Tire Pressure

are It's just me I guess, but I'd wait till the tires cooled, for a few hours. On cars, it is "usually" recommended at least 4 hours of cool down time. Now on an 18 wheeler, frankly I cannot say a proper time for cooling down, but for me, I always give it at the very least 24 hours.

Then and only then, would I recheck all the tires and properly inflate them. Some drivers may "air up" when the tires just cool enough, but I do not, no one is to say for certain that all the tires cooled down at the same time in a short period of time.

This is what I do, others will chime in.

 

Buy yourself one of those air hoses that attaches to your glad hands. Not too expensive and invaluable in the truck. Then you won't have to drive the truck to the TS.

 

or if your a lazy old fat man like me you could do thishttp://www.loves.com/HomeLinks/TruckTireCare/TIREPASS/TIREPASSFAQs.aspx

 

I don't use Love's. Or anybody else for anything but fuel and TransFlo. Like Rusty says, get yourself a glad hand air hose, be independent and avoid not being able to reach a Love's or anybody else's external resource. If you have a low/flat condition 100 miles from a truckstop? Anyway, I use my air hose all the time, one of the best $30 I ever spent. (on sale at PFJ) I'd say get the kink-free hose, and look for threads in the air chuck. They sell some smooth bore chucks, which will not grab onto the tire valve, so you have to stand/squat there for 5 minutes or more pushing on the chuck.

I run 100lbs all tractor tires, cold inflation only. Sometimes I'll go from No. Montana to Laredo, which makes some interesting choices. There's some debate on this, like so many other things in the truck business. I'll run trailer tires minimum 100lbs, but if they're over, I leave them alone. More pressure, less friction, but you have to remember that more inflation means you'll wear off in the center treads faster. I guess if you're a company driver, ask them what's their preferrred tire protocol. I will tell you this, 90psi is underinflated. Best.

For what it's worth, I just checked my new steers for wear. All good and even, no vibration or other sign of trouble, 75K miles on the first 4/32 of tread. Doing a bit of math, that's more than 300K miles on a set of XZA3 Michelin steer tires. So the 100psi cold inflation number is working for me.

Last comment. I was having trouble getting accurate, durable tire guages at truckstops. I asked my local NAPA auto guy (weekend Champ Car racer) about a solution. He sold me a digital guage that is good down to 1/10th psi. I see the NASCAR pit mechanics using them. It's completely solved my problem, accurate measurements, easy to read. FYI J

 

Then wrap it around an extension cord reel for easy storage.

People have often asked where I got one on a reel. I tell them it's the same hose kit they sell at all truckstops. I added the reel from Walmart.

 

I too bought a complete air hose, that had the glad hand and the chuck, from a Pilot but mine was bought many, many years ago, cost $20. I just roll it up and stored it in the side door compartment, no need for a reel.

 

well, first off you should know what the recommended pressure in the tire is supposed to be. I know my steers are 105 to 110 and my drives are 90 to 100. I usually check them when I come in Monday morning, if one is low I'll either use my air hose or if the shop is open I'll pull open to the building. Sometimes, depending on the load, a properly inflated tire can still look low.

 

Check the tire manufacturers load and inflation tables. 8 drives/trailer inflated to 100 psi cold are likely overinflated. At 34000 on a tandem set the loading of each tire is only 4250lbs. Steers are almost exactly the opposite, even empty a setback axle truck with full tanks is probably running over 5500lbs on each steer.

Yokohama recommends 80psi for my 295/75-22.5 drives. Goodyear and
Michelin are very close to that for similar size tires. When in doubt check with the experts, they spent a lot of money and time designing tires and determining the best pressure vs loading vs wear.

 

Go to the tire manufacturer's website and look at the load/inflation tables. You will find that most people including tire shops don't know what they are talking about on what proper inflation is.

Most guys at the tire shops will say "we always do this" or "everyone does it this way". All they know is heresay.

I could quote it here but don't care to get in an argument. Best thing is look it up yourself.