Adding air to Workhorse tires...

[Wetstuff]

I have a few, typical, inflators attachable to my long air hose and large compressor ...BUT; for the life-of-me I cannot get one of the inflators (long or short) to slip in the opening in the wheel cover to hit the right angle?!

They are either double-headed with a chunk of brass sticking out at an angle, or have some sort of finger-flipper-gripper gizmo on the end I cannot also get in the wheel cover hole.

The logical next step would be to remove the SS wheel covers, but they also are not ready to give up their secret for removal to such a rube.

Is there an easy way - with out going to the truck store? Thanks.


Jim

 

[Waterbug]

You can buy valve stem extenders at any autoparts store or online.

https://www.amazon.com/Extenders-Ex...ds=Valve+stem+extender&qid=1661017806&sr=8-10

 

[Morich]

Removing the covers every time is not going to be the fun way to go---but I might shed some light on how?

If it is what I know about(??) there will be a couple of the "nuts" which are meant to be unscrewed, even though most of them are fixed solid.
There are meant to be indents pressed into the metal of the fake nuts as a way to ID which come off to remove the covers.
They are about 1/4 inch long "dents" pressed into the thin metal and can be hard to spot.

A quickie way to spot which may work?

Take something like a screwdriver point and tap each "lugnut" cover and listen for two that sound very much different that the others! Hard enough to make a noise but not hard enough to dent!! Kind of like tapping on solid metal versus hollow metal? None sound really solid but two should sound much more like a " tinnng" than a thump?
When you find one that sounds different, look near the place where the nut and cover meet for the dent. Easy to show, easy to demonstrate, but really weird to write about!
Unscrew like normal if finding the right ones. One should be close to directly across from the other.

WARNING: This is what I have seen, so you might have different, so don't beat the horse too long if it doesn't work!!

EDIT: Tube vid may make more sense! Look at notch at 21 seconds into vid?

 

[Wetstuff]

Gentlemen... T'anks. Charlie, that was too obvious for me. I always have to do the wrong thing X times before I ask someone.

...and thanks Morich. I think I will try this before - the extenders arrive. ('good chance that socket size will be missing from the large pile I have). Be well.

Jim

 

[BCam]

...and thanks Morich. I think I will try this before - the extenders arrive. ('good chance that socket size will be missing from the large pile I have). Be well.

Jim

Hopefully the nuts holding the wheel covers won't be too tight since they're not lug nuts. They shouldn't be but you never know what a tire installer did with an impact wrench.

Whatever you don, don't lose them. From what I've read, replacements can be hard to find.

 

[Morich]

They are a super large nut and I'm not sure I had the right size. I do remember doing what I DON'T like and using a set of channel locks on them! I padded them with paper towels and went easy to avoid scarring them. Metal just a bit thicker than a soda can and screwed into just a bit thicker, so a little WD-40 might help break the seal. A little tapping?

I don't think they are screwed on too tight because there is not much there to torque it into!!

 

[BCam]

Mine are a bit different in that the acorn-shaped, decorative nut covers are held on by dimples and pull or pry off to expose the actual nut. For some reason, 33mm sticks in the back of my mind.

 

[Morich]

Mine are a bit different in that the acorn-shaped, decorative nut covers are held on by dimples and pull or pry off to expose the actual nut. For some reason, 33mm sticks in the back of my mind.

This is always something to check!
Make sure we are talking about the same brand of covers and they work the same before trusting any ideas we find online!

 

[BCam]

For some reason, 33mm sticks in the back of my mind.

I did some Googling and it appears that 33mm is the size of the underlying nut, not the nut plus the acorn shaped cover.

 

[dale57]

Airing up the duals.

I’ve found best air chuck and gauge is straight line about 12” long.
Bought them on Amazon.
Had horrible results with extenders.
Tore metal valve stem off one time
Leaks all the time.
Tpms will keep you from having to check tires as often.