Valve Stem Extension

i keep meaning to pick up one of these myself. the accugauge check a spare on amazon looks good for $7.68

 

apparently with a lot of this extensions the result is comparable to a slow leak/
otherwise I would be the first in line to get one/

BION

 

i was wondering about that. but at least it's easy to top up, if you keep an eye on it.

 

I bought an extension from Amazon (I think) that was long enough to reach to the left-side storage bin in Gen 2/3 cars so all I had to do was lift the little cover in the corner to check/fill the spare.

I actually bought two, one for my car and one for my wife's. The one I bought for my wife's car was fine, the one for my car did what a previous poster said - acted as a slow leak so it was not very long before my spare tire wasn't useful as a spare...

 

I don't see why it would have to be, assuming the end attached to the spare has a healthy seal washer and is tightened securely, and the free end has a Schrader valve that works as well as the one in the spare, and the hose doesn't leak....

Maybe it's a quality control thing, as @walterm reports having a slow leak in one sample out of two. The first things I'd check would be the easy stuff, rubber in the one end, Schrader valve in the free end, or maybe where each fitting is crimped to the hose.

I didn't know about these products when I was making my own tire topper-upper, so the only source I knew about for a good thread-onto-a-Schrader-valve fitting was this one from Silca, which I then just assembled onto a short length of hose. The stem on the Silca fitting is a bit narrower than standard US ¼" hose, so it has to be a narrower hose to make a good fit.



But starting with one of these preassembled extensions would have saved me the time of assembling my own, and at the price, I think it's even less money. That's probably what I'd start with if I were doing it over, and if I happened to get one that leaked, I'd just fix it, which wouldn't be any more trouble than assembling my own anyway.

-Chap

 

Me, I love to pull that spare out, maybe once a year, check for water incursion. Do a little dusting. Doesn't everyone love doing this? Anyone?

 

Sounds like a good time. Or, I could see another mod involving some cheapo water alarm (maybe one with three pads, one for the spare tire well and one for each aft-of-wheel well?)—considering that roof leaks and hatch area water incursion do seem to be reported things....

-Chap

 

I did my monthly tire pressure check today on my Prius and my wife's Rav4, including the spares. Not a major hassle removing the spares, but Toyota should at least design it so the valve stem is facing up, so no removal is necessary.

 

What would you do then if you needed to add air while the spare was mounted on the car?

-Chap

 

agreed. what the problem with valve stem up? that's how i keep my hatch spare.

 

if you have it on the car that long, you have bigger fish to fry.

 

or, you could just mount the spare in the well, valve side up.

 

You could, but they always seem to like the idea of using the space dished into the wheel for storing stuff, like towing eyes and lug wrenches and stuff. That space would be kind of inaccessible if you mounted the spare wheel dished side down.

So, build the spare wheel so the valve stem pokes out the inside, as mounted on the car? Maybe, if you're really sure you'll use it for such short periods it never needs air while on the car.

-Chap

 

mount the junk under the wheel. if you need the junk, you're gonna need the wheel.

 

I find checking the spare pressure about once a year, it's down maybe 5 psi at the most. And yeah, flip it and you lose a significant storage volume.

 

you can't change volume by flipping it. and i would recommend checking it more than once a year.

 

You can sure change accessible volume, though. In my case, I'm not sure it's accurate to say "if I need the junk, I need the wheel"—I think I needed the spare exactly one time with my Gen 1 (and zero times so far with my Gen 3), but I do use the tools more often than that (especially seeing a Gen 3 needs to be raised for oil changes, which Gen 1 didn't). Granted, in my particular Gen 3, the tools aren't inside the wheel any more because there's a compressor there. I still like that I can access the compressor, if I need to, without taking the wheel out.

And if I remember right, the plastic tool/jack carrier didn't fit entirely within the wheel, but also projected up above it. I guess you could design that to be flipped too, and the wheel would sit up above it, dished side down.

Or maybe Toyota should just raise the price of the car by $7.68, and throw in a valve stem extension.

-Chap

 

that would be acceptable. if i were king toyota, it would be my first act.