Flat tire on dually

[45Kevin]

I noticed that my rear pass side outer tire was looking low on air the other day.
I checked the pressure and was right at 60 psi.
So checked the inner tire and it showed 20 psi. Huh.

It's really hard to get at the inner with a tire beater so I do a visual check and like with this, the visual led to the pressure check.
I carry a small compressor with me and filled the inner back up. It was at 0 psi the next day.

A few days later we needed supplies so I again filled the inner and we drove to town, I dropped my wife at the laundromat and went off in search for a tire shop.
First stop was Walmart, their garage doors were only 9 feet and they can't work outside so on to the next.
Next stop was a used tire place, didn't speak English but I gathered they didn't have a jack strong enough to lift the RV.

Third time lucky. They used two floor jacks and got the wheel off no trouble. Sprayed it with soapy water and nothing.
I got the guy to put 80 psi in it and it turns out the valve stem was damaged.

You'll notice the notch on the stem just below the threaded end.
We have had the hub cap on that wheel fall off a couple of times in the past week. Fortunately we were going slow at the time and no real damage was noticed. But, I wonder if the hubcap on its way off rubbed the valve stem and wore the notch in it.

The tire shop only had car type stems so that is what is on the wheel now, but I will need to get the proper stem so I can check the pressure easily. It's a Mercedes wheel so is that an MB specific stem or would any big truck repair shop have a stem like I need.
Or do you just buy a straight 6" stem and bend it to your shape?

I haven't looked at the jack that came with the RV but I think it is a standard Sprinter bottle jack. I wonder if it even has the power to lift one side of the 7000ish pound rear end.

 

[MCP-THOR]

It looks like you have "Duallyvalve" (brand) stems and it was misaligned with either the outer rim or the wheel cover hole. Most likely the wheel hand hole and the continued rubbing wore through the stem. Any reputable big truck tire shop would have no problem replacing it. The key is to get it centered in the hole to avoid rubbing. Some use rubber grommets to center it.

 

[45Kevin]

It looks like you have "Duallyvalve" (brand) stems and it was misaligned with either the outer rim or the wheel cover hole. Most likely the wheel hand hole and the continued rubbing wore through the stem. Any reputable big truck tire shop would have no problem replacing it. The key is to get it centered in the hole to avoid rubbing. Some use rubber grommets to center it.

Yeah, the outer rim does have the rubber grommet to keep the stem centered.
The hub cap does not and I think that when it fell off it hung up on the valve stem for a short period of time and that is what wore the notch in it.

It seems that the valve stem I need is unique to MB and after market sets (of 6) valve stems are $140 and up.
I'll look into brazing the notch to make it airtight again.

Good news is, there is lots of life left in the rear brakes.

 

[Jimbo57]

There are after market flexible stem that have braided SS covers and they clamp onto outer rim, Amazon has options. There are also monitors that go on valve stems that show pressure and temperature of tires while driving

 

[ArcticGPS]

I have had the flexible, braided valve extenders on 3 different RVs and I have been very happy with them. Also, we don't have a built-in tire pressure monitoring system but I bought this Amazon.com and have been very happy with it. They make a model that can monitor all 6 but I know that when my front tires are off just a little bit I can tell so I just monitor the back 4.

 

[J-scott]

Hi sorry for your issue. My last trip out with my duallies I learned a bunch. 1 zip tie with stainless steel zip ties your hub cap. When they come of with that type of extender they can do a lot of damage. 2. Go with the Borg steel extenders.
3. Have an experienced tire shop do the work. Good luck!

 

[RV Driver]

I once allowed a tire shop to jack the front end of my Mandalay for a right hand steer tire repair. Never again. They placed the jack on the lower control arm of the front suspension and bent it. That was a $1,200 repair at Freightliner in Gaffney.

Ever since then I have used my own jacks for all my tire work.

In a tire shop for new steer tires. As you can see, I used the front jacks for this one.

On the road with a bad left side outer drive tire. Used just the left side jacks for this one.

 

[45Kevin]

I've been looking at the various options and will figure something out.

But in the mean time, the other fawking hubcap came off and did the same thing to the DS inner wheel air stem. Looks like it is not leaking yet though. Grrr.

I can't understand why the hub caps are so ill-fitting, and how they lasted for 34K miles and all of a sudden don't want to stay on. Fortunately I have enough room in my bays to keep them. They have little tabs riveted to the caps that seem spring into a slight groove on the rim to some extent. Maybe bend them? I dunno. They are not going back on this trip.

I wasn't really looking for a self leveling rig but those jacks sure come in handy for changing tires.

 

[MCP-THOR]

The loss of, or the shifting of the Sprinter wheel covers is not unusual. Indeed, I lost one on my previous Class C Sprinter without even noticing. I had no recollection of hitting a pothole or any other reason to cause the loss. Not sure if you can "adjust" them to fit more snug. I simply was very careful to ensure the replacement was securely installed...rubber mallet. Subsequently I had the dually valve stems installed by an excellent truck tire place (Firebird Tire, Phoenix). They automatically installed the stainless steel zip ties (as mentioned by J-scott above) for the exact reasons being discussed. The stems worked perfect even without grommets and the rims stayed perfectly aligned, so no rubbing or wearing away at the stems.

 

[GD3]

We got our Thor 23U last summer. Did a 4 K trip from Mn to Ca and back , the only tire problem was on our trailer hauling a motorcycle, I had everything to fix the flat on I -94 in NorthDakota in 105 degree temp, good for me. But then started to wonder what about the RV, it came with no jack or spare, I figured no problem we have road side assistance, we took a couple weekend trips around Minn last fall. On one of the trips I was sitting behind the RV and noticed the inside driver side rear tire looked low, I discovered the dual tires didn’t have valve extenders so couldn’t check pressure. Called for road side assistance but no one in area available for 2 days. We drove into nearest town 30 miles away constantly worried I was about to cause irreparable damage to our new toy. We found a Farm store that was willing to help ( on Sunday ) they didn’t have a tire to replace ours but luckily they found and replaced a bad valve stem tire had a small nick but it held air and continues to.
This post brings up some very good points I’m considering.
1 our class C has the factory stabilizing stands not leveling jacks, so I need to look into leveling jacks, I don’t have a floor jack that could safely lift the rig.
Any recommendations on leveling jacks?
2 I should probably invest in a spare tire.
3 I will be investing in a tire monitoring system.
Any suggestions of brand?
4 I will be taking our coach to a truck tire joint to have valve extenders put once the snow is gone and I take the rig out of hibernation.

Thanks for all the information, this forum and contributors is great.

 

[Jimbo57]

I purchased the EEZ RV Product because it does temperature , pressure, and I can get the number of sensors to include trailer tires. The screen is easy for me to quick glance to see if there is a problem. You can add air thru the valves but I saw some that you can’t

 

[ghnl]

I have a TireMinder system. I can monitor all 6 motorhome tires and 4 trailer tires.

 

[16ACE27]

We got our Thor 23U last summer. Did a 4 K trip from Mn to Ca and back , the only tire problem was on our trailer hauling a motorcycle, I had everything to fix the flat on I -94 in NorthDakota in 105 degree temp, good for me. But then started to wonder what about the RV, it came with no jack or spare, I figured no problem we have road side assistance, we took a couple weekend trips around Minn last fall. On one of the trips I was sitting behind the RV and noticed the inside driver side rear tire looked low, I discovered the dual tires didn’t have valve extenders so couldn’t check pressure. Called for road side assistance but no one in area available for 2 days. We drove into nearest town 30 miles away constantly worried I was about to cause irreparable damage to our new toy. We found a Farm store that was willing to help ( on Sunday ) they didn’t have a tire to replace ours but luckily they found and replaced a bad valve stem tire had a small nick but it held air and continues to.
This post brings up some very good points I’m considering.
1 our class C has the factory stabilizing stands not leveling jacks, so I need to look into leveling jacks, I don’t have a floor jack that could safely lift the rig.
Any recommendations on leveling jacks?
2 I should probably invest in a spare tire.
3 I will be investing in a tire monitoring system.
Any suggestions of brand?
4 I will be taking our coach to a truck tire joint to have valve extenders put once the snow is gone and I take the rig out of hibernation.

Thanks for all the information, this forum and contributors is great.

You've got two good suggestions for TPMS. There are others on the jungle site for way less money but you get what you pay for. The cheaper ones may not update but once every 15 minutes and just display the last reading they got in the meantime. Also, any "temperature" reading on a valve stem TPMS sensor has to be taken with a grain of salt as the sensor is not down inside the tire.

Buying a leveling system will provide other advantages besides lifting the RV to change a tire. There are three major players in aftermarket systems: Bigfoot, EQ and HWH.
But if all you care about is lifting the RV to change a tire there are compact powered jacks available that will do the job. I think Duscksface has one he is happy with.

 

[ducksface]

I do.
Look up threads I've started(there are surpringly few).

The silly thing lifts like magic and has a compressor and a flashlight too.

 

[16ACE27]

I do.
Look up threads I've started(there are surpringly few).

The silly thing lifts like magic and has a compressor and a flashlight too.

Although we had that ability on the old forum software, unless I just can't find it, I don't see the ability to find all threads started by a User on this forum software.

But this is the jack you have referenced in another thread:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08BY9FDT5?ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image&th=1

 

[ducksface]

That jack and a torque multiplier

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G3NA6C0?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

There are lots of youtube videos on how to use a torque multiplier.

And you're on your way to a tire change kit.
(Buy a battery impact hammer for whatever battery regiment you use.)