Maintaining proper tire pressure is essential to a good ride, the longevity of the tires and most importantly, your safety. As delivered from the factory, your Lazy Daze does not provide a convenient method for checking the pressure in the rear tires; the stock tire valves are hard to access with a pressure gauge.
Extenders, such as the common braid-covered type, are simply hoses that are added onto existing valve stems. Although many LD'ers have used these with no problems, they are somewhat failure-prone.
Formed valve stems, such as those from Borg are long, rigid metal tubes that replace the existing short valve stems. Long stems like these are generally a more reliable solution than extenders.
- The Borgs stems are available in either brass or chrome-plated brass and were $110/$120 for a set of four. They're available from Your Tire Supply.
- Advantages: 1) Very easy to check pressure and add air if necessary.
- Disadvantages: 1) Expensive. 2) Identifies each wheel position as inside duel, outside dual or front making tire rotation very difficult and impossible to follow recommended rotation sequences without dismounting tires from rims. 3) Air in the stem is under pressure so a fracture of the stem (while unlikely) will cause loss of pressure in tire.
Caution: For either type, be sure to carefully follow the proper installation procedures.
- Familiarize yourself completely with the kit contents (are all the "pieces" there?) and understand the installation procedures *before* heading for the shop.
- Second, ask the service writer for the "tech" with experience installing long valves, and, if at all possible, monitor the installation!
- Third, check the installation carefully before paying the bill and leaving the shop:
1. Get a flashlight and be prepared to get down and look at the installation on the inner dual.
2. Remove the wheel covers (or better, ask the installer to leave these off until the job could be checked) and make sure that the rubber support grommets were used and that the valves are installed straight and not "tweaked".
3. Replace the wheel covers and make sure that the valves aren't rubbing on the side of the holes; this is a problem with the 8-hole configuration KII wheel covers used through 2006. You can have the wheel cover holes on both wheels enlarged using a plasma cutter to accommodate the inner dual valve. (The 4-hole wheel covers - 2006 > present - apparently have their own problems, but I can't speak to those.)
4. If you had air-through Alligator caps on the original valves, did the shop remove these and replace them on the long valves or just stick a cheap valve cap on the new valves?
5. Check the pressures on all 6 tires, and adjust to your rig's "specs". The tires should be cold, so one should get an accurate reading. It's likely that the shop has inflated all the tires to the "on the sidewall" max of 80 pounds.
Contributors: Steve K, Joan Taylor, GaleLynn, Andy Baird, Rich Gort
Revised 3 May 2022
Return to FAQ Index
