Tire Valve Stems - Thank goodness for TPMS

[PSF513]

I have a 2011 Bighorn that is less than a year old. This weekend, traveling from VA to MD, I began to notice both trailer tires on the door side losing air pressure (thank goodness for TPMS). After about 40 miles, 1 tire was down 15 psi & the other was down 22 psi. Concerned that I had picked up road debris, I pulled over, examined the tires, found nothing, checked the pressure with a tire pressure guage, put some air in the tires, and completed my trip. Tires lost about the same pressure (15 & 22) by the time I arrived at camp. Removed tires, took them to a repair shop expecting at least $40 per tire in repairs (or worse, need 2 new tires). Turns out, testing showed both valve stems leaking. The o-rings that seal to the wheel had dry rotted and were leaking. $20.00 later and 2 new valve stems, I returned to camp, replaced the tires, and enjoyed the rest of the weekend.

Anyone else seen this kind of problem? Not sure whether or not to notify Heartland.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Wow! Glad all worked out well for you. Hard to imagine dry rotting valve stem seals on a 2011 trailer. I didn't think the tire/wheel assemblies sat around that long at Heartland.

 

[SouthernNights]

Pete, glad to hear you were able to fix your problem so quickly and it did not cause any problems.

 

[mnkamper]

Pete... glad all is well and the TPMS did it's job! Which TPMS do you have?

 

[SJH]

Our TST saved us also with a leaking valve stem. Ours were simply not tight. The nut had vibrated loose I guess. I assume you have metal valve stems too?

Best Wishes!

 

[boatto5er]

Happy to hear the system did it's job. See you and Deb soon.

 

[jmgratz]

Hope you have metal valve stems because if they are rubber and you put a TPMS sensor on a rubber one it will cause it to fail and leak. I know from experience.

 

[porthole]

What are you going to do about the other two tire/wheels?

 

[PSF513]

Now that we are back, I am going to have our dealer check the other 2. The new valve stems are rubber coated bronze (brass?). I told the reapir facility that they needed to hold 150 psi. Right this minute, I can not remember the name of the TPMS but it is from the company that showed them in Nashville last year.

 

[rvn4fun]

We had a tire that kept losing about 11 pounds of air or so, every few days. Our Pressure Pro notified us each time. I decided to tighten up the valve core and it stopped the leak. No problems in 7 months now.

 

[cookie]

Now that we are back, I am going to have our dealer check the other 2. The new valve stems are rubber coated bronze (brass?). I told the reapir facility that they needed to hold 150 psi. Right this minute, I can not remember the name of the TPMS but it is from the company that showed them in Nashville last year.

If your valve stems are like the ones shown in the attached picture on the left, they are not the ones that you want on your rims when using a TPMS. The rubber mount will flex and fail.
You need the valve stems that are threaded and mount to the wheel with a nut as shown in the pic on the right.

Peace
Dave