Valve stem extender issue on Freightliner/Accuride wheels, again!

[Rich W.]

I Thought this problem was solved, but it’s not. The guys at the tire shop said the valve stems on the inners were bent causing the issue and they re-bent them so it “wouldn’t happen again”. But of course it did. So I got another set of extenders and installed them, but I need the new, improved rubber isolators for these wheels (anybody have a line on them?) and in the mean time I secured the existing rubber isolators with VHB tape and its held for the last 1500 miles or so. But given how close this one was to wearing through I thought I’d post about it again. I hit this one with a wire wheel to clean it up for the picture and you can see how close it was to wearing through. So check those isolators for the valve stem extenders, just in case.

 

[Neal]

Gaffney has a new design, they put them on mine last year and they work great. I had a problem with them coming out. I think they extended the rubber support to go down the stem further. Give FCCC parts a call.

 

[Rich W.]

I’ll do that. It would seem that when it comes down to forged aluminum vs chrome plated brass, the aluminum wins.

 

[Scotttkd2]

I went with duallyvalves for the rear, and because there is no extension involved, they stay centered. They do have the rubber donut and I check it frequently now. Unfortunately my driver side looked just like yours after the patio side wore through and caused the inner to go flat with no sign I had a problem. Long story but after 2 roadside assists, a day in a tire shop, 2 new tires, new valve stems and 16K worth of repair work on the 2 adjacent bays and I will be back on the road this weekend. For what's its worth FL has a recall for multiple years and chassis but its a war getting them to admit any responsibility.

 

[Rich W.]

I went with duallyvalves for the rear, and because there is no extension involved, they stay centered. They do have the rubber donut and I check it frequently now. Unfortunately my driver side looked just like yours after the patio side wore through and caused the inner to go flat with no sign I had a problem. Long story but after 2 roadside assists, a day in a tire shop, 2 new tires, new valve stems and 16K worth of repair work on the 2 adjacent bays and I will be back on the road this weekend. For what's its worth FL has a recall for multiple years and chassis but its a war getting them to admit any responsibility.

Wow - sounds like you’ve really had a rough time with this one. Glad I caught it when I did. Got any pics of your “adventure”?

 

[Scotttkd2]

Here is an iCloud link. Attention Neal, if this violates any rules I apologize in advance and please delete link.

Sorry, bad link, trying again

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I hope that is just the tire issue album. Let me know if not!

The driver side went down with no way to know ( I had unresolved TST issues so got an alert when the entire extension with sensor tore off the inner wheel somewhere on the I10 in nowhere TX, but due to constant false "loss of signal" alarms I ignored it. (That is another long story) and so we drove for approx 2-3 hours on a single wheel in back on patio side with out knowing it. Discovered the tire down and got a new valve stem installed the next morning via road side assist and headed out and that tire blew out in less than 10 minutes. (Tire shop speculates that when the stem came off it came off on the inside and damaged the side wall. Mobile guy didn't notice any damage and we wound up with a golf ball sized hole in the side wall. Limped into the next town and get a new inner, but by then the real damage had already been done, basically destroyed the outer and it shredded less than 600 miles later while on the I75 north In N FL. Fortunately no one injured or damaged as I crossed 3 lanes of traffic with rubber flying everywhere and got to the side of the road. Have dozens of calls into FLCC and a FLCC dealer has looked at it, but they refuse to take responsibility because my VIN is not in their list of VINS with this issue, even though the year and model of chassis is listed in the recall. I provided them pics of the damaged extension and they claim either the previous 83 year old owner, the selling dealer or myself removed metal clips that are supposed to hold the valve extension in position. NIRVC in Phoenix has been doing the repairs and I hope to pick up this week And get back on the road toward Florida.

Question, on your Acuride wheels, do you have any clips attached to the valve extensions??

Scott

 

[Scotttkd2]

Add on, the tool bay got destroyed and nearly punctured the water tank. The pics are of my attempt to repair so we could continue our trip. I basically used a few yards of rubber tape to try to waterproof the bay again and cut a new piece of pegboard so I had a place for my tools.

This all happened with under 5000 miles on the coach, so basically brand new factory tires and stems/extensions.

 

[Rich W.]

Add on, the tool bay got destroyed and nearly punctured the water tank. The pics are of my attempt to repair so we could continue our trip. I basically used a few yards of rubber tape to try to waterproof the bay again and cut a new piece of pegboard so I had a place for my tools.

This all happened with under 5000 miles on the coach, so basically brand new factory tires and stems/extensions.

My Accuride wheels (2016) have a sort of modified “D” shaped wheel hole and a rubber insert but no metal clips of any kind. Maybe I should fabricate something. I haven’t seen any notices of recalls on this - got a link to that info? According to this: https://dtna-dlrinfo.prd.freightliner.com:48518/VinLookup/vin-module/getVinLookupPage I have no open recalls.

The photo link is good by the way. Interesting pics and a lot of damage which I guess is to be expected in these situations. A little off topic, but if your insurance is covering the repairs, is there any indication they are going to pursue a claim against Freightliner?

 

[Scotttkd2]

Rich - thanks for the info, I am curious because the NIRVC guys claim to have never seen a Newmar with metal clips on valve extensions. I would like to see how they are attached as I have no indication of anything being previously attached to my remaining extension in the pic. I had to google FL valve stem recall because my VIN does not show on any valve stem recall list either, but if you read the details of the recalls (there are a couple and they have been extended a couple times as well) its 6 years of nearly every chassis model they use for RV's. Insurance told me since there is a recall for the exact scenario I had they will be chasing FL after the fact. I was hoping to get FL to step up but they couldn't care less at this point. VIN not in list, not their problem, must be someone else's fault.

 

[Neal]

Attention Neal, if this violates any rules I apologize in advance and please delete link.

Isn't it great how people are so trained against sharing from "the other forum place." Here we share and we help. Links to other resources are perfectly fine.