Tire valve extentions

[John Padmore]

Had 4 new tires put on the motorhome to bring home for the first time. The shop said the valve extensions on the inner tires were leaking. Does anyone have an outlet for these?  Got home (3 hour ride) and one tire was flat.  

Also, what is the fluid reservoir next to the windshield washer reservoir.....brake fluid? Thanks...

John

[Joel Ashley]

Camping World has various extension types, and there are many options on Amazon.com (be sure to access Amazon off the main Beaver Ambassodor Club website).  The better ones are metal or metal sheathed.

Can't answer your second question as we have a different coach model/year, but I'm sure someone here knows.

Joel

[Edward Buker]

John,

Driving just a short distance with an RV or large truck tire that is low will ruin it. The steel wire wound cables in the sidewall are designed to flex as the tire meets the road but there is a tolerance to that flex angle set by the inflation level. When the tire is low the flex angle gets more severe. When you bend steel back and forth too severely it weakens it and it will break. Those cables hold the tire together. If it was a front tire without question I would get it changed and if it was a rear I would have both of the tires on that side at least pulled and closely inspected. The tire shop should have never put you back on the road with that issue. This is an example of some failed cables (below) in the sidewall of my RV tire that had never been under inflated but had a different cause of fail. A fail like this in the industry is referred to as a zipper fail. At these tire pressures the cables are required to hold the tire together. I'm not trying to be an alarmist here, just wanting you and your family to be safe on the road.

Car tires and small truck tires do not have this issue nearly to the extent of an RV tire because steel cables are not needed in the sidewall. The rubber will tolerate more flexing without failing.

Regards Ed

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Classic Zipper Blow Out makes a large boom. I had one at 60 mph and the guy in a delivery truck that was passing me stopped and checked his tires.

[John Padmore]

Thanks for the heads up, I appreciate it. I was going to have the valve looked at but now will take your advice and have them checked.

[Joel Ashley]

John, did you ever find out what the reservoir was you wondered about?  There are a lot of others here with '97 Patriots, so I thought sure they'd answer by now.  You may have to post a separate thread, since this one is titled tire valve extensions.

Joel

[Richard And Babs Ames]

"Also, what is the fluid reservoir next to the windshield washer reservoir.....brake fluid? Thanks..."


Yes, you have air over hydraulic disc brakes and that is the reservoir. It is a dual chamber reservior as ther are two cylinders used to activate the brakes. One front and one rear.  

We got over 100,000 miles out of our brake pads before having to replace the pads front and rear rotors and pads. I would consider that the maximum as we we live in the flat SE US (FL) and the exhaust brake is on all the time except when using the cruise control.

[Tom and Pat Fudale]

The best solution for leaking valve extenders  was to throw them away and get a double foot truck gauge. no more leaks.