Valve Stem Extensions

I’m new to this motorhome experience as I’ve had travel trailers for the last 20 years. My first trip out this fall I was losing air on the outer driver side Dually and it cost me a few hours to get it fixed. Then as I was airing up my tires to bring it home from my enclosed storage I was having a problem with the stems leaking. Just one in particular. This told me I had to do something as I didn’t want aggravation going to Florida this winter. The peace of mind is worth it to me.

Now I’m replacing the converter as that decided to die a week before I’m leaving. My 2-6 V cycle batteries are still good. That’s today’s project in the cold.

  I might be mixing apples and oranges..we previously had a diesel pusher which had valve extenders which were always a chore and undependable. When we reached our first tire change many years ago I told the tech I wanted something simpler and easier to access. He was able to either reverse the tires and/or use a straight valve extender which reached all the way the wheel cover for easy access. Many years ago so hard to remember exactly. Except that life got much easier after that. I plan to do the same when changing the PC tires which "only" have 19,000 miles and look good. MY workaround these days is to remove the wheel covers to get at the valves.

The Borg extensions work fine for me. The inner valve extension comes straight out and has a plastic/ rubber insert to stabilize it.

The Borg extensions work fine for me. The inner valve extension comes straight out and has a plastic/ rubber insert to stabilize it.

I know.  And I agree.  Several vehicles and many miles have proven to me that solid valve stems, without extensions, are reliably trouble free.  Getting a tire shop to install them is what I find most challenging.

The flexible valve core extensions on my current PC look a little bit like celery stalks with broken and frayed fibers protruding in every direction.  I think I am about to experience their failure.  From the reports, it appears the braided extensions are not only apt to fail, but they also actually do - with regularity.  Contrarily, I recently started noticing long haul semi-trailers, with huge wheels, are now equipped with hub mounted TPMS that are connected with much longer braided extensions than mounted on 16" PC axles.

I need to investigate what significant difference there is.  Obviioulsy, the million mile users have confidence in the flexible extensions.