Newer 3/4 ton advice?

[zing]

My dash just shows the tires with a low warning and what each tire has for air pressure. I just hit the reset button and change the screen when I get in it. There are no bells or whistles going off. I rarely ever put air in the tires. I haven't put 80 PSI in them in about 2 years since I hauled a load of 3/4 stone home in it.

Mine is the XLT model with no touch screen so what I get is the orange light flashing and the beep beep beep warning, and a line of text that says Low Tire Pressure Warning. I can hit reset but that just makes the text go away and stops any beeping. The Orange light is still flashing on the dash and later on it is going to trip again. I would like to lower the tire pressure for a better ride and better tire wear, but it isn't worth that annoyance every time I drive anywhere.

 

[zing]

The Ford dealer can do the same as can anyone with the Forscan software and a compatible OBD-II reader.

Aaron Z

Exactly, but who is going to take their truck to the dealership to get the TPMS reset every time they tow something or carry a heavy load? People aren't driving around at 80 PSI because they can't read the tire pressure on the door sticker. They are doing it because airing your tires up and down triggers the TPMS and spending 20 minutes walking around your truck with a wifi reader and re-coding the truck computer isn't exactly a user friendly configuration.

 

[zing]

Swapping from my summer to winter tires on my Tacoma & getting them re-learned is enough of a pain already. Co-worker has a cashier's check & it goes on down the road with him this afternoon.

My wife's new Ford Escape actually shows the tire pressures on the dash for all 4 rather than just an alert. In theory you should be able to easily adjust the alert threshold, but I havent looked to see if its possible. But that's still not a super/heavy duty pickup.

Yeah, I deal with the same every winter as well since my winter tires don't have the TPMS valves in them, but it is less of an issue because all that happens is a warning when you start the truck that says TPMS malfunction (or something like that) that can be cleared with the reset button, and an orange idiot light on the dash. It doesn't keep coming back at you while you drive.

Lowering the tire pressure is different because the truck actually (properly) detects it as low tire pressure while you are driving and warns you about it. Repeatedly. Even after you clear it. For multiple tires. I tow my horse trailer about twice a month on the weekends, so I could run with lower pressure most of the time. The boat trailer and utility trailer and not heavy enough to need 80 PSI. The hose from my compressor is long enough to air up in the driveway quite easily, whenever I want. I don't do it though, because the TPMS is too annoying if I do it.

 

[aczlan]

Exactly, but who is going to take their truck to the dealership to get the TPMS reset every time they tow something or carry a heavy load? People aren't driving around at 80 PSI because they can't read the tire pressure on the door sticker. They are doing it because airing your tires up and down triggers the TPMS and spending 20 minutes walking around your truck with a wifi reader and re-coding the truck computer isn't exactly a user friendly configuration.

Most people have a hard time noticing that they have a flat tire adjusting their tire pressure to match what their load is. That is why we have TPMS.
I don't think my Ford (2008 Taurus X) complains about too much pressure in the tires, just when the tires are low, so you could set the alarm pressure to 50PSI and then air them up to 80PSI when needed.
Setting the pressure with the (free) software takes a whole minute-and-a-half, probably less time than it takes to air up the tires.

Aaron Z

 

[AllByteNoBark]

Swapping from my summer to winter tires on my Tacoma & getting them re-learned is enough of a pain already. Co-worker has a cashier's check & it goes on down the road with him this afternoon.

My wife's new Ford Escape actually shows the tire pressures on the dash for all 4 rather than just an alert. In theory you should be able to easily adjust the alert threshold, but I havent looked to see if its possible. But that's still not a super/heavy duty pickup.

So the Tacoma is sold? Have you decided what you are replacing it with or did I just miss that?

 

[zing]

Most people have a hard time noticing that they have a flat tire adjusting their tire pressure to match what their load is. That is why we have TPMS.
I don't think my Ford (2008 Taurus X) complains about too much pressure in the tires, just when the tires are low, so you could set the alarm pressure to 50PSI and then air them up to 80PSI when needed.
Setting the pressure with the (free) software takes a whole minute-and-a-half, probably less time than it takes to air up the tires.

Aaron Z

Do you have a link that describes how to do that?

 

[two_bit_score]

The Ford dealer can do the same as can anyone with the Forscan software and a compatible OBD-II reader.

Aaron Z

Doesn't TPMS mostly work off the difference in tire pressure? If you have one tire that is 34 and the other three are at 36 it will alert you to the low tire. If they are all at 34 you aren't going to get a warning.

 

[Reb954]

That's how my 2017 F250 works, only throws a warning if there is a differential in air pressure from side to side on the same axle.

 

[zing]

That's how my 2017 F250 works, only throws a warning if there is a differential in air pressure from side to side on the same axle.

I wish I could say that was the case with mine. Mine is supposed to be 75 front and 80 rear, so I dropped it to 60 all around and it gave me repeated warnings. Aired up to 65 all around, still warnings. Went back up to 75/80 and everything was happy again.

 

[Code54]

Doesn't TPMS mostly work off the difference in tire pressure? If you have one tire that is 34 and the other three are at 36 it will alert you to the low tire. If they are all at 34 you aren't going to get a warning.

Sounds like it depends on the vehicle. On my 18 Ram 2500 it has a set threshold that when you go below it, it triggers the TPMS. Some of the slight older RAMs (I had a 2012) it had a low pressure button on the dash so if you wanted to drop it down when running empty it would not trigger the system. On my 18 RAM they removed that button for some reason (I thought it as a great idea but I guess others didn't agree). There was also a way to have the dealer drop the pressure setting but on the current RAMs I am told the dealer no longer has access to change the setting.
On my Wrangler I have an aftermarket "box" that I can go in and reset the pressure to trip the light at pretty much any pressure I want. Makes it nice when you have larger aftermarket tires that wear better at slightly lower pressures