Air Pressure

[LKANER]

we are planning a trip from NY to Alaska with our 2006 Adventure (W24 chassis) and understand we will experience fluctuating air pressure do to altitude changes. what do we need to look our for.. do we need to check and adjust constantly.. this is all new, so any advice would be appreciated. thanx Len

[skigramp]

I winter in the San Diego area ... I live in Wisconsin ... the elevation is about 400 to 800 feet at both ends ... I cross the Rockies on some of those trips ...

The air pressure in my tires doesn't vary by more than 1 or 2 pounds due to the change in elevation ... that does not mean that you do not need to check the pressure of your tires frequently on the trip ... it just means that the pressure is not going to change much because of the change in altitude.

We have a Sleep Number bed ... the bed needs to be deflated before we start a days travel and we are going to gain more than 3000 or 4000 feet in a days travel ..

[MrTransistor]

Hi Len,

Sea level to 15,000 feet is less than 8.5 PSI pressure change or about .5 PSI per 1000 feet. I wouldn’t be overly concerned about altitude changes unless you will be driving form NYC to Denver, non stop. Then I’d check and adjust the pressure when I got to Denver and not worry about it again until I got to Leadville, Co.

Of more concern is ambient temperature. A change of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which could be expected between Phoenix and Denver, will result in the cold inflation pressure changing by amounts like 7.5 pounds in the 105 PSI range. Example: set 105 PSI in Phoenix at an ambient temperature of 100 degrees. What would be the tires pressure in Denver at 50 degrees? Owing to the decrease in temperature, the new pressure would be 97.5 PSI, but the increase in altitude would bring it back up to around 99.5 PSI.

It’s a concern but certainly not something to dwell on. If you check the tires once a day, that should be sufficient for a trip with reasonable elevation and temperature changes, unless you plan to climb Pikes Peak.

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by LKANER

we are planning a trip from NY to Alaska with our 2006 Adventure (W24 chassis) and understand we will experience fluctuating air pressure do to altitude changes. what do we need to look our for.. do we need to check and adjust constantly.. this is all new, so any advice would be appreciated. thanx Len

i have the tst truck wireless pressure and temperature indicating system. it is well worth the $300 that it costs.

[Ding-a-ling]

Checking tire pressures should be part of the "travel routine."

As SkiGramp says, the Sleep Number bed you must look after! When you get to Nebraska - it looks flat, but you are really going uphill. That's when you must start letting air out of the bed in the morning before travelling. We've not had any failures - but there were days we had forgotten about the bed and it was like a big rock at the end of the day!

Going to and from Alaska there will be many days to think about the bed. We know.

FJF

[LKANER]

really appreciate the info - good point on the bed, will add that to my check list.

[Doug Sage]

By the way, the road passes in Alaska are all about 4,000 feet or less. You will have greater elevation variations in the Rockies than in Alaska itself.

You could consider taking an air compressor with tank which pumps up to at least 100# and preferably up to 125#. Many of the 25 cent service stastion compressors will not pump up high enough to fill your truck tires - not to mention that they are oftentimes hard to get the motorhome up close to. I don't really recommend the small electric compressors with no tank because they are so slow to fill the tires at that pressure.

[AFChap]

The best advice is to check tire pressures daily/before travel ...that goes regardless of where you are traveling. You may note a bit of fluctuation with changes in altitude, but more so from temp. I inflate our tires to the mfg recommendation for axle weights +5psi, and normally add or release pressure ONLY with the big temp change with the change in seasons in Spring and in Fall.

We have a Sleep Number bed. When I asked Speep Number if we needed to worry about the effects of altitude changes they said "absolutely not ...the bed has safety valves to prevent damage from overinflation." We have traveled all over the country from below sea level to well over 10,000 ft. We have NEVER released air based on our travel route ...the only time we fuss with the air level is when we get in bed. If there has been a big change in altitude from the night before we either let air out, or we add air ...otherwise we don't worry about it ...it is pusing 8 yrs old, most of that in fulltime use, and still works fine.