Nitro in tires

When I got my used 2500 HD diesel it had nitro in the tires. Never having had nitro before I was curious what you should do if you lose some tire pressure and there isn't any at the local service station. Can you mix air with nitro or do you have to let all of the nitro out and replace it with air.
While I am at it , I am also confused about the water heater in the 3250. The owners manual speaks to gas but it looks to me like it runs off either gas or electric. Is there an easy way to tell for sure? We used the 3250 for the first time last week and it was cold and rainy. I can say for sure we have no leaks.
FYI: We got 10 mpg in the mountains and 10.3 mpg on the flats land in Florida.
 

BozRazor

Member
Can mix Nitro with regular air...don't really see the reason for going with nitro, been in the AirForce 18 years and that's what we use in our aircraft tires, supposedly more temperature stable. We always have to service all our tires when the temperatures get colder, I think the dealers are using this as a gimmick.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Air is composed of 78.09% nitrogen, so you can just add air to your tires if needed.
Your Big Country will have a water heater that runs of LP and 120 volt AC.

Peace
Dave
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
If you're still not sure about the water heater, this recent thread may help.

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.ph...n-a-2011-24RBS?p=172333&highlight=#post172333

The only time I had nitrogen in the tires was after buying a new set for the wife's former vehicle at a tire store. Big ta-do about the advantages of it. Yeah, sure. Just add air when you need it.
 

rustyshakelford

Well-known member
I think his new to him truck came with nitrogen in the tires! As mentioned, no issue adding air from a standard compressor to your tires!

Brett
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
There should be a house type switch in the front door closet with a "red" knob on it. Thats the elecric water heater switch. Always make sure the water heater tank is full of water before you use the 110V heater switch. If you need quick hot water recovery...you can run the water heater on both 110V and gas at the same time. Then go back to 110V to save propane.

The "nitro" thing is a "go green" gimmick. The only "nitro" I like is ran in race car's.
 

porthole

Retired
Nitro in the tires- waste of time and money - unless your running NASCAR or something similar.

I'm with Bob - Nitro belongs in race cars, model airplanes and RC cars!

Hey Bob - did you notice the first two cars in the link - I'd bet a 6 pack that the AA/FD is running alky and not nitro..
And remember when these cars were current using traction compound and bleach?

The youngsters will never get to smell nitro, burnt rubber, bleach and the traction compounds.
 

branson4020

Icantre Member
Man I'm really glad you hijacked this thead - way more fun. But, lest anyone be confused. Drag buggies run on nitromethane. Tires can be inflated with nitrogen. Nitrogen is to nitromethane as a lighting bug is to lighting.
 

Manzan

Well-known member
I bought new tires from Costco for my Suburban last year and they put nitrogen in them. The seem to run a bit cooler and don't lose any except when I check the pressure. Costco adjusts the pressure at no charge so I get them topped off before leaving on a trip. Does not cost me more, and as previously stated, it is dry so no moisture to rot things out.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Duane, your probably right. I have taken my kids to the drags so they could see front engine fueler's run along with AA/GS, AA/FA. If you notice also that most of the "fuelers" start on alcohol and then they switch to nitro. It's a shame that they don't run at night anymore. In the old days you never knew who won. You couldn't see until the lites came on at the traps. All you saw was FIRE and TIRE smoke. At Lions, the stands were on the starting line and maybe 10' from the track. Most of the time our eyes were full of nitro....but it was fun. YEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAA

As to the "bleach" thing. There never was any bleach in the plastic jugs. It was just water in a "bleach" jug. The "bleach box" name was just a joke. I wouldn't want bleach, hot water and rubber thrown in my face.

Duane, show this video to all your kids. This is the best one I could find with the "FIRE AN SMOKE" in a night run. Look at the time Mike ran in the car. WOW BTW, the OLD raggity Dodge truck is "mousie's". As far as I know he still tow's the "wing" with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFOmGkv6Dn8

BTW, did you go on the link and find your old stomping grounds??
 
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irvin56

Well-known member
Nitro and drag races. WOW WOW WOW. We had them up in Calgary every yr for a bunch of years. Grand stands were full for the whole weekend. The cost to bring them across border was getting to high, so racecity stopped it.
I was working the waterbox and starter line. The ground shook when those cars and rails come up. nothing like the smell of nitro in your cloths for the rest of the weekend. (we camped there, even though we lived in town) Still miss them. We had the night races also. Noise bylaw stated, we had to shut down by 10:00 pm and run just quiet cars . so we always had the last runs at 9: 30 - 9:55 that was our nights of fire.
 

porthole

Retired
Bob - one of the videos I posted on the other thread we hijacked had the classic example of firing up on alky and then switching over. Fuel just changes everything.

The give away on the video with the the two front engine AA/FD was not only the sound but the "pre reving" before the lights Alky cars tend to launch at 8-10000 rpm.
I'm not sure what link you are referring too. Although I do watch many of the clips from my local tracks and some of the the classic strips from around the country. Bakersfield being my favorite west coast track.

"wild Will Borsch", another crazy FA driver.

BTW - bleach was alive and kicking here on the east coast. At first I ddin't care fo rthe water only rule, but in hind sight it was a good move - no more secret formulas.
Like I said before, I got to go to the track with my neighbor who was a track tech inspector. That gave me access to the whole track. Even got on the starting line many times. The burnout box use to be like molasses with all the different "secret juices" the drivers were using.
 

rebootsemi

Well-known member
Porthole,
Do you remember when they used to do fire burn outs? Don't know if that little trick made it to the east coast. Lions in Long Beach, Ca was supposed to be the fastest track in the country because of the real dense air we had there at night. First went in 64 until 72 when they closed up due to the neighbors complaining of the noise, if you were on the pit side close to the starting line, you were so close to the track that a AA/D car would blow your hat off.
 

porthole

Retired
I posted that video in the other thread- one of my favorites too.
At the 1:50 mark is where they switch over to "nitro". There is no mistaking the difference in fuel being used after the switch.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Lee, I can't count how many Saturday nights my buddies and I spent at Lions. Sitting in the pit side bleachers was always interesting. If a car blew a clutch or anything...you were in the line of fire. Saw many a clutch assemblys leave a car and go shooting over the stands.....sparks and all. One night a 55 Chevy blew a clutch at the line. The flywheel and clutch came up through the dash and top. WHOOOPIE. Another night Art Arfons had the jet powered "green monster" there. We were standing behing the fence in the pits when he hit the after burner......there were cardboard boxes and dirt flying everywhere.

Lee, did you ever see the metallic blue 34 ford tudor that had the allison in it run? Had mail slots for windows. I even remember when Don Perdohm was just a driver for Keith Black and the car was gold metallic not black. Eyes full of nitro and ears ringing when they left the line. I think my favorite car to see run was the Stone-Woods-Cook AA/GS. Well besides the "Wing". How about the twin engine cars....Howards Cams, Herberts Cams and the "train". The saying at that time was "if you want to go fast...go the the beach". Those were sure fun times.
 
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