Airing down question

[rltilley]

Bill Burke had us air down to 30 psi during his course last year. I think I could go a bit lower but 30 worked well. That's where I have my deflators set now.

[VtSoundman]

Deflators...I've stopped using them. I was finding them to be unreliable and inconsistent. I've gone back to use an rapid air deflator specifically this one from Amazon...

Haven't timed it, but seems to be faster and it gives me a chance to spot check the wheels/tires prior to offroading. If your stems are in good shape and the tool is kept clean, there should be no issuse with bent stems.

Boulder Tools All New Heavy Duty Rapid Tire Deflator Kit with Valve Caps, Valve Cores & 4-in-1 Tire Valve Tool https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075G1LJQ1..._KaHGBbEGDVAR7

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by VtSoundman

Boulder Tools All New Heavy Duty Rapid Tire Deflator Kit with Valve Caps, Valve Cores & 4-in-1 Tire Valve Tool https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075G1LJQ1..._KaHGBbEGDVAR7

Ordered - Going with your endorsement
Currently on my third Tire Pressure gauge I'm unable to rely on (not cheap ones) - Found the first two to be off by about 4-5lbs after several uses, and current one (1.5yrs old now) seems to have become faulty as well.

[bolty]

My 2011 E-350 RB50 is about 10,400 pounds which splits 4,700#/5,700# front/rear with recommended 60/80 tire pressure. When I first got the van I aired down to 30/40 front rear and went along merrily. Over time I've had three flats off road while aired down, all in the rear so I've become more conservative airing down, especially in the rear. I had two flats running Nitto tires so switched to Cooper Discoverer Maxx...but I got a sidewall flat with the Cooper so go figure. I do tend to go down some nice trails that are a bit unfair to the tires!

My go to now is 40/60 front rear for a standard dirt road - more for comfort than anything else and I'm happy to adjust down depending. My E rated tires can bear about 3,300 pounds each and my wet weight is 2,850 per rear tire so I'm about 86% of capacity driving down the road. My reading of the forums suggests I can air down 10 pounds or so and be within manufacturers specs and below that you get into their safety margin and below some level you tend to see more problems like sidewall bubbles, broken wheels etc., of which I've had both.

The only time I've been stuck was in beach sand running street pressure in 4 hi. I aired down to 20 all around and drove out...I make it sound easy but I was stuck below the high tide line and the incoming tide was washing the left side of my van as I frantically worked to get the air out...on a less stressful day I ran 18 pounds all around all day on the Nittos at the same beach with no issues but I wouldn't do that normally except to get unstuck or some cross some very soft stuff for a short stretch or to test my vehicle.

[darryldickie]

Hello Everyone,

At one of the SMB rallies we had a class from George Carousos of Extreme Outback. As I recall his recommendation was to deflate the tire (as measured from rim to the ground) to 80% of the fully aired height. That will work for all gross weights. He also recommended a 5 tire rotation and was very adamant about changing the tires at no more then 5 years regardless of mileage. Also, it's wise to know when the tire was manufactured. There is a stamp on each tire that shows the week and the year that tire was produced.

We had a tire tread fail on our first set of BFGs from the SMB factory. (see photos) They were D rated which was the highest rating that BFG had for their AT tires at the time.

The cost of the body work to repair the damage was about 7 grand. (See Betsy in the showcase for more details.)

I know of at least 4 other failures or near failures of BFGs, one of them caught by Bill Burke at one of the rallies, another by one of our best friends just recently. We could never get the first two sets of BFGs to balance properly and now use Toyos with zero issues. As a result of our experience and others, I would be suspect of any tire that had been aired down for extended periods could be more susceptible to failure while on the road at high speed.

Happy Travels

[moorefc]

Originally Posted by bolty

The only time I've been stuck was in beach sand running street pressure in 4 hi. I aired down to 20 all around and drove out...I make it sound easy but I was stuck below the high tide line and the incoming tide was washing the left side of my van as I frantically worked to get the air out....

Reminds me of this from last week Garabaldi Or - Don't get stuck in a tidal area....
(realized after posting same story posted also in Campfire....)

[VtSoundman]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

Ordered - Going with your endorsement
Currently on my third Tire Pressure gauge I'm unable to rely on (not cheap ones) - Found the first two to be off by about 4-5lbs after several uses, and current one (1.5yrs old now) seems to have become faulty as well.

Pressure guages? Ugh...don't get me started. So much crap.

Don't drop them...hoses the accuracy.


Happy with these:

JACO ElitePro Tire Pressure Gauge - 100 PSI https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016R9KKCU..._3ldHBb0Z9XMG5

Arb inflator with manual gauge

One from accugauge that I can't find the link for, but looks like this (NOT this one): EZ - Air Tire Gauge https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CJHU9W..._XsdHBb5YWSHZ2

This cheapy tekton:
TEKTON 5941 Digital Tire Gauge, 100 PSI https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037V0EW8?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

[maxacceleration]

Airing down is crucial! Washboards & rocks are the bane of rattles. 35 psi works good in my 8600 lb van. 35 psi also feels rolly polly on pavement. Air 'em back up!
I usually run about 65 front & 70 rear on pavement. More psi, more mpg's.
Onboard air is still slow when airing up to the 70 psi range yawn.

[moorefc]

Pressure guages? Ugh...don't get me started. So much crap.
Don't drop them...hoses the accuracy.
To add to the mix, I've had 3 Accutire MS-4004B gauges for over 10 years that are very accurate (after a series of analog and digital debris). There is a less expensive MS-4021B now that is supposed to be as accurate. Mine are a little fiddly to align with the valve stem, but very accurate (0.5lb). I've a factory rep friend that explained they have dual strain gauges to provide the accuracy over the range as opposed to single strain gauges that are accurate within a band designed by the factory (30 psi range usually) but is generally less so at higher pressures as in our vehicles...They didn't sell as many of the original due to their ~$25 price.....replaced the batteries once in a couple of them over the years.....find them in Bezos territory...I also like the compact (door pocket) design.

Recently got some boulder tools tire deflators (staun knock offs) that speed up the airdown process. I set them for 35 and 50#, then if not rocky go down from there manually by pulling on the deflator tip. The rapid tire deflator design mentioned above removes the core one tire at a time and is very fast, but I don't like the unscrew/rescrew core process when in the bush....Suspect it could lead to a slow leak, or some other complication. Maybe I'm a little paranoid.....This subject can go on and on....

[arctictraveller]

There is some good info here:

http://blog.arbusa.com/?p=255