Any drawbacks to adding tubes to stop a slow leak?

[Aage]

A couple of the Alcoa wheel on my TT will not hold air (slow leak). It has been recommended to me to use inner tubes.

The tires are one-season-old radials, standard size ST.

Anything negative about adding the inner tubes?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Aage

A couple of the Alcoa wheel on my TT will not hold air (slow leak). It has been recommended to me to use inner tubes.

The tires are one-season-old radials, standard size ST.

Anything negative about adding the inner tubes?

Make sure you rebalance the complete running gear assembly, namely the tire, wheel and hub and drum.

If you cannot do that, then add the slip on balancers to the drums.

Andy

[Jammer]

It will tend to throw off the balance, so be sure you have the spin balanced.

Occasionally one encounters the claim that using tubes in a tire designed to be tubeless adds to the risk of overheating and failure. I don't know whether that's supported by the facts or just another piece of tire folklore.

In most cases the rim can be made to seal by careful buffing, unless it has a crack. Did your tire guy try that first? They get lazy and don't really buff out the corrosion sometimes. If it has a crack well obviously you should scrap it.

[withidl]

Consider that the aluminum wheels may be leaking/failing. I had one develop a hair line longitudinal crack about 2" inside the spokes when the A/S was out of warranty.

I was on my way to the EAA July/August fly-in at Oshkosh, WI, but needed to have some “on-going” air conditioner warranty work done so I drove to Jackson Center, OH, where they did the air conditioner work and replaced the wheel under warranty (even though out of warranty).

They said they had never seen an aluminum wheel fail like mine ……… I guess that makes me feel “special”?

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by withidl

Consider that the aluminum wheels may be leaking/failing. I had one develop a hair line longitudinal crack about 2" inside the spokes when the A/S was out of warranty.

I was on my way to the EAA July/August fly-in at Oshkosh, WI, but needed to have some “on-going” air conditioner warranty work done so I drove to Jackson Center, OH, where they did the air conditioner work and replaced the wheel under warranty (even though out of warranty).

They said they had never seen an aluminum wheel fail like mine ……… I guess that makes me feel “special”?

Well then, I'm special too!!

Within a year of buying our AS used, I was polishing the wheels and found that two of the four Alcoa wheels had numerous hairline cracks in the radius where the spokes meet the rim.

I contacted Alcoa and learned that the wheels were "just" within warranty- forget what it was, maybe three years.

This wheel is now longer made by Alcoa, but they were able to find me two new replacement rims.

I have been watching them closely and so far they seem fine.

I was actually hoping they might not have found replacements in kind as I feel that with the weight of my trailer, (GVW 8400) the rims are pretty close to capacity and I wouldn't mind moving to a heavier rated rim.

Although my rims were cracked, they were not losing air.

Brian.

[HowieE]

All wheels have a weight rating. It would be nice to know what the rating of your wheels is compared to the trailer weight.

A friend of mine found his 13,500 lb. trailer had 2 6,000 lb axles under it. The factory didn't see anything wrong with that. You have to check everything now days. He also found the tires grossly undersized upon getting home when 2 of them heated up enough he could not get his tire lock in place because the tires had expanded 1 in. each. The tires were underrated for the load.

[slowmover]

Found this on a short search:

Some 80's to early 90's Ford Aluminum wheels had a porosity problem. Ford
has a TSB on it and a fix that used epoxy paint to seal the inside of the
wheel.

That sounds like the reasonable path to investigate.

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by HowieE

All wheels have a weight rating. It would be nice to know what the rating of your wheels is compared to the trailer weight.

A friend of mine found his 13,500 lb. trailer had 2 6,000 lb axles under it. The factory didn't see anything wrong with that. You have to check everything now days. He also found the tires grossly undersized upon getting home when 2 of them heated up enough he could not get his tire lock in place because the tires had expanded 1 in. each. The tires were underrated for the load.

In my case, my Alcoa wheels are stamped inside the rim as being rated for
2200#, the GVW of my trailer is 8400#.

I would rather have wheels that are rated a bit higher and I think you can get 15" alum. wheels rated at 3000# and maybe a bit more.

If ever I see any more cracks on the wheels I have, that's where I'll be going!

Brian

[arcamedies]

Originally Posted by Aage

A couple of the Alcoa wheel on my TT will not hold air (slow leak). It has been recommended to me to use inner tubes.

The tires are one-season-old radials, standard size ST.

Anything negative about adding the inner tubes?

Before you go breaking down your tires try getting a valve stem tool and tweaking the cores in each gently. Sometimes a slow leak ia caused by the core not being seated or they always seeped and the caps are now seeping as well. I found replacing the cores and caps has helped after 5 years on all tires, especially with the permanent steel ones in most trailer and motorhome wheels. Nothing is forever as they say.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Wingeezer

In my case, my Alcoa wheels are stamped inside the rim as being rated for
2200#, the GVW of my trailer is 8400#.

I would rather have wheels that are rated a bit higher and I think you can get 15" alum. wheels rated at 3000# and maybe a bit more.

If ever I see any more cracks on the wheels I have, that's where I'll be going!

Brian

Unless those wheels are made in China. I'd much rather have wheels from AMERICAN RACING or another quality supplier than to trust to low-dollar generic aluminum trailer wheels.

I wouldn't worry over those ALCOA ratings on that trailer weight. Others can disagree.

.

[HowieE]

Before you install tubes how about making sure where the leaks are. When testing for leaks I use a 30/70 ration of Simple green and water. Spray the rim at the bead of the tire first and make sure it is not a rim to bead leak, very common. If that is not the problem spray the rim itself and the valve stem. Lastly spray the complete tire.

Simple green will produce very small bubbles at a leak. Much easier to spot than an occasional large bubble from soap.

Pay close attention to the stems as there were some 10,000,000 Chinese valve stems shipped in that tore at the base when they were installed. Some leaked and many just broke off if touched.

My first guess will be the rims at the tire bead. Aluminum wheel tend to keep dirt on the wheel between tire changes. If they are not cleaned that dirt will cause a leak.

If you have to install tubes consider using Nitrogen instead of air for inflation. Nitrogen will not heat up and expand while on the road.

[Diesel1]

I will second the notion of checking for cracks. I have had two wheels with cracks,one steel, one aluminum. Adios, John

[lewster]

Check the valve stem, not the inner Shrader valve component. They are quite often at fault.

[Aage]

Thanks for all your thoughts. It may be spring before I can remedy this, but I have tucked away all your advice.

Thanks again, folks.

[Jim Foster]

As others have said, find the leak. Tubes in radial tires are subject to much more sidewall flex, and will actually wear and eventually fail. They used to and may still make tubes especially for radial tires. They were used on wire spoke wheels and other wheels which would not hold air.

I had two aluminum wheels with very slow leaks on a car several years ago. I had the tires dismounted and I painted the inside of the rims which stopped the leaks. I just used "rattle can" black. Today I think I would use epoxy appliance paint which is also available in a spray can.

[slowmover]

I had the tires dismounted and I painted the inside of the rims which stopped the leaks. I just used "rattle can" black. Today I think I would use epoxy appliance paint which is also available in a spray can.

Have been doing more of an online search of the subject of "aluminum porosity" this morning. In a discussion of some Slant-Six aluminum components, both powder coating and POR-15/similar coatings were being used.

Never could find more about the FORD wheel/epoxy paint TSB; was hoping for directions, the "how to", as one does not want to affect wheel balance.

New or used wheels, it appeals to me to have TPMS, etc, all ready to go for a tire/wheel swap. Chasing potential porosity problems (and oxidation problems) was just lagniappe.

What did you figure on yours, Aage?

.

[Aage]

Rednax,

I'm not positive what to do, but I have a plan. I think it's the Alcoa wheels that may have rough edges. When we took it to the south, visited my brother in GA, and then wife's sister in FL, I had my compressor with me, and every other day it needed some air.

I figure that the rough edges are letting it out, and not too slowly. I will take one pair off and go down to the tire shop near the park and get them to dismount the tires and inspect the rims. If they aren't cracked, at that point I'll decide whether to buff out the roughness if that can be done, or try a tube.

Not wild about a tube, but I'm less inclined to replacing the wheels.

We'll see. What with the DW babysitting our granddaughter two days a week now, it's not likely that we will get much travelling done this coming year.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I would not use tubes; They were made to fit tires that are, for the most part, no longer made. This means that if the tube you select is a bit large, it will wrinkle, and fail. If the tube is too small, it will stretch, and fail. And in my case, my valve stems are located in the middle of my wheel; Not a standard location for valve stems on tubes. Fix, or replace, the cause of the leaks.

[ventport]

If it were mine, I would dismount all 4 tires and coat the inside of the rims with some epoxy paint. When I mounted the tires I would use the black bead sealant that tire shops use. I have done this on many aluminum wheels I have had on cars for the last 40 years, and this has stopped the leaks on all of them.

[slowmover]

In my search I also saw the recommendation of bead sealer and failed to mention it. Thanks.