Valve Stem Blues

cperky · Jul 3, 2008

Well ,my trailer is now three months old and I had to have the valve stems replaced on all four tires today. I was going to be hauling a heavy load of rocks so I went out to check my pressures before leaving. Two tires were fine but two were a little low. I grabbed the air hose and pumped them up, when I removed the hose I heard a hissing sound ,went to the other low tire and same thing, removed the hose and it was hissing. I went to get to the tire shop and they said the stems had dry rotted. They said the tires were fine and obviously new but the stems were not. I had all four replaced for peace of mind and hauled my rocks. I started wondering how a new tire has bad stems. Any Thoughts?

JESSE1 · Jul 4, 2008

The valve stems probably came from a different company that made the tires. Maybe a bad batch of valve stems, no doubt came from China.

QRTRHRS · Jul 4, 2008

Good time to replace them with steel valve stems.

smitty9266 · Jul 4, 2008

just so you don't feel alone....I have the same problem on my dump trailer that is a year old rotten stems....

Jeff

LoneCowboy · Jul 4, 2008

$20 says "made in china"
[puke]

Skyco · Jul 4, 2008

Just went through the same thing with my car/tractor trailer....about 4 years old, tires are chinese and so far are holding up ok, valve stems were shot. Replaced all 4 valve stems myself, took a wheel off, broke the bread with a farm jack under the trailer tongue, cut the old stem off and pulled a new in, note the tires weren't demounted completely, just used the farm jack on the sidewall of the tire with it flat on the gorund, to push down the tire off the bead next to the valve stem, reached in and inserted a new one, the little cable valve stem yanker things are handy for this. About an hour to do all 4. IOW quicker to DIY than take it somewhere and pay them to do it....

I also bought 4 new Goodyear Marathon radial tire/wheels for another trailer last week and dang it- the Goodyears are now made in china too

texasjohn · Jul 4, 2008

wow.... I've actually never had a valve stem leak... you guys got me worried now... I've got probably 50 tires on the ground between tractor, several cars, stock trailer, flatbed, hay trailer, dump trailer, etc....

So, what is the wonderful brand of valve stem to acquire so this doesn't happen??

cperky · Jul 5, 2008

QRTRHRS said:
Good time to replace them with steel valve stems.

Wish I had thought of that before I had them replaced!! Cost me $25 dollars

but was done in about 15 minutes and I still got my work done.

Skyco · Jul 5, 2008

Those steel or metal valve stems are hard to find in my area. They are an absolute requirement for high pressure tires like on my truck (85PSI) and dump trailer (110 PSI) , although many tire places don't have them and seem ignorant of the fact they exist and are supposed to be used in high pressure tires. So much for "tire professionals"

Sort of like the local Sam's Club tire department that never uses the right weights on my truck rims so as a result they fly off. Turns out there are many weight configurations for different rims, but they just have a couple on hand, but they are "professionals" so they know best

BTW the valve stems I replaced weren't leaking but I noticed when checking air in a tire as I flexed them over a little pressing the tire gauge on they had cracks all around them..figured it was just a matter of time before one started leaking.

Here is an article I stumbled across about faulty chinese valve stems, they crack as I mentioned, oh BTW there were only 30 MILLION of them distributed

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Warning issued on faulty tire valve stems following rollover death: Consumer Reports on Safety