Prior to heading out on a recent vacation which required about a five hour drive, I purchased all new tires from a local dealer (see When to Replace Tires). Since the rear tires are “dually” in that they have an outside and inside wheel, I asked the installer to use valve extensions for the inside tire to make inflating and maintaining pressure easier. Without these extensions, it can be difficult to get to the fill valve on the inside tires.
Flexible Valve Extension and Retaining Clip
The installer did, indeed, install the valve extensio0n but neglected to attach the retaining clip (sometimes called “keeper”) which keeps the extension from flapping around and locks it in one place.
Being new to the whole “dually” world, I neglected to inspect this aspect of the job and headed out on schedule. After five hours of driving and pulling into our campsite, I just happened to notice that both inside tires were totally flat. This is an extremely dangerous situation! The rig is very heavy and not designed to be carried by just two rear tires. Had the outside tires experienced a blow-out, there is no telling what would have happened!
Here is a photo of one of the valve extensions that I pulled through the outside wheel to examine:
Destroyed Valve Extension
After slamming into the roadway for five hours, the end of the extensions was totally ground off and allowed the air of the inside tire to escape. Remember, this occurred on BOTH inside tires.
I spent 2 of the 5 days were were camping driving back and forth to various stores (nearest Walmart was 1.5 hrs away) to get a compressor and various tools (including a long air chuck) to remove the broken extensions and re-inflate the tires. Luckily the bead (the tire seal against the rim) was only barely broken on one tire and not at all on the other and I was able to reinflation them before heading home.
Here is a photo of the other side of the rig with the valve extension pulled through the outside wheel as well:
A tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) would have warned me, way ahead of time, that there was a problem. I plan to purchase one before heading out on our next trip.
Typical Tire Pressure Monitor
The moral of the story is to be doubly certain your tires are inflated properly and any extensions are properly installed. Here are a couple ideas for tools to carry with you for situations like this:
Small Air Compressor
This particular one is about $50 from Walmart. It is very quiet (surprisingly so). Be sure to pick up a hose and any peripheral tools you may want.
Long Air Chuck
This has fill ports on the end and at an angle, specifically to help fill dually tires.
Breaker Bar and Sockets
In case you need to remove the outside wheel cover (or “simulator”) to give additional access to the inside wheel fill valves.
Long Needle Nose Plyers
Very useful for loosening or tightening valve stem caps and/or extensions.
In addition to the above should carry the standard tools for dealing with a flat tire, including tire chucks, jack stands, jacks, etc…
As an afternote, the owner of the store where I purchased the tires was beside himself with concern and replaced my tires “under warranty”. It is important to note that even though these are new tires, they needed to be replaced again due to the added wear and tear of the situation. The installer, not being familiar with extensions, did not realize his mistake.