tireman9

No matter the brand you select I recommend that people be sure to research the warranty and to research the dealer network. If you have an issue and need to check with a dealer will you be able to find one? Have you considered the value of selecting a brand tire that is carried by a dealer network of say 500 to 1,000 dealers across the US? or do you really feel comfortable buying from a single outlet location like "Billy-Jo-Bob Cheep tire Emporium and bait sttore"?

OK lets start at the basics. Your chassis is basically a LT not a real "heavy truck" so the valve hole in the wheels is smaller than the hole size in 22.5 "truck" wheels. Now that we know that we are looking for LT style metal valves. I did a Google search on "bolt in metal tire valves" then selected IMAGES. I note a number on valves that have various angles. Of course the other option is to use a standard straight bolt in valve and to get a "dual foot" or "dual chuck" tire inflation extension. Visit Harbor Freight and search on "air chuck" Now I don't know if you have on-board air available on your RV. If you do then with a little planning you can assemble your own tire inflation system. The other thing to do is to inflate your tires to 10% more than the minimum you need for tha actual load. With this extra margin you should be able to go a few months before you need to add any air to your tires.

Wayne, Some of the newer OE TPMS sensors have what appears to be a "snap-in" rubber valve but in fact there is a solid brass core. If you press lightly sideways on the end of the stem I think you will see that the stem does not bend. This type of valve sensor looks like this. The original aluminum design sensors were bolt in which took time ($$$) to install so there was a concerted effort I think if you contact your local Ford dealer and ask for a price on a replacement valve stem. if the price is in the $40 to $80 range then you definately do not have a standard rubber stem and should not worry about installing an aftermarket "cap" style sensor. RE 90 degree fitting. Not aware of this type of fitting that will solve your clearance issue. This is one of the down sides to the "Big Wheel" look that comes on many image vehicles today. .

Thanks for idea. For some reason I never thought of them

Rich, Thanks for input. BretT by your comments am I to assume the pedestal from Flexsteel only rotates?

We have a Coachmen Class-C MH built on a 2007 Chevy cut-away van chassis. We like the OE GM captain seats but would like to be able to swivel the passenger seat to face rearward when parked as that would give more comfortable seating than at the table bench seating. The seat back is close to the "B" pillar so the center of rotation would need to be off-set or the seat would need to slide toward the center of the chassis I think. Has anyone done this modification? If so where did you get the swivel base?

If you can't handle replacing all the tires with an unknown history changing the two fronts is a reasonable alternative plan. I have a post on my blog on how to do a "rolling change" to soften the blow on your wallet.

Do a Google search on "image resizer" there are a number of similar utilities. With this program you can simply right click on the photo file you want to reduce in size and select the output you want. File size can be reduced by 50 to 80% with no visually noticeable change in the image. RE tire pressure check. Hammer test has been proven to be off by 20 to 40% in controlled tests. Checking with a hand gauge only tells you how much air is in the tire at the time of the check. I liken this to opening the hood and checking oil level. If you do that there is no need for an oil pressure gauge or water temperature gauge on the dash. Would you feel comfortable with no engine monitoring instruments?

The concept of "limping" on one of a pair of duals if you have one dual fail, seems reasonable unless you ask yourself about essentially destroying the 2nd tire. Now it's important to remember that if you have a dual fail and were not running a TPMS, so you were alerted to stop as soon as one tire started to loose air, in all probability you have done significant damage to what was the tire that did not initially fail. The tire that still has air cannot properly support the 100% overload and driving at any speed much over 2 mph will result in damage that will eventually prove "fatal" to that tire. While there are some situations where the importance of getting to a safer location is more important that the cost of a tire, it's just important that you understand the consequences of your decisions.

It may be easier to have the flat screen material "shields" on Class-A coaches and based on the data I collected at Redmond they seem to provide good protection from extra heat from the sun and the mesh screen allows additional air to circulate. RE covers that go over a tire there are a number of different styles. Some seem to be like bags, others have straps and velcro and some just kind of "hook" over the top of the tire On my Class-C the slip over the top go on & off easy I have never noticed any condensation on hte tires. These covers are vinyl but have a fiber backing the consistency of fiberglass but seem to be made of some material like polyester so there would be some air circulation, My main concern would be black solid vinyl covers. These might even be worse than no cover as the tire would get hot and there would be no air circulation which you would have with no cover.

I would doubt that you would ever hear a real tire engineer use the term "Dry Rot" in a report on the reason for a tire failure. The American Trucking Association has a Technology & Maintenance Council that publishes a guide "Radial Tire Conditions Analysis Guide" and the term DRY Rot does not appear in the 146 pg guide. Sidewall cracking is an "Indicting Symptom" not a root cause of tire failure much as when you run a temperature. That is just an indicator to a Medical Professional that there is most likely an infection. Sidewall cracking is an indicator of the tires exposure to general use, heat, UV and Ozone. Michelin even has a guide and clearly simply having some smaller cracks does not indicate the tire has failed. Note if you print off the guide it is important to have the correct scale. The total height of the guide is 5-3/4" from top of top image to bottom of bottom image.

RE video. Yes they were lucky. Have to wonder if we will ever hear more facts such as Was there a TPMS? Had the owner confirmed front axle load and tire pressure? Was his gauge accurate? When a tire chucks a piece out there clearly was something wrong just before the failure. The problem IMO is that few every do proper investigation once they see a failed tire. Simply saying the accident was "caused" by a tire failure is not much different than saying the person's injury was "caused" by flying in an airplane. Leaving out the information that the person was a soldier and the plane took him to Syria/ Iraq/ Afghanistan etc.

Plastic caps are probably fine for passenger tire applications. Metal caps with soft rubber O-Ring gaskets also work fine for higher pressure applications. The primary purpose of a cap is to keep dirt out of the valve core area. Too often people think that if they have an air leak just "cranking" down will stop the leak. Well tire valves do not work like water valves. Over tightening the core will not stop a leak and most likely will make it worse by splitting the seal on the core. Here is a post on why valves may leak. Rubber valves are rated for applications less than 60 psi Valves are not just little rubber things Rubber seals in valve caps and around the bolt in valve stems get old and can leak which may lead to a tire failure. If you have metal caps just finger tight (where you feel the seal contacting the stem) + 1/4 turn is plenty tight. Caps are cheep. Get new ones whenever you change tires or maybe every 5 years.

Had a thought. There is a difference between Measurable and Meaningful. In fact I did a blog post just on this topic. But here is a simple test anyone here can do. Stop at a tire store and ask for a couple of old 3 OZ weights. They should be willing to sell you a couple for a buck or even for free . Next drive to your test road. It needs to be smooth and flat. Then slap both of the weights on one spot of a front rim. You don't need the special hammer just use a piece of Duct-Tape to hold them on a flat portion of the rim. ( be sure the wheel is clean and dry so the tape sticks well. Be sure to use plenty of tape as we don't want the weights to come off at 50 mph. I just used one piece to help you understnad what I am talking about. I would use more tape if I were doing the test. Now drive sown your smooth test road. Do you really feel the difference between no weights and weights? If not you know that being out of balance by 6 OZ is not meaningful. You could even do the same test with one weight and then with no weights. Ideally the driver would NOT be the person applying weights so the test could be run "blind" and the driver not knowing when one, two or no weights were used. I have seen some data that would suggest the primary reason for ride disturbance on Large RVs is out of round. This can be tires, wheels, hub, centering of the wheel on the hub and even incomplete seating of the tire on the rim. Sometimes you can "fix" a ride problem by simply removing the wheel and rotating it two bolt holes and re-attaching the tire/wheel assembly to the hub. Before I got all wound up on being 1/2 oz out of balance I would confirm the tire is round to within 0.060" inch. If not I would get that fixed first.

I understand the two basic designs of hose extenders. One is pressurized as it opens the valve core on the stem that is bolted through the wheel. This type can be used with an external TPM sensor at the outer end of the hose or with a "flow-thru" type TPM sensor attached to the bolt in valve and then the hose running out to allow air to be added to the tire. The second system has a hose with a flexible "rod" on the inside which opens the valve core in the valve bolted to the wheel. This hose is not pressurized except when measuring tire pressure. BUT if you attach an external sensor to the outer end it must depress the "rod" and then pressurize the hose for the sensor to provide a reading. A "flow-thru" sensor could also be used with this system if it is placed on the valve stem with the non-pressurized hose connecting to the outer end of the flow thru sensor. Since this is the hose you have I believe you need to use flow-thru TPM sensors so this might limit your choices. If properly installed I see no reason for either system to work Now it is of course that either design could have detail features such as better quality hose or "O-Rings" or attaching points of hose to fittings but without doing detailed examination of specific product and possibly conduction some testing so I would not call one any "better" than the other. RE "DOT Approved" While I have not done research on the specific question of hose extenders, I do understand the "DOT Approval" of tires. This is a very common misunderstanding of how DOT works. They write rules and regulations and test procedures to be used by a manufacturer when they want to certify a tire or other component as meeting DOT regulations. To my knowledge DOT does not approve specific products. It is the manufacturer who "certifies" that a product would pass all DOT test requirements, if it were tested. For example, I have seen plastic brake light lenses with "DOT" on them. To me this is nothing more than an indication by the manufacturing company that the lens is "certified" by the manufacture to pass the appropriate DOT standards.

I guess all you can do is point out to the dealer that he needs to get his salesmen educated on RV tires. You also now have some knowledge that you can share with friends or others that talk with you about buying a used RV.

If you have a poor ride it may not be an out of balance issue but an Out of Round issue. Don't forget its possible to "balance" a cinder block. My tires were balanced when new and weights added. No noticeable vibration with the addition on both internal and external TPMS and hose extenders on rear 4 tires with no change in the original weights.

Not a good idea. I believe RMA has a statement against using it. Moisture in antifreeze can attack the steel in belts and body of tire and of steel wheels.

Found a 2 part epoxy from 3M #8115 that will bond with LDPE. Will look into the flame prep as extra insurance. Think I will do a test panel.

Am trying to do a repair on the black tank but it appears the tank is not ABS but some other type of plastic. How do I glue ABS to the tank? 2008 Coachmen Freelander. Dump valves not installed correctly so handles pointed down and have been broken twice by road debris. So am replacing valves & lines. Have ABS pipe & fittings to go from tank to new valves and while removing old ABS pipe it appears the neck of the tank is NOT ABS as it doesn't melt like ABS does from heat of the saw or soften when ABS solvent glue is applied. So now I have a real problem as I have no idea how to properly glue ABS fittings or reinforcement panel tot he side of the tank. Coachmen did glue some ABS pipe into the tank but the glue they uses didn't fuse the tank plastic. Ideas appreciated as it appears my only option now is a new tank assuming I can get one as I find nothing similar in size & shape from businesses selling holding tanks and there is no identifiable part number on the tank. This job is going downhill fast. help is needed.

When I bought my Coachmen Class-C I discovered the front was out of align from the factory. I used the old Internet search for "truck alignment". Even though it is on a Chevy C3500 chassis the whole thing is a bit too big for the local Chevy dealer to handle. Found a local "Heavy Duty Truck Alignment" shop and they quickly got the front end fixed. Now being a Chevy that make is pretty standard for them MB may not be so easy so I would spend some time talking with the shop first.

I know of no technical reason for some tires to gain pressure other than an increase in temperature. Please remember that TPMS are primarily a warning system for air pressure loss. When doing pressure testing I use a set of three digital gages. These gages have been tested against ISO certified laboratory gauges and found to be accurate to +/- 0.5 psi which is their smallest reading. I have tested 12 different TPM sensors and have found them to be "accurate" relative to my test instruments within +/- 2 psi. More importantly I have found the TPM sensors to be repetitive to within +/- 1 psi. SO I guess what I am saying is that once you set your COLD pressure using your "Master" digital gauge and then screw on the TPM sensor you can look at the TPM reading and use that as your base.

Sorry the info didn't work out for you. The sales side of the RV industry IMO treats tires as the least desirable thing to talk about when they are trying to make a sale. It is also true that the guy on the floor may know little or nothing about tires. After all he may have been selling cars last month. Not all RV publications do prospective owners any favors either. I just saw an article on affordabley priced, entry level Class-A units (~$100k). They gave some facts and included GVWR but didn't bother with the more important IMO CCC or Cargo Carrying Capacity. What good is it to know your GVWR is 18,000# if the CCC is only 800# when a different RV might have a GVWR of 16,000# but might have a CCC of 1,200#. A quick check on-line and I note that few brochures offer this important figure to the prospective buyer.

Mike Have you learned how to find and read the DOT serial of your tires? ALL tires have a full serial but most only have it on one side of the tire. The receipt should have the FULL 11 or 12 character serial for each tire written on on it. If there is ever a recall the DOT serial is what you need to know to learn if your tires are under a recall or not. Get and KEEP this information where you can find it. RE your load situation. IMO it looks like the dealer failed to adequately warn you of the small load capacity of this unit. Of course I think some dealers either have no idea of what feature is important and are more interested in making the sale so just talk about the "Bling", lights and mirrors and simply have no idea about load capacity or don't want to tell the prospective buyer. Now what to do? The only thing I can suggest is to off load more of the stuff you carry. Don't know where the water tank is but maybe you need to cut back on how much fresh water you carry and plan on needing water hook-up every night camping. Holding tanks probably need to be emptied every time you leave a campground. The tongue weight of the trailer could be 50# or it could be 250# check it out. Good luck. This might not be good news but at least you know you need to do some work which is better than not knowing and having a tire problem down the road.

A general comment on tire overloading on long Class-C RVs. ie over 28' in length. In my opinion.... As RV assemblers move to longer and longer "Class-C" RVs it appears they may be compromising the original design intent and limits of the chassis manufacturer (Ford or Chevy). Extending the wheel base will definitely increase the loading and if not done correctly, will result in not only a loss of total load capacity but hamper the ability of the owner to carry the clothes and other "stuff" they want to take along. If you own a Class-C longer than 28' or have a friend who does, you can do both you and your friend a favor by ensuring you have the capacity to carry the load you want. When selling the "bling" there are not many RV dealers that are willing to loose a potential sale by pointing out a low or limited load capacity. Some may not be aware of modifications to the original chassis which might contribute to future difficulties such as overloaded tires or driveshaft issues or possible tire "kissing" problems. Did a bit of research and find a LT225/70R19.5 listed for current F450. While these might provide more tire capacity they will not increase the GAWR which may be the limiting factor.