Inflating tires...and your tools that do it.

[Oida!]

The feedback from each of you has helped. Thank you again for your input.

It seems to me that everyone has good things to say about Milton's products. Or more importantly....nobody has chimed in with a poor experience.

Depending on frequency of use, garage environment, whatever....going digital with a pressure gauge vs mechanical is encouraged/suggested/recommended. I had a tiny little digital gauge made by Slime for a while. But it was so small and it felt "cheap" that I didn't give it the respect I give to some of my other tools.

As far as my rig setup, I'll be towing a small boat on a dual axle trailer. The tongue weight is about 700 lbs and the trailer plus boat plus fuel plus all the ****....and I'm towing about 9000 lbs behind me.

Which brings me to the PSI question of the truck's tires. I am going to follow the data sticker on door. I will pay more attention to things when I've got the trailer hitched onto the back.

It came as a surprise that pretty much everyone felt the pain of inaccurate gauges, either recently or at some point in the past. Digital is the way to go.

Getting a "true connection between the inflator and the valve stems of the inner tires of the rear axle will continue to be an exercise in governing my frustration. But I will plow through it. There's something wrong with my technique, or the stems, I don't know. But I'll figure it out.

Thanks again to each of you who chimed in. I learned a few things here. Again, thank you.

 

[Oida!]

The YA258 has a U.S. Gauge (round dial) instead of the number-line setup that I think the one you posted has. I don't have a picture currently.

I have a locking chuck somewhere to use when seating tractor tire beads, in case one lets go, its not a recovery site you would want to be a direct part of.

Yes, my inflator model has the number-line-setup. The only thing more difficult than getting to those stems on the inner dually axle, is to get a reading on the inflator. But I am plowing onward with a good attitude.

 

[engineer2]

Nitrogen is used in aviation to mitigate pressure changes with altitude.

Not true. Fire safety and other reasons. All gases follow the ideal gas law, Pv=nRT including nitrogen, air, and water vapor. The problem with water vapor is that it can condense out under certain conditions leading to unpredictable changes.

Per GoodYear for aircraft tires: "It is recommended that only dry nitrogen be used for tire inflation, as nitrogen will not sustain combustion and will reduce degradation of the liner material and casing plies due to oxidation."

Per Michelin: "Many regulatory agencies require the use of nitrogen when inflating tires for aircraft above a specified Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW). Michelin recommends the use of a dry, commercial grade nitrogen of at least 97% purity when inflating all aircraft tires. Nitrogen provides a stable, inert inflation gas while eliminating the introduction of moisture into the tire cavity. Oxygen concentration should never exceed 5%."

 

[MushCreek]

I have a bunch of pencil-types that I picked up cheap. Surprisingly, they pretty much agree with each other. One problem is that they don't go high enough for 3/4 ton truck tires. I'd like to get something more accurate for my Miata, too, because it is very sensitive to proper tire pressure. I have one tire with a very slow leak, and I can feel it if it's down more than 5 psi.

 

[HenryAZ]

One problem is that they don't go high enough for 3/4 ton truck tires.

Milton 976 heavy duty service gauge, reads 10psi -> 160psi.

 

[MushCreek]

Milton 976 heavy duty service gauge, reads 10psi -> 160psi.

The cheap ones I have were $2 each, as opposed to $110. I'm not sure I'd trust a 160 PSI gauge to be really accurate at 26 PSI for the Miata, either.

 

[Buckaroo5]

I like this inflator/deflator with digital guage..

Astro Pneumatic Tool 3018

And this gauge for quickly checking whatever...

Tekton Digital Guage

I have this same equipment - love it but have a problem. I now have a bicycle courtesy of my son that has Presta valves. I have been trying to figure out what adapter I needed to fill them using my Astro Pneumatic tire inflator. I ordered this from Amazon but was really guessing.....does anyone have any better suggestions?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J6CIBJ0/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Buckaroo

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

I have a bunch of pencil-types that I picked up cheap. Surprisingly, they pretty much agree with each other. One problem is that they don't go high enough for 3/4 ton truck tires. I'd like to get something more accurate for my Miata, too, because it is very sensitive to proper tire pressure. I have one tire with a very slow leak, and I can feel it if it's down more than 5 psi.

Lots of options out there in cheap pencil types for 3/4 ton trucks.
https://www.zoro.com/search?q=pencil gauge

 

[Vvmvbb]

Digital makes the job harder. What you’re doing is closing in on a target pressure, and analog gauges help by showing you proportion. With digital you are forced to do little mental subtractions in your head to know how fast you are approaching the target.

 

[OCD]

Don't use what's on the sidewall of the tire as your pressure. That is the maximum pressure at the tires maximum load. Chalk test your tires and what's printed on the door jamb is a good start if your vehicle is stock or near stock. If you run heavy, then a chalk test is in order. Actually the accuracy of a tire gauge isn't that important. More important is consistency. Chalk test your tires to dial in the optimum pressure for your vehicle and use the same gauge.

My go to gauge is a Powertank digital gauge. Deflating or airing up, I use a home made "manifold to do 2 tires at once that has a Longacre gauge on it. I keep a Viaire 088 in my truck and sometimes a CO2 tank as well......

Nice set up!!

 

[Barnabas]

While waiting on the M18 inflators, I got one of these 12v/120v Kobalt inflators from Lowes. I recently moved 22 vehicles from one field to another, and this worked real well to inflate the old tires. I powered it from the winch battery in my car hauling trailer. It's a good little inflator.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-AC-Voltage-Air-Inflator-Power-Source-Car/1000092575

Prior to this I was using a Craftsman 18v inflator, but it was wearing out.

 

[Crow Horse]

Digital makes the job harder. What you’re doing is closing in on a target pressure, and analog gauges help by showing you proportion. With digital you are forced to do little mental subtractions in your head to know how fast you are approaching the target.

Can you expand on this? With my digital gauge, it's not a problem zeroing in on a specific pressure even down to a tenth of a pound.....

 

[jimmyin3D]

Milton Tire Gauges are excellent for the price and they are Made in USA, it’s hard to beat.

I’ve also checked the Milton against some digital ones to make sure and it’s been great so far.





——————————————————————-
Check out my for sale listing in the classifieds:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=438994

 

[nelstomlinson]

78%/21%/1% recipe for me....

Dude, that's my recipe!

 

[uscarry45]

I was in the same spot you are. I finally asked my tire dealer what they use. The company they recommend as do i is DILL. The inflator grans on and stays on as it inflates. I have heard good things about the snap on dual foot inflator as well. For dual tires i recccomend 4-6” valve stem extensions. Which is what i run on our kenworth trucks.

 

[Parrothead]

1. Your preferred pneumatic tire inflator, and why?
The gas station within walking distance of my house. It’s free and convenient
2. Your fave tire pressure gauge, and why.
The TPMS on the car, but my digital Husky I bought for $5 on Black Friday works for me
3. How to easily inflate and check pressure on a dually (the rear axle, of course)
Don’t, and wouldn’t own a dually
4. Filling tires with Nitrogen. Yes or no? Why or why not?
I have in the past. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.

 

[Hawke]

I’m sitting here in Goulburn, Australia, after race practice for the first Formula Ford race of the season in New South Wales. I noted that no one was using N2 for tyres, just air. I use a tank of 3000 psi clean and dry air, that gives reliable pressure increase during a race session.

Two weeks ago, at Phillip Island in Victoria, I didn’t see any N2 being used.

And if stretch my mind, at Road America last September, I cant recall anyone using N2.

In a lifetime of racing, I have never seen any evidence that N2 offers any improvement over clean and dry air. If you really want to go faster, spend your money on new tyres and or accurate shock absorbers along with proper set up. That will work.

 

[MushCreek]

When we bought the wife's RAV4, they tried to charge us $300 (!) for the nitrogen in the tires. They said it was necessary or the low tire warning light would come on during temperature changes. I said I didn't need the nitrogen, and they said they could take it out, but would still have to charge me the $300. I offered to take my business elsewhere, and they suddenly were able to throw it in for free.

 

[Vvmvbb]

Can you expand on this? With my digital gauge, it's not a problem zeroing in on a specific pressure even down to a tenth of a pound.....

Sure. It’s not that you can’t converge to any particular accuracy with either analog or digital, it’s that the convergence process takes less mental energy with analog. It’s a simple thing really. Let’s say you are at 20psi going to 30psi. You give it some air and it fills to say 23psi. On the analog gauge you don’t care that it’s 23, you just know you went about 1/3 of the way. You saw how fast the gauge moved. Give it another shot of air something like twice as long. With digital, what you are actually doing in your head is 23-20 and that’s about 1/3 of 30-20. You have to care about the numbers while you are converging, and that care isn’t buying you anything. It’s waste. Of course it’s not that hard to do the mental math and most of us don’t even realize we’re doing it. But an analog gauge just does it for you.

 

[engineer2]

With a digital gauge/inflator, you simply set it to the pressure you want. 32.0, 33.5, 35.0, whatever. If you go a little past, just hit the bleed button.

 

[Crow Horse]

Sure. It’s not that you can’t converge to any particular accuracy with either analog or digital, it’s that the convergence process takes less mental energy with analog. It’s a simple thing really. Let’s say you are at 20psi going to 30psi. You give it some air and it fills to say 23psi. On the analog gauge you don’t care that it’s 23, you just know you went about 1/3 of the way. You saw how fast the gauge moved. Give it another shot of air something like twice as long. With digital, what you are actually doing in your head is 23-20 and that’s about 1/3 of 30-20. You have to care about the numbers while you are converging, and that care isn’t buying you anything. It’s waste. Of course it’s not that hard to do the mental math and most of us don’t even realize we’re doing it. But an analog gauge just does it for you.

I'm all about saving or conserving energy especially at this point in life, but I don't feel that working the grey matter in this arena posses any undue stress....

 

[Vvmvbb]

I'm all about saving or conserving energy especially at this point in life, but I don't feel that working the grey matter in this arena posses any undue stress....

Yep - definitely better for us all to do the mental exercise. I do find analog gauges a little more enjoyable to use personally.

This topic comes up all the time in all sorts of gauging applications besides inflators. ie speedometers, etc. Analog gauges do a lot at once. Brains are naturally adapted to judge velocities and sizes/proportions but not numerical/symbolic differences. Analog gauges show information in a way your brain can just get it.

 

[refer radar]

For a portable offering I love the dewalt 20v inflator

I actually got it because it's the only battery inflator that has a seperate low pressure high volume pump for inflating things like rafts, tubes, mattresses. Incredible battery life for low pressure high volume. It seems like the high pressure side of it performs better than most other brands as well.

 

[mrborohachi]

Anyone own this Snap-On in Royal w/Cheese Units

Even tho I own Japanese cars the units do piss me off.

 

[jives]

Until this year I used the air pumps at gas stations, but in out area they have all gone to the preset type, and they max out at 60 or 70 psi. So, I bought my first compressor, a 3 gal, 150 psi Craftsman unit that was half price at Lowes. Even about $20 cheaper than HF. It works, but the 80 psi on my E350 tires still takes a while.

 

[MattT]

Anyone own this Snap-On in Royal w/Cheese Units

Even tho I own Japanese cars the units do piss me off.

Europe seems to use Bar. 1 Bar is roughly 15 psi so it's an easy conversion unless you need high accuracy.

That idiotic pascal garbage is mostly asian, and I think mandatory in Japan, so it is the "correct" gauge for your cars

 

[engineer2]

What tire pressure unit are actually used in different parts of the world?

 

[HenryAZ]

The cheap ones I have were $2 each, as opposed to $110. I'm not sure I'd trust a 160 PSI gauge to be really accurate at 26 PSI for the Miata, either.

Nor would I (trust it for lower readings), which is why I use an Intercomp 0-60psi gauge for almost everything. If it's over 50psi, I use the Milton service model.

 

[dimichele]

Cheap hf pistol grip inflator with guage is working well so far but has a cheap feel to it.

Crapsman c3 inflator.

 

[johninct]

I have a 1996 F-350 w/ Powerstroke. I never really had a heavy load in it yet and have been running 55psi since new because I tried higher pressure when I bought it and could not ride in it because of the hard ride and bouncing. I someday may try higher pressure because the truck is broke in more now.

For trucks, you follow the tire manufacturer's recommended psi (the max) over the sticker on the door?

My '95 F350 7.5 460 big block is a dually. All six tires are basic Mesa A/P2 tires I bought at Big O about 10,000 miles ago.

Ford recommends 60psi front, 80 psi rear. I have followed this reco.

But now I'm curious to know what the over effect would be if I did 80 psi in the front too....

1. Would it accelerate tire wear?
2. Would it increase my mpg?
3. Would it negatively impact the comfort of the ride?
4. Would the increased psi have a slightly increased "bouncy" or "jostling" type stress on the engine, or any of the components for that matter? (I'm thinking fuel injector rail? The battery? Starter? Some other component?

 

[JJ99SS]

Anyone own this Snap-On in Royal w/Cheese Units

Even tho I own Japanese cars the units do piss me off.

Because of the Metric system? LOL Royal with cheese....

I use a Joes Racing inflator. They have some great products.

https://www.joesracing.com/products/tools-equipment/tire-tools/tire-gauges-inflators/

 

[minke]

I have this same equipment - love it but have a problem. I now have a bicycle courtesy of my son that has Presta valves. I have been trying to figure out what adapter I needed to fill them using my Astro Pneumatic tire inflator. I ordered this from Amazon but was really guessing.....does anyone have any better suggestions?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J6CIBJ0/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Buckaroo

Presuming that you are talking about a road bike you'll have low volume with high pressure. Because of the low volume I'd recommend a hand (or better yet a floor) pump.

 

[Wrench97]

Astro Pneumatic 3018 best money I spent last year.




https://www.astrotools.com/3-5-digital-tire-inflator-with-hose.html

 

[GrundleJuice]

Presuming that you are talking about a road bike you'll have low volume with high pressure. Because of the low volume I'd recommend a hand (or better yet a floor) pump.

You might be right about a road bike but pretty much any quality bicycle will have a presta type valve these days so it could be anything from a full blow race road bike to a ultra comfort beach cruiser.

In any case, the adapter linked from Amazon will work. My only issue with those is that the seal is dragged over the side of the presta valve twice each time it's used, and many are externally threaded so it can tear up the seal quickly. A bit if lube helps, but an adapter that stays on the valve or one that has a constricting oriface should last for years.

These guys thread onto the presta valve and can just stay there. One potential issue is that the valve must be in the open position when these are installed and stay that way for them to be useful so if there is any debris that allows for a slow leak at the valve there will be no way to stop it without removing these. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TWXZBCM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[SGKent]

View media item 101978

 

[Wyoming09]

Astro Pneumatic 3018 best money I spent last year.




https://www.astrotools.com/3-5-digital-tire-inflator-with-hose.html

This. I'd also agree with Wrench97s assessment about best money spent last year.

 

[VolvoRyan]

For filling, I "hot-rodded" a 10g portable air tank from Lowes (just added new fittings and a ball valve), 10' lead of rubber (Good-year) air hose, and a classic Milton inflater. Eight cars and 200' of driveway means I'm short on hose from my compressor in the garage.

I agree with others: I'd love to have a battery powered (Milwaukee, Dewaltt, etc) inflator. Much lighter than the rig above.... which seems to weigh 5x more after a day of wrenching.

I just have a cheap digital gauge for spot checking tires. I've found that they're all pretty spot-on and durable for home use.

As for TPMS, our Mopar was off by a few PSI. I know that some are spot on.

-Ryan

 

[Aileron]

I took a couple $6.00 harbor freight inflators and removed the gauge, installed a 1'8 mnpt x 1/4" fnpt and picked up a couple decent ( at least i think) digital gauges from amazon and installed them. I have one with a 90 chuck for motorcycle tires and have another with a 6" straight chuck for my dually. works good and mine doesn't leak.
I also have a few tires with nitrogen in them also. I took a female quick connect and added a !/4" NPT x 1/4" flare fiitting for the connection and use a small nitrogen tank and regulator connected with a 1/4 "refrigerant hose. My inflators plug right in to that setup also. this setup also works good out in the field for filling bladder expansion tanks.
Here's the deal, I would have purchased a complete inflator kit already built, but I'm not paying a high price to get the same thing from china I built with a brand name on it. I know what i have and if the inflator section goes bad, I'll look for another 20% coupon.

 

[Aileron]

I use one of these for my drag slicks. 5" lighted dial on mine.
https://www.jerrybickel.com/racing-wheels-and-tires/csr-gauge-with-case-csr700.html

 

[lbperry]

Just bought a Dewalt 20V Max inflator and so far am happy with it, Instead of the tire valve connector I would prefer more of a quick connect. I have one made for an air hose but its not threaded to accept the Dewalt connector.
Do any of you know where I can find a clip-on connector or an adapter for the Dewalt.
Thanks,