Question for Owners of Ford E-450 Chassis

[chasfenwick]

We have 2014 Jayco Melbourne 29D. This is my first experience with a vehicle with dual rear wheels. I discovered that the rigid tubes that connect to the valve stems of the inner wheels were serving only as caps. It looked like there was supposed to be contact with inner parts that would depress the pin in the center of the valve stem, but those parts were 3/8-inch too high up inside of the tube.

I asked Jayco dealer about this, and their solution was to cut off 3/8-inch of each of the tubes. After thinking about this for a couple of weeks, I decided that this "solution" was nuts on its face, and undertook to investigate.

This "solution" has proven to be a disaster, since in just a few weeks, with motorhome sitting in storage lot, one of the tires lost over 20# and the other one lost ALL of its pressure. (They said that they put in 95#, which is well above what is specified on door jam of the cab).

This whole situation strikes me as extremely strange. I am ASSUMING that the tubes are supposed to be pressurized, so that you can check air pressure of the inner tires easily, but I can't imagine why they would have been designed the way these were.

Clearly, there have been many thousands of E-450's produced, and every single one of them has a solution to this problem. What I want to know is simple: What IS that solution?

[j-d]

Time to add that the Tire Valves themselves MUST BE METAL to safely add any extension much heavier than one of the air-through caps. Maybe a short plastic extension, but anything heavier damages the "rubber" valves, even the "high pressure" ones where a short brass shank shows.

[Harvey51]

Those airless extensions work for me, too. I have to leave the wheel covers off but I don't like them, anyway. I have to ask the Costco tire shop for long valve stems on the outer rear wheels. The extensions are available at local stores for about two dollars apiece. I had a metal one fail to close after checking pressure and now use only plastic ones which have never failed.

[j-d]

If all you need to do is provide some protection for your valve cores, there are "air through" caps like this

They thread onto your valve stem. The core is not depressed till you push a gauge or air chuck onto the end of the special cap. FYI there are "airless" extensions that work the same way. They don't have to contain air pressure till depressed.
Tire-Man valve stem kits used to come with a set of those caps, and Borg (Dually Valve) did not until perhaps recently. But they're available separately. What look like male threads are rings and they're there to accept the clip-on air chucks shops use when mounting tires. There's no need to put a cap over them.

[IAMICHABOD]

One sure way to know is to call Chuck at The Tire Man. He is very nice guy and very knowledgeable on the subject and is always willing to talk about what you would need.

You can call him @ 1-888-889-8996

[dicknellen]

I'm sure Tire Man or Dually Valves has valves to fit your wheels. FYI the experts say rotating wheels on a MH is a waste of money and unnecessary so get some valves that will work for you and make tire checking easy. Dick

[chasfenwick]

This E-450 has the factory option alloy wheels, so I don't think that the alternative covers would be a reasonable solution. Also, I have long inflator chuck and trucker-type pressure gauge that will readily reach the valve stem without the extension being used at all. But I imagine it is a good idea to have some kind of cap!

I would be better off now if I had never taken the thing to the dealer in the first place. (It was just one of a dozen squawks that they worked on).

[j-d]

Clicky for That Other Brand

The guys above have it right. Get "Custom" valves and be done with it. I procrastinated and finally got the "Borg" version of Chuck's "TireMan" valves. It becomes a pleasure to check tires for two big reasons.

ONE - It's now EASY

TWO - You find they have not lost air!

PS - A coach as new as the OP's might have the Four-Hole wheels, not the Eight-Hole that Ford used for years. Very possibly a different kit for a 2013-or-so chassis.

[PghBob]

I'm with Ichabod on this. While out west last summer, we had the Tire Man install his valves and everything is working fine. Or, You can have the kits sent to you and then have a local shop install.

Bob

[dicknellen]

I got my dually valves from http://www.yourtireshopsupply.com/
They are great, had local tire shop install them. Dick

[IAMICHABOD]

Just replace them with THESE problem solved.

Here is a thread about them Tire Man Valve Stems