Tire Valve Stems

[Diamondpilot]

As many of you may know I have had well more than my fair share of tire issues. I have a friend that has a boat that sits on a trailer sitting on tandem 6,000# axles with 225/75/15 Load range D tires. They are Goodyear Marathons, pure junk.

This spring he had a blow out so he put on the spare and the tire shop said there was another that looked bad. They installed 2 new Greenball Tow Masters and all is fine. Fast forward to yesterday. We are getting ready to take a trip, about 10 boats, 1000 miles of towing so he decided to change the other two Goodyears to Greenballs also. He goes to the tire shop where he got the other 2 a few months back and they no longer sell any trailer tires. They recommend he goes to a competitor down the road. This is where things get interesting.

First off this dealer flat refuses to sell Carlisle and Goodyear because they are just plain junk, same thing I have concluded. Next thing is he said most trailer tire blow outs can be traced back to the valve stems.:confused2:

Here is his take on it. First he says rubber valve stems are only rated to 50psi so Load Range C is the highest load range a rubber valve stem can handle. He said he did a test with a set of Trailer Tires Load Range D using rubber valve stems. He set the pressure to 65psi, the proper rating for the tire. He then drove and keep tabs on the pressure. As he drove and the tires heated up the pressure rose till it got to a point the valve stem started to fail and leak air out. No surprise but as we all know a under inflated tire will fail quickly. This is what he believes happens a vast majority of the time because most installer and customers do not know that the rubber valve stems have a 50psi limit.

He then did the same test with metal valve stems and the tires gained pressure as they heated up but stayed there. No problem because it clearly states to check the pressure cold. So yes, you may start with 65psi but in a few miles it may be 68psi. This is the way things are supposed to happen.

I checked all 3 of my trailers. One has load range C and two have load range D. Only one has metal valve stems. I think I will have the others changed to metal.

I also looked at my F-250, F-350, and Nissan Titan. Both Fords have load range E and metal valve stems and the Titan had load range D has metal also. So all 3 trucks are right.

Can someone educate me on valve stems? Funny that I have bought well over 100 sets of tires in my life, I am only 38, and of that 50 or so were trailer tires for me and my customers, and this is the first I have heard of this.

Chris

 

[Newblue]

A few years back there was a major recall of several million rubber valve stems from China (aren't they all?) I've got a 4x8 trailer that the valve stem would hold 42 pounds or less but over that would let the air out while driving. Good thing it was a light trailer!

 

[ultrarunner]

Tubeless Valve stems have become a real problem in the industry per my tire shop owner friend...

There are some real cheap ones out there...

Metal can last a lifetime... one of my cars has the metal stems from 1930... still on the job.

Tubes are also a problem... I remember getting a box of 50 tubes in at the shop where I worked... they were the same part number I always ordered and I noticed they were separating... upon further investigation... they were now made overseas.

Growing up, things made in Germany and Japan were generally very well made...

The problem we have is that some of the tires we need are only being made in countries like Viet Nam... it's the only game in town.

Domestically, so many of the tires plants have shut down... so imported is what is left.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Where something is made has nothing to do with it. Any country can make any level of product if given the opportunity. The issue is many of these developing countries are so eager for work that they will make products "cheap" to the importers specs. Thats what it all comes down to, the specifications of the importer.

Just look at our domestic manufacturing system. Some products are great and some are pure junk. This is true all over the world.

Chris

 

[ultrarunner]

Where something is made has nothing to do with it. Any country can make any level of product if given the opportunity. The issue is many of these developing countries are so eager for work that they will make products "cheap" to the importers specs. Thats what it all comes down to, the specifications of the importer.

Just look at our domestic manufacturing system. Some products are great and some are pure junk. This is true all over the world.

Chris

I used to believe this... now I'm not so sure...

A while back parts for Model A's were being made in Argentina and India... All of the gears made in India had problems... either they were badly cut... sometimes it was obvious just by looking and none of them were heat treated...

The bearings coming from Argentina also had problems... about the only thing that was usable were the cast-iron exhaust manifolds...

Model A parts were also made in Belgium, Japan and Germany... zero problems with these.

I worked at Tool and Machine Shop and every once in a while, the boss would refuse a job because he said the specifications would lead to an inferior product which would eventually come back on the shop...

The biggest issues were using less expensive steel and skimping on the Heat Treating or not heat treating at all...

Some customers either didn't understand or didn't care...

It is hard to imagine a German or Swiss shop turning out a bad product because this is what the customer wanted... in fact, I think it would be near impossible given the extensive apprenticeship and training involved to become a master tool maker...

There is another factor... if something made by an American Company is inferior and the result is serious bodily injury... that company might well be forced out of business.

I doubt that the importer of recalled children's toys and crockery specified lead... yet, one country has the lion's share of lead recalls.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I used to believe this... now I'm not so sure...

A while back parts for Model A's were being made in Argentina and India... All of the gears made in India had problems... either they were badly cut... sometimes it was obvious just by looking and none of them were heat treated...

The bearings coming from Argentina also had problems... about the only thing that was usable were the cast-iron exhaust manifolds...

Model A parts were also made in Belgium, Japan and Germany... zero problems with these.

I worked at Tool and Machine Shop and every once in a while, the boss would refuse a job because he said the specifications would lead to an inferior product which would eventually come back on the shop...

The biggest issues were using less expensive steel and skimping on the Heat Treating or not heat treating at all...

Some customers either didn't understand or didn't care...

It is hard to imagine a German or Swiss shop turning out a bad product because this is what the customer wanted... in fact, I think it would be near impossible given the extensive apprenticeship and training involved to become a master tool maker...

There is another factor... if something made by an American Company is inferior and the result is serious bodily injury... that company might well be forced out of business.

I doubt that the importer of recalled children's toys and crockery specified lead... yet, one country has the lion's share of lead recalls.

You are saying the same thing I am. Countries that care will not make a crappy product. Countries that don't care will make anything out of anything.

Now back to valve stems. Does anyone know anything about them? I sure don't....

Chris

 

[zzvyb6]

There is not much need any more for high pressure capable valve stems in the U.S. OEM supply because they are all now requited to have TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system modules). Sooooo, the foreign stuff floods the vacuum left behind. In their countries, think of it as population control. In our country, think of it as a lawyer convention. I still buy brass stems and put then into any tire I remount. Long, short and curved ones as necessary, even my 2 gallon garden sprayer has a brass stem good for 120 psi (have to hold in the pressure relief buttom to nab ALL the mosquitoes).

 

[davkir]

I bought a used horse trailer some time ago that had 80 psi tires and rubber valve stems. I was sitting outside one day and heard a "pop" and long high pitched whistle coming from the barn. One of them had let go while sitting in the sun.
I had them replaced with metal and the tire guy said I should use metal on anything more then 30 PSI auto tires.
On the last set of trailer tires I just bought, I had to "request" metal stems and balancing!

 

[JIGBUILDER]

A google on the subject has lots of info about the china made rubber stems from private users to shop mgrs all complaining about cheap offshore rubber stems.

Every trailer I have has the TR600 HP (100 psi) rated rubber stems just like our 2500/3500 size trucks come OEM with.

The TR400 series low pressure rubber stems are 60 psi rated. These are the faulty stems that NHTSA had recalls or the stem manufacturers pulled them from their warehouses.

years back I had five flatdeck/enclosed trailers on the road with 15" and 16" tires and wheels moving my equipment and materials between jobsites in a 8 state area around my state. Lots of tire issues on just about every trip.
My Goodyear truck tire dealer convinced me to dump the ST tires and move up to all LT tires with the high pressure rubber TR600 HP stems. No more ST tire type issues. I tried the metal clamp in stems but moving around the rough worksite would bend or break them off. Rust was a issue also. The TR600 HP would bend and flex when needed.

 

[firedog]

found some good info here:

http://www.techtirerepairs.com/tech_speak/Volume 26 Issue 2.pdf

Quite a few things I didn't know.