Lazy Daze Owners' Group

Re: Tire Pressure Monitering Systems

Reply #25 – July 18, 2014, 01:30:24 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 147450

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I drove and spent years around trucks hauling tall, wide, long, high and  heavy loads. We didn't have all the fancy devices if today.
 We stopped every couple of hours for a pit stop and bounced our tires as  well as being aware using our mirrors and checked our load frequently  while under way.
 Same thing with heave transports driven in the military during deployment. It worked for us for many decades.

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I agree with you to a point. On a tractor trailer there is little damage the tire will do. And the damage will be fixed by the owner of the trailer or the goverment.
 A friend lost a tire over the 4 of July. In his case the tire BLOW. So we do not see where the TPMS would have helped. Damage was about $800 but he was able to fix the damage himself so cost will be about $100.
Damage the exhaust pipe on the MH, bent the exhaust on the Gen. Broke  light in storage boxs. Very small dent to end of door to storage box. Not enough to talk about. And some other minor damage.

Re: Tire Pressure Monitering Systems

Reply #27 – July 18, 2014, 05:53:02 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 147456

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CHANGING SENSOR BATTERIES I had a TireTraker with replaceable batteries and now a TST with the same.  Changing them is easy.  Just unscrew the cap, push out the old battery and slip in the new battery.  Finding the new batteries may take more work.  They both use CR1632 "watch batteries."  I have never found these in a retail store, including RadioShack so ordered them from Amazon.com.  I change mine annually, just like smoke alarm batteries.
 Side note: I had the monitor for my TireTraker replaced 3 times during the 3-year warranty period.  At the 4-year point it failed again.  Also 4 of my 10 sensors no longer would work.  Decided to abandon it and order the 507 System from TST.  The monitor came DOA.  It would not charge the battery. Should receive replacement monitor in a few days.  Hope that it works better and lasts longer.

TIRE THUMPING I thump mine every morning before hitting the road and check the pressure weekly.  I don't use a costly "Flying J Tire Thumper" but the flat face on a $2 ball peen hammer from Harbor Freight Tools. (A few years back we went on an Adventure Caravans RV tour.  One duty of the "tail gunner" was to thump everyone's tires each morning.  He used a golf club - actually a sand wedge - as the long handle would reach under slideouts.  Joan makes a good point:  it isn't the actual sound that results from a thump that  is important, but the fact that both duals sound the same. The tires will sound different based on the ground underneath them.
 I do something else.  Every time we stop, I crouch down behind each set of duals and look at the "sidewall bulges" and the gap between the tires.  The bulges should be almost identical for the tires of a dual pair.  In many cases the inside tire will have a slightly larger bulge as it generally carriers a bit more weight than the outer tire.  After doing this  few thousand times you will get a very good feeling for the actual tire pressures.  (Unfortunately getting down to see the tires is getting more difficult!)

CALIBRATING THE SENSORS Certainly increasing the altitude of your coach will increase the sensed tire pressure.  When coming down the tire sensed tire pressure decreases.  The TireTraker (and maybe others) have a "slow leak check."  The pressures are checked over a 3 minute period.  I can't remember the pressure decrease the triggers the "slow leak alarm."  I do know that going down a 6% grade, at a reasonable speed, from 10,000 feet can cause is to trigger.

Re: Tire Pressure Monitering Systems

Reply #29 – July 18, 2014, 07:13:11 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 147458

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"Every time we stop, I crouch down behind each set of duals and look at the "sidewall bulges" and the gap between the tires."

--- Doug, I do the same, and I agree that the 'up and down' process requires a bit more effort now than it used to! ;-)

Before I get on the road in the morning, besides the tires and wheel check, I do a general walk-around (and fluid levels look) to make sure that nothing is flat, low, hanging, loose, dripping, leaking, and/or 'hiding' under the rig; the usefulness of this procedure has been validated several times!

Joan