2016 Rams and up with TPMS

szewczyk_john

Well-known member
SO for the past 2 weeks I have been trying to get to the bottom of this issue. My new 2017 Ram has a factory installed TPMS with the sensors mounted inside the ties and attached to the valve stem. The first MOD I ever made was installing the TST 507 TPMS for my old Ram and 5th wheel. It has saved me twice and I want to install it on the new truck. My truck has polished front wheels, polished rear outer wheels and steel inner wheels. The polished front and rear have metal valve stems, the steel wheels have rubber. You can not change out the steel sensors. Ram service manager told me that he is not permitted to remove a sensor and that if I did it, the stock system would continue to flash and illuminate the warning system as it continues to search for a signal that it will never find.

Next I went to my tire dealer who also does commercial trucks. He repeated the fact that he is not legally allowed to remove that sensor. I asked him to drill a new hole in the steel wheel and to instal a second valve stem and to make it a metal one. He stated that he can not do that either. Not enough flat spot on the wheel and that it would place a tremendous amount of stress on the wheel having a second hole drilled into it. Especially so with so much weight being able to be placed on to the wheels from the payload. He is a family business that has been in place for decades and very knowledgable. He claimed that this very subject was discussed at his last training seminar that he attended.

So the other day he calls me back and tells me that he reached out to a Ram regional person and that he suggested that I use the factory system for the truck and the TST for the 5ht wheel only. He stated that the sensors that have the metal stems are also not made for the extra weight of the TST sensor. The Ram rep he spoke to stated that the new sensors could develop a wiggle and that the stems are aluminum. they are afraid that the stems could end up failing and then you would have to replace the factory sensor. These sensors are new to the 26 and 17 model years and are supposed to be the most accurate system offered.

I called the TDR guys at Geno's garage and they had no help either. They even stated that I was the first call they ever got about the TPMS or the valve stems.

My first trip of the year is coming up in 2.5 weeks to go to Martinsville. I plan on following the advice of my tire guy as he never let me down before. I will set my cruise control and then switch the screen over to the tire pressure screen so that I can monitor the pressure as I am driving. Thought that I would pass this info along to the others in the group.
 

JMP

Active Member
John - I have a 2016 RAM 3500 DRW 4.1 Limited. I have not experienced any issues with the stock TPMS. What are the stock TPMS issues on the 2016/2017 models?
 

szewczyk_john

Well-known member
I am not stating that their is any issue with the stock system. It is my stated desire to use both the stock system and the TST system when pulling the 5th wheel. The 507 system saved me twice. Once was when I picked up an automotive body screw which had the tire deflating and the second was a high temperature alarm which allowed me to see a bubble on the tire. The stock system is only a pressure monitor, it does not monitor temperature.

The more I looked into this the worse it got.

The other piece I left out of the original post, is that I also bought an extended warranty and service agreement. Everything on my truck is covered except for glass, body panels and wearable brake part. Everything else is covered including tires and wheels for 7 years/100,000 miles. I was also told that any modification I do will void the wheel and tire coverage. Something as simple as turning the valve stem on the outer rear tires is a pain in the ***. since the stem is connected to the sensor, the dealer advised me that the might not be able to turn the stem 180 degrees because of the way the sensor sits.

SO I am going to run the stock system on the truck and the 507s on the trailer.
 

JWalker

Northeast Region Director-Retired
John,
Same thing here. Have the TST 10 sensor system. When we picked up the new truck, I debated on how to handle monitoring the truck tire pressure. Installing the sensors on the truck or just using the factory monitoring system. The most important benefit of the TST system was monitoring the trailer tires. In most cases, if something happens back there, you don't know it until it's too late. So that was priority #1. Every once in awhile going down the road, I will switch the screen over to the tire pressure monitoring screen and see where the temperatures are running on the truck. And go back to my standard screen.

On a sidenote, we were at a rally where a TST rep was there having a seminar. Talking with him, He said that the 507 system is lighter than the 510 system. And if you take the security caps off, it cuts the weight dramatically. He also said that they've had a great success running the 507s without the security caps on regular rubber stems. So I took the security caps off and placed all six sensors on the trucks standard rubber valve stems. No problems for almost 4 years. Nearly 20k miles. Might just do it on the new truck. BUT, the TST manual says to use metal stems. So just a warning.......
 

wehavefun

Well-known member
I was considering doing the same thing with mine, the Dodge dealer says they are aluminum lined valve stems, so there is additional strength there.

They also make internal sensors that are placed inside the wheel and have a band that holds them secure to the wheel.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 

szewczyk_john

Well-known member
The only band or support mechanism I found was by Wheel Masters and it is for 16 inch wheels. Rams have 17 inch wheels. IF you know of a support for 17 inch wheels please share a link or some info.
 

Rollin_Free

Well-known member
Last year I had a discussion with TST about the internal sensors that use the band. They said they are switching to them because of issues with tire techs getting the stem mounted ones too tight and causing leaks or failures of the sensors. I didn't ask them however what the range of wheel sizes are that the band could be used on.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    45.5 KB · Views: 36
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    59.9 KB · Views: 42

farside291

Well-known member
One other note of importance, my 2016 Ram Longhorn 3500 dually, does not have a TPMS. It has a TPIS, with the key emphasis on Indicating System not Monitoring System. On my list of options it has TPMS Delete.Yours may be the same, not sure if it has to do with the dual wheels. I can still view all six tire pressures, there just isn't a warning for low pressure. If you remove a sensor from the circuit you will eventually get a warning to check the TPIS.
 

TajMyhaul

Active Member
Where does one find a manual for the TPMS monitor in the cab? I have a 2012 set of 10 valve stem sensors on a Ford F-450 duelly & dual axle LandMark Mesa. I had to replace all 4 rubber washers inside the rims of the 4 wheels on the land mark due to air leaking out. I assume there are batteries inside each sensor & need to understand replacement procedure. I assume the batteries are getting weak because I can't get the monitor to quit beeping even when all setting are correct. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Where does one find a manual for the TPMS monitor in the cab? I have a 2012 set of 10 valve stem sensors on a Ford F-450 duelly & dual axle LandMark Mesa. I had to replace all 4 rubber washers inside the rims of the 4 wheels on the land mark due to air leaking out. I assume there are batteries inside each sensor & need to understand replacement procedure. I assume the batteries are getting weak because I can't get the monitor to quit beeping even when all setting are correct. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are you asking about a Ford TPMS, or a third party brand like TST or Valor?
 

TajMyhaul

Active Member
Not a Ford System, there aren't any initials on the monitor or the sensors on each valve stems. The number on the back of the monitor is 511 & on truck valve stem sensor IL-6 5113


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Top