What is it that I "alluded" to?

Title of the thread is "dually valve stem extension recommendations"
I linked to something I tired 6 years ago.
Didn't say it was perfect but it worked for me until I bought flow through tire pressure sensors.

Besides, your allusion "it is weight hanging off and centrifugally leveraged away from the wheel", is one of the reasons i brought the old post.
How is an extension leveraged away from the wheel due to centrifugal force?

As to why I used the extensions in my previous post?

When I brought my truck home from the dealer is was 2-3 days before I realized the left rear inner tire had no air and was spinning on the bead.
I had to pull the outer wheel on a 10 degree day to fill the tire.
it was always a pain to add air but I was just able to squeeze my hand in through one of the 5 holes to get to the cap. When the extension were lined up as they were from the factory I could not get my hand through the hole.

Ford DRW's require two different chucks to fit properly, at least on the 17" rims.
I added TPMS sensors and the original batch were manufactured with components that reacted to the valve stems, I had to cut the sensors off the first time I tried to add air.

The sensors themselves were a bit tedious to remove from the valve stem so I made up the stem extensions I posted previously.
They worked fine for years. Never leaked, never loosened up, never leveraged themselves around the hole damaging the wheel.
The stayed on until I picked up a new TPMS with flow through sensors.

Was the Haltec extension around 6 years ago? This is the first time in over 10 years on this forum that I have seen them.
They look good, I like German engineering and if getting air in the new 450 is the same challenge it was on my 350 I may give them a go if my old extensions work ok, this non pressurized extension may work.

You posted a lot of stuff about them and I'm still missing the non pressurized part operation.

And may work is a question more than a plan. I still use add on TPMS sensors. Obviously I can't use the standard cap replacement sensor since the Haltec is non pressurized. Whether the flow through sensor will work remains to be seen.

 

Thank you for your comments and questions @porthole .

Rather than answer immediately off the cuff, I want to take some time to review your post more carefully, which is complicated by some formatting issues that make it a bit more difficult to absorb.

But I did want to respond with one thing right away, which is to emphasize that there is no conflict here, and there most certainly isn't any criticism, whether said or unsaid, of your choices in tire inflation products.

We are all in the same boat here, trying to find the most optimal tire maintenance solutions to meet our individual needs. The sharing of information about the options that are available helps in this endeavor. And I for one, appreciate your contribution to our common effort!

 

I don’t know why all that formatting showed.
I’ll go and edit after I get the standing rib roast on the grill.

Second time trying this. First time came out great .........

 

I agree. I had no problems airing up or checking psi in my stock 17” wheels. And dont have any problem airing up my AF 19.5” wheels.

They dont care about any other way.
Extenders only or die.

seems everyone is welded to the idea of altering the truck instead of finding the proper tool for the job. OR ALTERING THE TOOL. Whats a tire shop that works on a lot of duallys do? Only hire guys with tiny hands? Have magic tools?

They can figure out the concept of an extended valve stem but not the idea of an extended or bent chuck. Very narrow one directional minded i guess.

 

Should be fixed.

So, I still am missing something. Does the Air Flexx have a stranded wire that floats and when an air chuck is used, it depresses the outer end of the Air Flexx schrader valve, which in turn pushes and opens the valve on the rim?

If so, other then light weight I would only see a partial benefit if I continued to use external TPMS sensors.
I still haven't checked the air or what will be needed to access the valves on my new truck. When I do it will be time to figure what is needed to check the inner without removing the outer.

 

Pretty sure that's how it works, and how a standard quick check works. Essentially they are a really long quick check

 

Yes. There are a couple of "stranded wire" assemblies inside the Air-Flexx. The particular "stranded wire" that I think you referring to is the innermost actuating wire, which is also called a Bowden Cable. The Air-Flexx also has a secondary stranded wire assembly, which is the outer reinforcement jacket that gives the Air-Flexx self supporting rigidity and resiliency. This wire jacket is itself covered in a yellow "overcoat", as the photos below (and above) illustrate.



Ignore the German and just look at the photo immediately below, which is better detailed in the imagery of the cable than the subsequent photo to follow, which while annotated in English, does not depict the cable construction with as good of resolution.



And now for the English version:



Both of these photos are also posted upthread, but admittedly, there is a lot of information to absorb at once.

Thanks for fixing up your earlier post. I'm in the middle of two FTE projects this weekend that I'm trying to get up and running by Monday. While it was quick and easy for me to pull up these photos in answer to your question, I still want to take more time (that is lacking at the moment) to give careful consideration to your earlier post.

For the time being however, I want to say that having a TPMS system is a great idea, and as long as your TPMS type tire inflation valve does not protrude too much toward the hub where the two dual wheels mounting faces meet, then adding an Air Flexx (or other brand of cable actuated, non pressurized) extension is not precluded by your having TPMS.

The concern about the length of the TPMS valve stem is primarily due to having to circle back any extension into and through the handhole of the outside wheel. The Air-Flexx can tolerate quite a forced curvature, as illustrated in this photo:


However, common sense suggests that less forced curvature or strain in any product or material is likely to be better than more.

In sum, with or without TPMS, the Air Flexx (and any other brand of extender that operates using the principle of an internal BowDen type cable as an actuating rod, rather than a hose of constantly pressurized air, as distinct from an internal tube that merely conveys pressurized air only when the actuation cable opens the valve) will not be vulnerable to rapid air loss.

To the extent that any TPMS system communicates via radio frequency to a parent module in the truck, I have not researched any "antenna" effects that a metal braided, metal threaded fitting, or solid metal (pressurized or non pressurized) extender might have in the transmission of frequency or in the reception of interference. The Air-Flexx has non metallic threaded fittings that insulate the outer stranded wire assembly from the valve stem.

 

Thanks for this thread. I ordered a pair of Air-Flexx for my 21. I'm curious though, eyeballing the angle of my inner valve stem in relation to the hand holes I'm fairly sure the extension is going to rest hard against the edge of the handhole in the outer wheel. Has anybody else solved for this? Sorry if it's already in the thread and I missed it.


EDIT: I do see it it now after reading through again, thank you Y2KW57. I see "valve stem stabilizer" is the phrase that's getting me results on google.

 

Do these Air-Flexx extensions need special gauges or air chucks to work with them or do they work with standard air equipment? We just took delivery of a 2022 SuperDuty F350 ambulance and the valve extensions for the rear inner wheels look like the Air-Flexx ones. Problem is they don’t work with multiple gauges or chucks. Even the local tire dealer couldn’t check the pressure with his gauge. I can press the valve in with a screw and get air to hiss out but can’t get them to work at all with standard equipment. I’ll try to add a photo. I really need to get this resolved.

 

@TAC2022

Immediately order two of any one of the following part numbers:

Alligator V2B
Haltec DS-1
Myers 21452

All three parts are near equivalent (they do the same thing).

These are double sealing inflate through valve caps.

I run these at the end of my AirFlexxes, only because I run these on every valve stem on every vehicle I own.

Ford issues them as original equipment on chassis cabs, or at least did through 2021.

When searching "double sealing inflate through valve caps", a bunch of options show up on eBay and Amazon. I don't do business on eBay or Amazon, so I have no recommendations for the options sold on those websites.

Take a much closer look at the lower right hand corner annotation in my photo below, previously posted upthread:

 

Please forgive my ignorance but what am I looking closer at? Is the Alligator V2B commonly referred to as a ‘gator? The tire shop tried using a gator on the extension and couldn’t get it to work either.

 

I should add that I can unscrew the final piece currently attached to the end of the extension and can get a gauge directly on the end of the extension itself. The gauge or air chuck doesn’t work on that end either. Does the extension require the end piece(s) you’re recommending to work properly and the plastic ones that came with the truck are defective?

 

I've received mine but haven't installed them, however looking at mine I'm half expecting to run in to the same problem. It looks like the bowden cable might be too short. The idea I have if that is the case is to possibly insert a small ball bearing (or something) between the extension and the actual valve stem to essentially take up the slack.

 

The following sentence....
Appears to contradict the subsequent sentence:
Therefore, I am confused about what you are actually experiencing. If you remove the small piece circled in red, are you able to successfully read pressure and fill the tire?

If yes, then problem solved?

If no, then please clarify the contradiction.

 

He's saying he can remove the inflate-through valve cap (aka final piece) that's on it, but then attaching the air chuck directly to the air-flex (aka extension) still doesn't work.