I have read this thread and the one linked. I note from some comments and further research that the truck air system is only good for around 100 psi? Can anyone mechanic types confirm this? If this is the case then it is useless for doing the trailer tyres, except just to get enough air in for emergencies. What other options are there available for self-maintenance of the truck/trailer tyre pressures?
The maintenance company we use has a large, boxed stand-alone compressor for their air tools, but as I recently discovered, their compressor is only good for a maximum of 100-105 psi too, before topping out and not putting any more air in.
An internet search of HGV tyre inflators shows a few options from the UK which have a female C coupling to plug your red line onto, but reading the small print they also mention a max of 100 psi. Again no good for the trailer tyres.
We don’t have the luxury of an ATS maintenance contract and our tyre guy is 20 miles away and requires quite a detour off our usual routes.
I have seen adverts for even vehicle battery powered compressors for less than £100 which claim to be suitable for inflating lorry tyres. I would imagine that they have a very short service life and I am sure that they will take a very long time to increase tyre pressure from say 80psi to 120 psi even if they are capable of exceeding 100psi.
Even using a moderately sized workshop compressor which can reach 150 or higher it can take a surprisingly long time to do the same thing, even more so if there are other demands on output at the same time. This is why you will probably find that inflating tyres is charged for on a PMI Invoice.
You can buy smaller portable compressors from high street chains for less than £500. The Links should help explain what needs to be taken into consideration before buying. From the company’s perspective they will need to notify their insurance company that there is a compressor on site since above a certain size they fall within the pressure vessel safety regulations. There are of course safety concerns relating to the potential danger of tyre inflation on the vehicle. If you look at the Old Time section of this forum you will see that our very well respected and much missed contributor Saviem was killed doing just that.
Just a thought ,you can blow them up with your airline standing well clear with your lock on valve…then when all looks ok you walk up take the airline off then wrap it up all neat and you are just about to put it away and bang…If you have heard one go off you would not touch another one…I am not sure about this but I think lots of companies will not allow you to blow them up you have get the pro,s in to do it…they are actually dynamite in the wrong hands
25 years ago I was suspended for refusing to inflate a flat trailer tyre on the site fuel island. Apart from the air pump being rated at ‘Max 100psi’ and the tyre’s operational pressure being 124 psi, it seemed a pretty ■■■■■■■ stupid thing to do! My request for an out of hours tyre fitter to a attend got an instant suspension for “Failing to carry out a reasonable request” and several weeks of wrangling to get back to work!! Now people wonder why I’m a right stroppy ■■■■■■■■ at work., well just blame Robert Chambers, the manager who suspended me!!
Truckerian99:
25 years ago I was suspended for refusing to inflate a flat trailer tyre on the site fuel island. Apart from the air pump being rated at ‘Max 100psi’ and the tyre’s operational pressure being 124 psi, it seemed a pretty [zb] stupid thing to do! My request for an out of hours tyre fitter to a attend got an instant suspension for “Failing to carry out a reasonable request” and several weeks of wrangling to get back to work!! Now people wonder why I’m a right stroppy [zb] at work., well just blame Robert Chambers, the manager who suspended me!!
Could of gone for constructive dismissmal with that one.
That being said. Asking to put air in your tyre is a reasonable request. Telling you to do it with equipment that is not suitable for the task is unreasonable and possibly dangerous.
cav551:
I have seen adverts for even vehicle battery powered compressors for less than £100 which claim to be suitable for inflating lorry tyres. I would imagine that they have a very short service life and I am sure that they will take a very long time to increase tyre pressure from say 80psi to 120 psi even if they are capable of exceeding 100psi.
Even using a moderately sized workshop compressor which can reach 150 or higher it can take a surprisingly long time to do the same thing, even more so if there are other demands on output at the same time. This is why you will probably find that inflating tyres is charged for on a PMI Invoice.
You can buy smaller portable compressors from high street chains for less than £500. The Links should help explain what needs to be taken into consideration before buying. From the company’s perspective they will need to notify their insurance company that there is a compressor on site since above a certain size they fall within the pressure vessel safety regulations. There are of course safety concerns relating to the potential danger of tyre inflation on the vehicle. If you look at the Old Time section of this forum you will see that our very well respected and much missed contributor Saviem was killed doing just that.
Cav551 thanks for links, although the top 2 are way over my head .
I have also seen those battery compressors advertise doing 150psi, even 300psi in some cases, all from a 12v car cig socket. However upon closer inspection of the reviews it quickly became clear that this was simply not possible. Several commented that after about 65 psi they were out of puff and several comments about blowing the fuses in the car or them overheating and dying. I honestly don’t know how they can get away with advertising even 100 psi, never mind 150 or even 300.
It seems that to inflate trailer tyres you’d need a 10 bar compressor (145 psi). The lesser 8 bar ones are commonly found and used for air tools in garages, but those are only rated for a maximum of 115 psi and struggle and get really slow beyond 100 psi. The 10 bar compressors are “industrial” grade and the cheapest ones start just over £100. So this really is your only choice if you want to pump them up yourself.
I read that truck air brake reserve systems run at 100 psi, so as suspected, having a tyre inflator off the truck air system is only any use for slow punctures to get you out of trouble while you get to a tyre place.
anisboy:
One of my old Scanias came with a hose with a shraeder valve at each end for that very purpose, if never had to use it yet and probably never will unless like above I get stuck out in sticks and need a top up every now and again to get to somewhere what a fitter can get to. Probably not much of an issue here in the UK by might be when I get to NZ.
That pipe is to get air from the spare wheel into the vehicle system, without air, you cannot get a vehicle to go if its pto is stuck in gear or without air in the clutch pack or handbrake system.
Its the test point that is suitable for inflating tyres or driving air tools, ratchets, grease guns, etc.
Mick Bracewell:
The 10 bar compressors are “industrial” grade and the cheapest ones start just over £100.
An industrial one capable of that AND able to generate a decent quantity of air (CFM / cubic feet per minute is the thing to look at) for ~£100?
We purchased a compressor to supply 10 bar continuously last year, and the lesser model we bought was £9k+VAT… 3-phase and a permanent fixture to boot…
I keep all of my tyre pressures correct by topping them up using an airline which I attach to my red trailer supply line.
Works great and that is all I have used for years.
It has also saved me a few times when I have had a slow puncture and managed to catch it in time before it has gone completely flat and the bead has come off the rim.
I even managed to delegate the job to the misses a few years back when she came on a road trip down to Texas with me.
I had to supervise of course. Lol.
I know I am old but we was taught how to change wheels safely, walking them up etc. All tyres , be it trucks or tractors were inflated in a cage if the wheel was off . Playing with the airline was the sack . At the time you thought that they was a grumpy miserable boss, but now you realise how right they was.
Maybe it is a British thing because everyone I know carries an airline over here and every truck stop sells them. Never heard of anyone having a problem either.
Odd days:
I know I am old but we was taught how to change wheels safely, walking them up etc. All tyres , be it trucks or tractors were inflated in a cage if the wheel was off . Playing with the airline was the sack . At the time you thought that they was a grumpy miserable boss, but now you realise how right they was.
I think the cages were for split rim wheels, with inner tubes, not sure if they still use them on modern type tubeless truck wheels.
Odd days:
I know I am old but we was taught how to change wheels safely, walking them up etc. All tyres , be it trucks or tractors were inflated in a cage if the wheel was off . Playing with the airline was the sack . At the time you thought that they was a grumpy miserable boss, but now you realise how right they was.
I think the cages were for split rim wheels, with inner tubes, not sure if they still use them on modern type tubeless truck wheels.
Even a modern tyre can still “pop off”
Just look at the damage a trailer tyre does on the motorway, it can take mud wings off, twist cross members and destroy lamps, the same can happen if you reinflate a tyre that has been run flat, kerbed or had a major repair.
Odd days:
I know I am old but we was taught how to change wheels safely, walking them up etc. All tyres , be it trucks or tractors were inflated in a cage if the wheel was off . Playing with the airline was the sack . At the time you thought that they was a grumpy miserable boss, but now you realise how right they was.
I think the cages were for split rim wheels, with inner tubes, not sure if they still use them on modern type tubeless truck wheels.
Even a modern tyre can still “pop off”
Just look at the damage a trailer tyre does on the motorway, it can take mud wings off, twist cross members and destroy lamps, the same can happen if you reinflate a tyre that has been run flat, kerbed or had a major repair.
I know…that is why I said at the start of the thread all those weeks ago in 2017 …, that I don’t/won’t do it.
I was just commenting on the use of cages in the old days.
wire:
0I keep all of my tyre pressures correct by topping them up using an airline which I attach to my red trailer supply line.
Works great and that is all I have used for years.
It has also saved me a few times when I have had a slow puncture and managed to catch it in time before it has gone completely flat and the bead has come off the rim.
I even managed to delegate the job to the misses a few years back when she came on a road trip down to Texas with me.
I had to supervise of course. Lol.
Being that close to a tyre whilst inflating it, is an absolute no no
I’ve used my own airline for many nearly 20 years ,and it’s got me out of the ■■■■ many many times.it’s a clip on type,no ■■■■■■■ way would I be holding it on the valve with my head near the tyre.
wire:
0I keep all of my tyre pressures correct by topping them up using an airline which I attach to my red trailer supply line.
Works great and that is all I have used for years.
It has also saved me a few times when I have had a slow puncture and managed to catch it in time before it has gone completely flat and the bead has come off the rim.
I even managed to delegate the job to the misses a few years back when she came on a road trip down to Texas with me.
I had to supervise of course. Lol.
Being that close to a tyre whilst inflating it, is an absolute no no
wire:
0I keep all of my tyre pressures correct by topping them up using an airline which I attach to my red trailer supply line.
Works great and that is all I have used for years.
It has also saved me a few times when I have had a slow puncture and managed to catch it in time before it has gone completely flat and the bead has come off the rim.
I even managed to delegate the job to the misses a few years back when she came on a road trip down to Texas with me.
I had to supervise of course. Lol.
Being that close to a tyre whilst inflating it, is an absolute no no
wire:
0I keep all of my tyre pressures correct by topping them up using an airline which I attach to my red trailer supply line.
Works great and that is all I have used for years.
It has also saved me a few times when I have had a slow puncture and managed to catch it in time before it has gone completely flat and the bead has come off the rim.
I even managed to delegate the job to the misses a few years back when she came on a road trip down to Texas with me.
I had to supervise of course. Lol.
Being that close to a tyre whilst inflating it, is an absolute no no
.
