Brett,
Thank you for the welcome! Lots of good information available on the Forum.
After I couldn't locate an air chuck outlet in the Generator compartment or engine bay of my Freightliner chassis model 36B, 360 HP Diesel pusher I asked my RV mechanic for help. He couldn't find a factory installed outlet either; and, frankly, he wasn't very interested in installing one for me. Too much work? What ever his reason, he promptly steered me towards solving my problem with a portable compressor. My experience with portable air compressors in the past have left me unimpressed and I'd like to find a more satisfactory fix that won't sacrifice storage space and add weight. Per your recommendation I will check with our local Freightliner service center for advice and maybe have them do a retrofit if feasible and not too expensive.
I like the chassis installation concept, There is a great video on the "RV Geek" web site that demonstrates a home made air chuck manifold that allows for one person tire servicing. The manifold incorporates a "T" connector with a pressure gauge and relief valve and finally an in-line shut off valve. Once the chassis compressor reaches 135 PSI you begin filling the tire while monitoring the in-line pressure gauge. When the in-line pressure gauge drops to the desired tire pressure shut off the air flow to the tire, then using the relief valve bleed off the in-line pressure until the compressor starts and recovers back to desired tire pressure or greater and resume filling the tire. No need now to have someone cycle the air brakes to bleed off pressure to start the compressor. I thought it was pretty slick.
One more question since I've had lot of different opinions on what is the best tire pressure from both web site forums and friends. The placard in my coach says the Cold Inflation Pressure for both the front and dual tires is 120 PSI. Whereas, I keep hearing/reading that most folks use tire pressures much lower between 100-110 PSI. The placard doesn't offer a range of pressure, just a fixed 120 PSI. Another question for Frightliner I guess. Your opinion?
Gwilly
