Saturday morning we departed Charlottesville VA with the intention of getting home in two days. We planned to stop north of Pittsburgh for the night. We listened to the weather forecast on the radio and concluded that we didn't want to stay overnight with snow falling. So, we pushed on and just before 9PM arrived home - 638 miles for the day.

Before we departed I checked the tire pressures - which had been checked several times over the past week and were also checked by Freightliner when we had service in Gaffney on Wednesday. They said the pressures were a bit high and lowered them. When we fueled at the Flying J at Winchester VA I checked the temperatures with my infra-red thermometer and they seemed OK.

I went out today - 36 hours after yesterday's departure and found the fronts were down from 110 to 100, the outside rears were down to 90ish from 100, BUT I was horrified by the inside rears. One was 50 psi and the other 75. I'm at a loss to explain this. Sure it is much cooler (well, cold) here than VA but that does not explain what has happened.

The tires are, of course, XRV's - and now I'm wondering when I'll dump them for GY's or Toyo's.

Has anyone else experienced this type of air loss? Needless to say it has me worried. I've inflated them back to 105 front and 100 rear (coach now empty) and will be monitoring daily.

......when they checked the pressure they might have had the tire valve stick open slightly....they should use spit to check for valve leakage whenever they check air pressure....this happens all the time if you are useing EQUAL to balance your tires and sometimes it is just dirt/rust that sticks the valve open.....'course it could be 2 nails-how lucky are you anyway?......geofkaye

I'm not using equal - unless factory used it. The strange thing is both major problems were inside tires. Weather is lousy but I'm going to go out to check them shortly.

Don,do you have the valve extenders on your rear inside tires? If you do this could be the problem.
Joe

An Indian and a Gypsy

Yes Joe, I have. I asked FTL to check them last Wednesday since I was losing air on the inside right rear and was wondering if that was the cause. I'm now wondering if he perhaps tightened them - in the wrong direction. I just checked them - down to under 50 psi again in a day. I'm starting to feel very concerned and wondering what to do. Getting at the extenders is not easy. I'm going to go out (it is cold as h*ll now) and try and tighten them. If they continue to drop I'll take them off and see if that makes a difference. If nothing works I'll call CoachNet - but don't really know what can be done on a service call.

Well, they continued to drop from about 100 to the 70 range overnight. I removed the valve extensions this morning, reinflated to 100, now have to wait and see. Not sure what I should do at this point if they drop again.

Is this the kind of thing one can all CoachNet for?

Don, I would assume Coachnet could be called for leaking tire. Their service provides for tire repair. I would ask a couple of questions first though. Can you place some soapy water on the tire valve now that you have the extender off and see if you get air bubbles. If you do, you got a bad main valve on the tire. If you dont, wouldnt it be better, if possible, to drive the rig to a truck tire repair facility.
Since the tires arent going flat immediately,
you shouldnt harm anything if you inflate them and have to drive a short distance.
Mike

If they are losing air now it is much less. The position of the valves makes it VERY difficult to check the pressure on the inside tires. The double headed chuck can't be angled properly. I may take it off and put on a lock on unit I have - but that will mean I'm half under the darn thing.

I took a good look at the extenders and the core in one was pretty corroded - which may explain a past air loss.

Sure hope they are still up in the AM.

I dont know if this will help or not, but they make different angled doble headed chucks. Some are straight on and some have about a 30degree angle. Would that help in being able to check the pressures? Also, can you take a cue tip or something soaked with soapy water and put it in there to see if you get bubbles on the original valves. Another thing you could do I guess is to buy new extenders and put them on so you can measure better and see if they work, if you are suspecting the old extenders.
Mike

I have a long shaft chuck with a slight angled head but it is still a PITA to use without extender. I bougt two new extenders today (still no air loss - I do have two short extenders on - the domed type I took from my fronts so I could add air without killing myself - and they have always worked well) and will install them tomorrow. I may keep a couple of extras handy in case they have a short life span.