New Tires

[five]

Last week I had eight new tires put on.  Two 315/80 Continentals on the front and six 295/80 Toyos on the rear.  Today I was checking the tire pressures and noticed that the  two valves for the street side duallys are adjacent rather than directly across from each other.  This is my third dually, and the first time I've seen the tire guys not put the valve stems across from each other.  I realize there is not much weight involved with two air valves on about 250 pounds of tire, but was curious as to whether this is an acceptable way of installation.  Comments appreciated.  Thanks.

[wildebill308]

I should be interesting to see what the experts say. I would think if both tires are balanced it shouldn't make any difference.

Bill

[rayin]

For easier access they should be 180° apart. That is SOP for any vehicle with dual wheels. For instance, Alcoa aluminum rims have 2" holes to access valve stems, imagine 2 at the same 2" hole.

I once bought tires for my dually at Sams Club. When I picked it up the stems were in the same hole in the outer rim. I requested they move them 180° apart and the manager argued with me. I went home, printed out the documentation from a truck tire website and returned. He just looked at me, turned to a worker and instructed him to rotate the outer wheel. I've never even thought about buying tires from Sams Club since.

[richard5933]

I'd have them re-clocked (rotated), if nothing else to make it comply with what seems to be the industry standard. It will be more difficult to get to the inner valve stems for checking/filling air pressure as well.

[jleamont]

Five, that lack of attention to detail would be a big concern of mine. If they cannot clock the wheels properly did they follow the other more critical steps, which are harder to perform; 

• Cleaning the hub flange and landings
• Two drops of oil on the attached washer on the lug nut, rotate the washer to spread the oil
• Clean the wheel mating surfaces
• Properly torqued

I would have them re-clocked ASAP, which at that point have them fully removed and make sure the items above were addressed. You don't want your wheels to pass you on the highway!

If anyone of the steps above are not addressed at the time of installation you increase the risk of a "wheel off" situation.

[tireman9]

I am not aware of any technical reason to have valves at 180 degrees as long as the hand hole is large enough to allow easy access and to allow grasping the valve or valve extension so as to not overload the valve mount in the wheel.

I would be surprised if the balance was compromised out of spec.

 

jlemont's list is good one but be careful with the oil near the lug nut as lubricating the threads could cause over-torquing the lugnut as I covered in my blog post.

[five]

I appreciate all the responses to my question.  As noted, my previous experience has been like most of yours, all my previous duallies have had the valves directly opposite and across from each other.  Having said that, Monday morning I called Michelin, Continental and Toyo.  All agreed with tireman9 that the position of the two air valves is irrelevant.  One engineer at Toyo explained that weight/balance is not an issue and as long as there are no kinks in the inner dually extension, and both are easily accessible to check the tire pressure....and add air if necessary, the valves can be anywhere.  Then I went to the shop that installed the tires, a national company, and told the the shop foreman I just had some RV tires installed and asked how the valves were usually located when installing dually tires.  He never hesitated and said, "across from each other."  I told him about my tires and the location of the valves...I took the MH in today and they moved the outside dually so the valves are now across from each other.  Maybe a wasted effort, but at least they did not charge me.  However, upon getting back to where I store the MH, being the old pilot I am, I checked the company's work.  The entire dually hub was about to fall off, it had never been other than hand tightened.  I tightened it with a strap wrench.  It seems to be getting more difficult to find competent service providers in all types of work.
 

[rayin]

Most tires have red an yellow dots on them, why- to indicate the high/low points of the tire for easier balancing. Today this is not as important as decades ago, due to advances in rim design and manufacturing, same for tires. It still however, may mean a difference in balancing effort required for truck tires.