Checking tire pressure - how do you do it?

I always use a gauge, and yes you can use any air compressor there is. Just might take longer.

 

Use a gauge... a thumper won't tell you exact pressure. They sell glad hand air hoses in most truck stops for about $30. You just hook it to the emergency line of the truck and "release the trailer brakes." Then you have an air compressor and a way to fill the tires.

 

Get yourself one of these

 

With experience you can thump a tire with a rubber mallet and tell if the tire is LOW (Under 80psi) or more than 100psi,than come around with tire gauge to see how low/high. I carry a rubber air line in the trk that I hook up to the red service line valve and than go to the cab and push in the trl valve to release air. Avoid buying those cheaper plastic coated air lines and go for the higher quality rubber hoses instead.

 

Always use a guage and check them during your pretrip to make sure they are legal (90 - 110). I always keep them right in the middle at 100psi. Every truck stop sells the hose bakerman suggested for around $30 and you will never need to use one at the fuel island. The other thing those hoses are good for is taking off the head for the tire inflater and putting on a blow wand to spray out your trailer to clean it. Much faster then a broom. I bought 2 hoses and a wand for about $75 and never looked back. If you do get a hose dont buy the pvc ones they kink all the time, get the flexable ones that can streach.

 

To be honest most of the time the trailers I pulled had those auto inflaters on them. It's a lot of trouble to gauge check them so most of the time I used my hammer to thump to make sure they were inflated. With experience you can get a good idea by thumping Along with a good visual check. Yes you should use a gauge but the biggest thing that will get you in trouble tire wise is the tandems rubbing against each other. DOT officers that has been around can tell by looking at your tires if you might have an under inflated tire or overloading them.

Now to answer your question, use a gauge as much as possible. I used one but I also was comfortable thumping them too.

 

My preferred weapon of choice is an old $5 claw hammer (multi-purpose, good for putting nails out of trailer floorboards, too). After a while, you develop an ear for a low tire, and then you can check the accurate pressure with your gauge.

 

According to the bossman, a boot is not the preferred method of ascertaining proper psi levels

 

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