the inside tire is at an angle and I cant get through the rim at the proper angle to fill it out?

[chuckftboy]

I have always used the long stems on the inner wheel and I now use TPMS with no issues. The key to not having leaks it to have the hard rubber insert in the outer wheel to hold the stem. I agree that the set-up is a bit pricy but still far cheaper than a new tire.
My chassie came this way from the factory and works just fine. If the nut that holds the stem into the wheel isn't tight enough, it will leak.

[Pirate1]

mowermech wrote:
I just take my motorhome to the dealer where I bought the rear tires, and he checks the pressures for me.

I'm sure that works great. When travelling, how do you know if you tires ever lose pressure? I have had stems go bad and start slowly leaking. But, whatever, live how you want.

[mowermech]

I just take my motorhome to the dealer where I bought the rear tires, and he checks the pressures for me.

[10forty2]

willald wrote:

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.

Interesting to say the least. Could the installer have caused them to not seat properly when he/she bent the stem to fit? The ones I put on had to be bent slightly to stick out of the hand hole in the wheel and we used a copper tubing bender to make sure we didn't kink or break it in any way. Perhaps you had a bad gasket where the valve bolts into the hole in the rim? Maybe the installer didn't get enough torque on the nuts? Or perhaps TOO much torque? Just guessing here. Since installing mine, other than atmospheric changes, the pressures have remained constant. With the braided extenders, I was always adjusting the cold pressures before I left out for a trip. After two tire failures within 2 months of each other, I am religious about checking and verifying pressures, so I'll keep a close eye out for indications of leaks on the inners with the long valves.

[crasster]

You can find the long dually air nozzles on Ebay for pretty cheap. There are long ones that are nice, then there are aire nozzles that are over a foot long that are very convenient.

[Jim]

Even though they were clamped by the rubber grommets they still leaked? That is strange. I have no idea what might have caused that, except maybe defects in the stem hole in the wheel. Like if they weren't properly milled originally and had some metal needles around the hole where the rubber O rings resided. But with two wheels involved, even that doesn't sound reasonable.

Strange, and a warning to always be on the cautious side and check my air pressures often.

[willald]

Jim@HiTek wrote:
Did your stems have clamps?

When you say clamps, do you mean, the piece that goes in the hole on the outer tire, to hold the long valve stem in place?

If so, the answer is yes, we used those. They came with the dually valves in the form of a rubber oval-shaped piece that fit snugly into the hole and held the long dually valve in place (had a hole in center that valve stem came through). That was only thing the valves came with to hold it in place on the outside, and yes, we used them.

We did not have TPMS caps at ends, either. Never have been a fan of TPMS systems that mount onto end of valve stems.

The expansion and contraction of metals, or the differing metals wouldn't have anything to do with it, IMO, because there's a large rubber washer that's there at the mounting area to prevent that sort of failure modes.

That's what I thought, too, but was really at a loss for any other way to explain why those long stems kept leaking..

Will

[Jim]

You didn't mention if you used the valve stem clamps with your long stems. If you don't use the clams, then the spinning tire can cause a slight rocking motion of the long stem, especially if it has TPS caps. That is why you're suppose to add a clamp. The expansion and contraction of metals, or the differing metals wouldn't have anything to do with it, IMO, because there's a large rubber washer that's there at the mounting area to prevent that sort of failure modes.

Did your stems have clamps?

[willald]

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.

[10forty2]

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

A little pricey, but well worth it to make adjusting pressures easier and to eliminate another source for leaks and ultimately tire failure!

[Jim]

hohenwald48 wrote:

DaveG39 wrote:
I have had solid metal valve extenders for inner duals for years with no problem. Also have valve stem covers that you do not have to remove to air up.

Yeah, the solid metal ones seem to work OK. It's the braided flexible extenders that I've had trouble with.

I did have a solid extender that the rubber seal gave out in only 4 years. It would leak down to 40 psi overnight. Really annoying.

[hohenwald48]

Duplicate

[hohenwald48]

DaveG39 wrote:
I have had solid metal valve extenders for inner duals for years with no problem. Also have valve stem covers that you do not have to remove to air up.

Yeah, the solid metal ones seem to work OK. It's the braided flexible extenders that I've had trouble with.

[DaveG39]

I have had solid metal valve extenders for inner duals for years with no problem. Also have valve stem covers that you do not have to remove to air up.