I have a pretty common air pressure gauge that I have difficulty checking pressure on the inside tire of my dual tires on my Winnebago Vista.
Very frustrating to get it on the stem completely so that all the air is captured and not leaking, to get an accurate reading. This on the outside tire, on the inside I cannot get it on the stem completely to capture an accurate reading.
Am considering a gauge that has a swivel type head thinking it would be easier but do not want to just start buying and end up with a collection.
(On Amazon Jaco Elite Pro 100PSI... not sure how to attach pic)
Worst case, they would make nice Christmas/birthday presents.
And.... have attempted to remove the "beauty ring" covering the wheel but am only willing to pry on it to the point I feel I'm about to dimple it and damage it. Is there a technique that is not occurring to me? special tool? Or do you just apply pressure until it will pop off??
Would extensions be a better solution? Are they ez to install?
Any and all advice will be appreciated.
If by "beauty ring" you are referring to the wheel simulator/cover, then you need to look for the two "nuts" that have a couple of slight dimples in them. Those are the jam nuts that hold the cover on, and are 1 1/8" size. Find one and the other should be directly across from it. Take those off and the cover pulls right off, and it will make it easier to get to the stems.
This is assuming 19.5" wheels on your Vista, I think the nuts for the bigger wheels might be larger. Your Vista should have come with a t-handle socket for those, but a socket on a cordless driver is much handier.
I bought mine used and it already had extensions on the inner wheels, and I added 45º extensions to the outer wheels that helped. When I put new tires on last year I had them put in new stems from Dually Tire.
Extenders work OK but, as wyocamper suggests "extended valve stems" are the best way to go. They replace your existing valve stems. Mine are made by Borg:
They have to "break the bead" on your tire to install them, so, if new tires are in your relatively near future I'd wait until then and install some extenders for now. IMHO, the permanently installed, extended valve stems like the Borg are essential if you install a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) so the sensors don't move around.
__________________
Bob C
2002 Itasca Suncruiser 35U
Workhorse Chassis
The simple answer is that the PSI embossed on your tire is a safe maximum for at its max load rating. it's seldom, if ever, the appropriate pressure for your MH and will most likely result in a rough ride and uneven tire wear.
The sticker PSIs are the PSI recommended for the GAWRs (max load) of your front and rear axles, the sum of which is the GVWR or the maximum weight rating of your rig. The front and rear sticker PSIs may or may not be the same. The front and rear sticker pressures assume you're fully loaded to both your front and rear GAWRs.
Both the sidewall and sticker pressures are "cold" pressures which are best measured in the morning, before driving. There's a significant safety margin so you don't need to adjust your pressures based on normal daily fluctuations. They're also calculated to allow for a pretty significant increase in tire temperature while driving so you don't need to reduce pressure after your tires heat up from driving.
Of the two, the sticker pressure is the one to use, provided that the specs of your current tires match those specified on the sticker. This is a always a safe and reasonably comfortable PSI to use as long as you're not overloaded.
You will find a lot of threads here on Winnieowners and other sites that involve weighing your MH and fine tuning the PSIs for your rig's actual, loaded for travel, weight, which, by the way should never exceed your GVWR and GAWRs. At a minimum, some weigh each axle while others weigh each "corner". In both cases they then inflate the tires on each axle based on tire-specific PSI vs. weight tables that are available online. This method can result in a better ride than the sticker pressure.
Pretty much anything you want to know about this can be found on Roger Marble's blog site. Roger is a retired tire engineer and is a Winnieowner going by the name Tireman9:
You'll get a lot of (often conflicting) opinions and some misinformation in the various tire pressure threads but, personally, I'm going with Tireman9. You can also search Winnieowners for posts from him. Go to his profile, then to his statistics, then to find all posts or find all threads:
So, while you educate yourself, inflate to the door sticker pressure in the morning, make sure you don't overload your rig (take it to a commercial scale at a truck stop to make sure) and enjoy your rig. Once you're educated on the ins and outs of PSI vs. weight you can decide what you want to do going forward and don't obsess about it.
__________________
Bob C
2002 Itasca Suncruiser 35U
Workhorse Chassis
The simple answer is that the PSI embossed on your tire is a safe maximum for at its max load rating. it's seldom, if ever, the appropriate pressure for your MH and will most likely result in a rough ride and uneven tire wear.
The sticker PSIs are the PSI recommended for the GAWRs (max load) of your front and rear axles, the sum of which is the GVWR or the maximum weight rating of your rig. The front and rear sticker PSIs may or may not be the same. The front and rear sticker pressures assume you're fully loaded to both your front and rear GAWRs.
Both the sidewall and sticker pressures are "cold" pressures which are best measured in the morning, before driving. There's a significant safety margin so you don't need to adjust your pressures based on normal daily fluctuations. They're also calculated to allow for a pretty significant increase in tire temperature while driving so you don't need to reduce pressure after your tires heat up from driving.
Of the two, the sticker pressure is the one to use, provided that the specs of your current tires match those specified on the sticker. This is a always a safe and reasonably comfortable PSI to use as long as you're not overloaded.
You will find a lot of threads here on Winnieowners and other sites that involve weighing your MH and fine tuning the PSIs for your rig's actual, loaded for travel, weight, which, by the way should never exceed your GVWR and GAWRs. At a minimum, some weigh each axle while others weigh each "corner". In both cases they then inflate the tires on each axle based on tire-specific PSI vs. weight tables that are available online. This method can result in a better ride than the sticker pressure.
Pretty much anything you want to know about this can be found on Roger Marble's blog site. Roger is a retired tire engineer and is a Winnieowner going by the name Tireman9:
You'll get a lot of (often conflicting) opinions and some misinformation in the various tire pressure threads but, personally, I'm going with Tireman9. You can also search Winnieowners for posts from him. Go to his profile, then to his statistics, then to find all posts or find all threads:
So, while you educate yourself, inflate to the door sticker pressure in the morning, make sure you don't overload your rig (take it to a commercial scale at a truck stop to make sure) and enjoy your rig. Once you're educated on the ins and outs of PSI vs. weight you can decide what you want to do going forward and don't obsess about it.
Good post Bob! The only exception I have is this:
“…GAWRs (max load) of your front and rear axles, the sum of which is the GVWR or the maximum weight rating of your rig.”
The sum of my two Max GAWR’s EXCEED my total GVWR.
Good post Bob! The only exception I have is this:
“…GAWRs (max load) of your front and rear axles, the sum of which is the GVWR or the maximum weight rating of your rig.”
The sum of my two Max GAWR’s EXCEED my total GVWR.
This must vary. The specs for my 2002 Suncruiser 35U show the GVWR as equal to the sum of the two GAWRs.
__________________
Bob C
2002 Itasca Suncruiser 35U
Workhorse Chassis
Extenders work OK but, as wyocamper suggests "extended valve stems" are the best way to go. They replace your existing valve stems. Mine are made by Borg:
They have to "break the bead" on your tire to install them, so, if new tires are in your relatively near future I'd wait until then and install some extenders for now. IMHO, the permanently installed, extended valve stems like the Borg are essential if you install a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) so the sensors don't move around.
This must vary. The specs for my 2002 Suncruiser 35U show the GVWR as equal to the sum of the two GAWRs.
Perhaps it changed in later models. The specs for the F53, at least in 2018, were that the individual axels WILL ALWAYS add up to more than the total GVWR for every GVWR model offered.
The best tire gauge I've found is this one for dually tires. They are a pain to put on but one installed they are the best. I ran them for years on my Semi's, they were Cats eyes back then now they are crossfires, but the operation is the same.
They equalize the pressure between the two tires, and should one go flat, it will prevent the good tire from losing air. You can talk about slow leaks and all but never in 1.2 million miles had that happen. I love them. Bought this set for mine off ebay for 105.00 for the set. Just make sure you get the ones set for the PSI you need for your tires, if you decide to purchase.
You can check your tires just by walking by and taking a glance, you will see how your tires gain pressure when they are hot and go back to normal when they cool. This system gives you one place to air BOTH tires if needed, and you could also put a tire pressure monitoring system on it if you wanted.
Anyway it sure helps this old Marine in keeping track of my tires.
BTW, why I chose 95PSI, well the sidewall of my tires say max pressure is 110, they are 19.5 not 22's. Also the tire pressure specified by Winnebago for my duals is 90LBS, so I opted for 95
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Jim and Bonnie Haney, MGySgt 30 years, Ham Radio N0LZS
2004 Brave, 34D, 8.1L
toad 2019 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
I can see the advantage of that crossfire system but it looks like it would unbalance the tires, possibly causing rougher ride and uneven tire wear. I take it that you have not experienced these?
Chuck
No Chuck, and I should have put that in my post, they do not unbalance the tires, in fact a lot of people do not balance rear tires, I do, but a lot do not, you have to ask for your tire mounting personnel to balance the rear tires.
But again they DO NOT unbalance nor make the ride rough. As for uneven wear, one of the main causes for scuffing and uneven wear is tires in a dual situation not of the same air pressure. The tire with the most air will carry more weight, and the tire with less air will be dragged or scuffed, this is a problem with dual tires. This system prevents this situation from occurring.
Thanks for asking.
Hope this helps.
__________________
Jim and Bonnie Haney, MGySgt 30 years, Ham Radio N0LZS
2004 Brave, 34D, 8.1L
toad 2019 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
I purchased one of these and love it, wouldn't use anything else going forward. The ability to check the pressure and add or bleed air at the same time (with a compressor hooked up) is invaluable to me.
That said, it doesn't solve the access issue you raised. Perhaps adding extensions to the inner valve stems would solve that issue.
In our case, we decided to go with a TPMS system that uses sensors that screw on to the valve stems. We read a number of threads about this and decided to have metal valve stems installed to better support the sensors, including long metal stems for the inner tires.
We thought about only adding the metal stems on the inside rear wheels but ultimately decided to install them on all 6 wheels. One less thing to worry about.
I'll add that the place that installed the stems had a lot of problems getting them to seal correctly.
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2016 Winnebago Era BM170A / MB Sprinter 3500