Valve stems--

[SSell]

So..... I walk out of the store yesterday, truck sitting on flat rear tire. Just had new Duragrapplers installed 8 weeks ago. TRied airing up, found that brass body of the airstem had come loose from the rubber part, was able to superglue it in, air up & drive to tire shop & have it replaced. What the %%%%? THese are new "high pressure" airstems---I've had the rubber crack at the rim before but not this. THe "yeah, sometimes it happens" reply from the tire shop doesnt give me a warm/fuzzy feeling---now I'm paranoid my airstems can just spit their guts out at any time. Why is it that the major tire chains will only install metal airstems if you force them to? I bought new tires way before I HAD to because we've had such bad luck with tread seperation... JUst disgusted. Any suggestions?

 

[MA2LA]

i had the same problem with the factory ones. . when i first put my duragrapplers on I made sure all new stems were put in and haven't had a problem since

 

[SSell]

thats my problem---these are 8 weeks old, 3,000 miles on them. Just a smooth brass tube (the valve) glued into a rubber base---looked like the glue stuck to the brass but not the rubber. It really sucks thicking that the only thing keeping my 20,000+lbs rig right side up & between the lines is a little bit of glue that may or may not be up the task. WAsn't there just a big recall a year or 2 ago for bad stems?

 

[kenny61]

Yeah there was a recall



Recall of faulty tire valve stems expanded: Consumer Reports on Safety



You might as well get used to it. Manufacturing is almost gone in the US. China will be all thats left once they get a monopoly you will have no other choices and will be forced to buy China crap at every purchase. I would boycott the company that installed the stems until they started installing US made ones. That is the only way this crap will stop. Go CHINA!!!!!



End of Rant

 

[SSell]

ok, had a bad valve stem fail at 3000 miles, 8 weeks old. Hitched up my trailer this eve for a well deserved trip to the lake. Found the other rear valve stem leaking/comming apart once I aired up to the 75psi called for by the factory sticker in my doorjam. THis crap is no longer humorous in any way, what the hell do I do? I paid 1200bucks for new set of duragrapplers at TIREPROs but apparently canot get anything better than a 50 cent bicycle stem installed, even after 1 already failed. 3 flats in less than 3 months on new, premium heavy duty truck tires (1 got poked with a staple (yes , really), 2 airstems failed). What would you do?

 

[AMink]

ok, had a bad valve stem fail at 3000 miles, 8 weeks old. Hitched up my trailer this eve for a well deserved trip to the lake. Found the other rear valve stem leaking/comming apart once I aired up to the 75psi called for by the factory sticker in my doorjam. THis crap is no longer humorous in any way, what the hell do I do? I paid 1200bucks for new set of duragrapplers at TIREPROs but apparently canot get anything better than a 50 cent bicycle stem installed, even after 1 already failed. 3 flats in less than 3 months on new, premium heavy duty truck tires (1 got poked with a staple (yes , really), 2 airstems failed). What would you do?

I'd go to another shop and pay to have heavy duty stems put on. Then I'd let all my friends know what had happened and make sure the business knew that I was going to do that. High pressure tires and crappy stems don't go together.

 

[jshumate]

Valve Stems

I had the same prob with mine. Finally the dealer swapped them with metal ones and put the rubber extension hoses on the duallies. The hoses came loose and caught between the tires, ripping them off and destroying the rear tires. The dealer replaced the tires and I replaced the stems with these: Tire-Man: Kit #3-6D. This appears to have fixed the prob AND made airing up the duallies easy!

 

[BDaugherty]

As quick as everyone is to fault the valve stems thenselves, how do you know that your failure was not due to poor/rough installation? I have the cheap rubber valve stems in all of my tires at this time. I also carry 2 spare stems with my tire plug kit, but the only time I've had to use them is on other people's tires. I do install new stems with each new set of tires.

 

[CDonaldson]

When it comes to valve stems, the only kind to use are the high pressure stems that are completely metal, they have a rubber washer that goes on the inside of the rim at the stem base, actually have a nut that tightens on the outside of the rim to retain them in place. Any 'pull through' rubber based stem is truly NOT a high pressure stem.



CD

 

[Dieselnut59]

Kenny beat me to the reply. I had 5 out of the 6 valve stems fail... . one by one on my '98 work truck. They just separated similar to what you described. Yep, country of origin: China. Go freakin figure. And this was after I SPECIFICALLY said I wanted to have good USA made tires installed. They said, unless a customer asks for premium valve stems, the "standard" (china) ones get installed. WTF? Why would I pay for a premium made in USA tire and not be willing to pay for premium valve stems!? Yes, now I know and have had no more problems.

If we do not support our USA manufacturers, who will? If they have no support, they will not survive, then we will be left with a cheapass chinese monopoly!

 

[Extreme1]

When it comes to valve stems, the only kind to use are the high pressure stems that are completely metal



CD

Precisely! I put a set on a car 30 years ago, they still hold air. I'm in the process of replacing ALL of the stems I own with metal (over 40), does anyone know of a source for stainless stems that aren't stupid expensive?

 

[w6pea]

Precisely! I put a set on a car 30 years ago, they still hold air. I'm in the process of replacing ALL of the stems I own with metal (over 40), does anyone know of a source for stainless stems that aren't stupid expensive?

You try Meyer Tire Supply yet?

http://www.myerstiresupply.com/