Filling Tires on the Road

[AZbear]

Being a newbie, I have to ask this question. Do most Truck Stops have an area I can pull the Fifth Wheel to in order to put air in the tires? Or are these dedicated to the Semi's?

[H. John Kohl]

Flying J now Pilot/Flying J has a RV island that has air service.
I carry a 12VDC pump I got from Harbor Freight that will put on 120lb of pressure but it does take a while to fill more than one tire. I did have to torque down the compressor head bolts as recommended by OZZ.

[HamRad]

Most Service Stations have a place to fill your tires. Some are easily accessible and others can be problematic. In OR at mile 99 where 7 Feathers Casino has a full blown truck Service Station. They even have separate tire shop. Just pull up to front of building and grab the air hose and fill up your tires. The hose is long enough to service a semi so you will have no trouble with you puny little 5er! Wish all places had such a nice setup. Good luck. Dennis

[Art-n-Marge]

I ONLY check my tires prior to taking a trip and unless there is an obvious problem, don't rely on the psi or temp readings when checking them at the air stations unless your rig has been sitting for some time and I don't know how much time that should be.

If you check the tires there and they are low, you probably need to put in more air than specified since the air in the tires is probably hotter than when you started. Then you are putting in cold air into a heated tire and while the readings are accurate. If you check the tires and they are high, it might be because of the driving you've just done. A hot road or a cold road, or hot ambient day or cold ambient day will affect readings on a tire that has not been sitting idle.

I don't check the tires, unless there is something visibly obvious. Doing this too much can also bring the psi down as some air escapes when you are checking.

Just something to think about. I definitely prefer truck stops when towing, but rarely to check air pressure. I carry a generator, compressor and gauge to do that prior to getting on the road. Then don't check again until the tires have been idle for several hours.

[AZbear]

I agree. I don't check tires while on road - too many inaccuracies. But I will check them occasionally in the morning before taking off. I do carry a compressor - but as loud as it is and the length of time to top off the tires - I'd rather his the Truck Stops.

[CamillaMichael]

We carry a compressor and do check pressure every morning prior to getting back on the road.

[timandsusan]

Yes, I carry my own compressors--in fact 2. One is DC and the other is AC. Sure eliminates any issues on putting air in tires.

[DonPd]

When I stop I hit the tires with a small wooden bat. When hit the tires make a sound and if all the tire sound the same I know they are holding air. The sound is different if the tire has lost air.

I also use a Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer to make sure none of the tires are running hot. I do the TV also.

http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ter-96451.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/infrare...ter-93984.html

[Ozz]

I do the Infra-red as well, great tire and bearings check at the rest stop.

[sreigle]

Bakers, the truck stops may have air stations accessible to you but I honestly don't recall seeing any, which makes me think they're not readily available in many cases.

We, too, carry a compressor. Ours is 110v, 150psi pancake type and fills our G614's to 110 psi without problem and in reasonable time. Someday I'll have a generator onboard and could use it to power the compressor on the road if needed. But so far it's not been needed when not in an rv park. When we lost pressure on the road the tire was destroyed anyhow.

[richfaa]

We do carry a air compressor both 110 and 12V. We have never in over five years had to use them on the road. Flying J does have a air line at thw Rv pumps as well as the truck lanes. We have never used them. We do have the pressure pro monitoring system and do keep a eye on the pressure. We have a generator on board just in case we need to power up the 110 comptressor but never had to.

[exav8tr]

About three years ago I had a flat on one of the Eastern turnpikes, maybe NY and Good Sam sent a guy out to change it, only the spare only had 50-60 lbs in it and the guys "Cigarette outlet powered compressor" would not fill past 70. I had to get my Honda 2000 out, power it up and use my own 110VAC compressor to finish filling it. Glad I had my own to finish the job...

[tbhd]

If you use the gauge at the gas station that's on the air chuck, make sure it goes high enough. I thought we had a low tire after we were hooked up and ready to leave. We stopped at a gas station to check the pressure and sure enough it was low. 50#. So I pumped air in and checked it again and still 50#. That's as high as the gauge went. Got my gauge out and I had over 90# in it.

[clutch]

We carry a 12v and a 115 volt and always use our own gauge.

[tonycamacho]

As mention previously by Donpd, I also do the tire tap test every rest stop and fuel stop. A low tire does sound different from the properly inflated one as I learned when I tapped the inside dually on my truck during one of my checks,found that the valve stem extension had failed and dumped the pressure in the tire. If you sit around a truck stop long enough you'll also see the old experienced truckers do the same. I also hand feel the center hubs for hot bearings and rim edges for brake heat. It takes about two minutes to do a good check and it can really save you tons of time down the road. I also carry a small 120 PSI AC volt compressor which will run off a 700 watt inverter.

Tony

[gr8330]

I put my LT tires on last September and have only added 2 pounds to two tires since. In the past with trailer tires (ST) I had to add air weekly.

[1retired06]

Most I know carry a compressor. As indicated, checking while on the road has lots of variables. What works for us when traveling is to check air around supper time after 3 or 4 hours on site. Tires have cooled down, and if I have to use the compressor then I am ahead of the quiet hours. I ran 80 in the Es and run 95 now in the G load tires I currently have. Have never had a tire failure yet, knock on wood. I carry a 1000 watt inverter so power for the compressor is never an issue.

[Sinterior]

I also use an infra red, and have a 110 volt 3 gal 155psi compressor (Harbor Freight) that works very well off 4 6 volt golf cart batteries and a 1750 watt inverter. This works better than gas station air/water island, I've never used the truck stop air.
The compressor is very handy for bike tires, blowing oil out of propane hoses and generally as an air gun.

[DieselGeezer]

Most tire manufacturers don't recommend adding or removing air unless the tires are cold. Because air expands when it get hot, your air pressures could be significantly higher after driving only a few miles. I carry an inexpensive Harbor Freight air compressor in the truck bed permanently plugged into my Honda 6500 generator. The wife made a waterproof cover for it. When on the road, I check the tire pressures of the truck and 5th-wheel every morning before starting off. It also works well for topping off bicycle tires which get low every couple of days.

[1retired06]

PSI ratings, off the sidewall, are reflective of PSI readings when the tire is cold, not hot off the road.