Etremely Important Please Read!

[MoJoCamping]

We have a 2007 Fleetwood E-2, on our last trip to a 9,000ft elevation camping trip in Southern AZ we had a valve stem just give out on our pu.
We were lucky, it happened at the gas station just before we went up the mountain.  After looking at all the valve stems,(other tire, and spare)we found they were all rotten and too soft for the type of tire on the pu.
Please look at your valve stems, new vehicle or not.  When they give way there is no warning and damage is inevitable.  I told our dealer in Tucson about it so he could check all the new pu's for bad valve stems. They probably mount the tires on the rims, and they just sit in production for who knows how long before you get your pu.

[wavery]

We have a 2007 Fleetwood E-2, on our last trip to a 9,000ft elevation camping trip in Southern AZ we had a valve stem just give out on our pu.
We were lucky, it happened at the gas station just before we went up the mountain.  After looking at all the valve stems,(other tire, and spare)we found they were all rotten and too soft for the type of tire on the pu.
Please look at your valve stems, new vehicle or not.  When they give way there is no warning and damage is inevitable.  I told our dealer in Tucson about it so he could check all the new pu's for bad valve stems. They probably mount the tires on the rims, and they just sit in production for who knows how long before you get your pu.

I hope that you replaced them with steel valve stems .

It's also a good idea to keep an eye on your tire pressure when going to high altitudes. The higher you go, the lower your tire pressure and your tires may run hot and cause tire failure.

[austinado16]

Aren't the steel valve stems req'd in tires that run 80-90psi?

Why would tire pressure inside a sealed tire be lower at altitude?

[flyfisherman]

Thought the steel (or brass once upon a time)  valve stems were required for 55 psi and above?  There are stories of tire failure due to high pressure tires (especially 80 & 90 psi) having the soft stem, low pressure stems instead to the H/P ones. Not only have tire stores  been known to replace tires on a PU with load range "B" tires instead of the load range "C"'s, but also installed the wrong valve stems to boot.



Fly

[zamboni]

The higher you go, the lower your tire pressure and your tires may run hot and cause tire failure.

I don't get it... the higher you go, the lower the ambient air pressure.  Thus, the static pressure in your tire gets HIGHER with respect to the outside air.  This, in turn, means the tire pressure puts more force on the joints, seams, and valve.

Air pressure, at sea level, is about 15 psi (14.7).  Thus, if your tire is 60 PSI, it is 4x outside pressure.

Drive up a darn tall mountain (say, 9000 ft), and your outside air pressure is about 75% of sea level.  So, your 60 PSI in your tire is now 5.5x ambient pressure.

Truthfully, a tire is not designed so much for a specific PSI, but rather for a specific ratio of internal PSI to external.  At sea level, the afore-mentioned tire needs 4x to support its weight (60 PSI).

However, at 9000 feet, it also only needs 4x ambient.  This means it really only needs 4x 11.X PSI, which is about 50 PSI in the tire.

Thus, if you drive a camper whose tire is inflated to the max at sea level, you are WAY overloading it at altitude.

[wavery]

I don't get it... the higher you go, the lower the ambient air pressure.  Thus, the static pressure in your tire gets HIGHER with respect to the outside air.  This, in turn, means the tire pressure puts more force on the joints, seams, and valve.

Air pressure, at sea level, is about 15 psi (14.7).  Thus, if your tire is 60 PSI, it is 4x outside pressure.

Drive up a darn tall mountain (say, 9000 ft), and your outside air pressure is about 75% of sea level.  So, your 60 PSI in your tire is now 5.5x ambient pressure.

Truthfully, a tire is not designed so much for a specific PSI, but rather for a specific ratio of internal PSI to external.  At sea level, the afore-mentioned tire needs 4x to support its weight (60 PSI).

However, at 9000 feet, it also only needs 4x ambient.  This means it really only needs 4x 11.X PSI, which is about 50 PSI in the tire.

Thus, if you drive a camper whose tire is inflated to the max at sea level, you are WAY overloading it at altitude.

You're right.....I was half asleep when I posted that.  :morning: That may explain why the valve stems blew though.

[austinado16]

An 80psi trailer tire is not going to be overloaded at any altitude. Period.  They're not made out of balloon rubber for crying outloud.

One thing that destroys valve stems is centrifical force.  Big factor if you're flogging 12" tires on the freeway.  I'm guess that his were marginal to begin with, plus they were rubber instead of steel, and then they were held flexed toward the rim while he was towing.

If you ever get a chance, check out the wheels on a Porsche 911.  They actually have little "rests" built into the rim so the valve stems can't be flexed outward at high speed.

[Old Goat]

You're right.....I was half asleep when I posted that.  :morning: That may explain why the valve stems blew though.

Wake up Wavery, Your half asleep posts can be dangerous.......

[MoJoCamping]

Well, maybe I didnt explain the story clear enough.  The valve stems are on 15inch rims... 50psi, the valve stem blew out when we were at the bottom of the mountain, altitude had nothing to do with it.  Just too soft of stems for the tire.  Boy, you guys really jump to alot of amusing conclusions!

[flyfisherman]

Well, maybe I didnt explain the story clear enough.  The valve stems are on 15inch rims... 50psi, the valve stem blew out when we were at the bottom of the mountain, altitude had nothing to do with it.  Just too soft of stems for the tire.  Boy, you guys really jump to alot of amusing conclusions!

Well ... thry this:


(A) Maybe the valve stem was just improperly installed in the first place and it took what it took for it to just blow out.

(B) Regardless, make sure you have the steel shanked high pressure stems and you'll never have a problem relating to regular stem failure again ... if that happened to be the problem.

[kimrb266]

When we 1st got our 05 Niagara, we got a flat tire on our trailer.  It ended up being the tire stem.  Luckily, it happened (noticed) while we parked to have lunch.  Very unhappy about our circumstances, DH changed the tire and we were on our way.  The dealer replaced the tire at no charge.

[MoJoCamping]

again, our valve stems were ROTTEN, cracked, dry rot, no good!  All three of them.  I know the solution is to have metal or harder rubber valve stems, but my msg was to people like me who trust the dealer when you buy a new pu, that all is what is supposed to be and you dont have to worry that things like the valve stem are wrong.  I paid so much attention to making sure that the tires had the correct pressure and covered them up when not in use I didnt think to move the valve stem and see if it was showing dry rot, or was too soft.  I just trusted Fleetwood to do the right thing!

[Russinator]

MoJo, thanks for the heads up.

We have the same PU that you have. When we get home from Louisiana I'll check them.

You'd think that I'd already have thought of doing that because the stems on our TV went bad [just as you described].

Thanks again - Russ