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Tire deflators ... what your mother forgot to tell you

47Jeepster

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I love my Staun deflators ... only five minutes to deflate all four of my 33 inch tires ... faster than the ARB style deflator. But, after a year, I bumped up to 35x12.5 tires (now seven minutes to deflate) and decided to lower the tire pressure to get more sidewall deflection out of the E rated KM3s.

Messed with the deflators forever to get them dialed in to 14 psi. They seemed unusually sensitive. The first use on the trail yielded one tire at 12.5 psi, one at 16 psi, and the other two at 14psi. Damn, that's not good. Well, it turns out that the deflators get dirty on the inside ... probably some of the rubber "dust" from the inside of the tire combined with moisture. When you rotate the knob to change the pressure setting, that realigns the internal components and realigns the gummed up portions.

I disassembled the deflators and cleaned off the gunk. Reassembled them and they were as easy to reset as if they were new. Approximately three turns inward of the cap and they were close to 14 psi.

Here is what one looks like after disassembly ... no worries on the spring flying out when disassembling since it's not under compression when the cap comes off. Notice the gunk on the plunger unit ... there's some inside the bore also.

20191104_121441.jpg


Here's what it looks like after an application of denatured alcohol ...

20191104_121622.jpg
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wibornz

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I hate those type of deflators. I think I spent about 9 hours trying to get mine to deflate correctly. I would set them. Then the next time they would be off by 5 to 7 pounds, Temperture change, and just about everything made them be inconsistent. I like the idea of them, but blowing up 37s twenty times trying to get them all to deflate to the same pressure killed it for me. I even tried using a bike tire and I was just never able to get them to be consistent.
 
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47Jeepster

47Jeepster

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I hate those type of deflators. I think I spent about 9 hours trying to get mine to deflate correctly. I would set them. Then the next time they would be off by 5 to 7 pounds, Temperature change, and just about everything made them be inconsistent. I like the idea of them, but blowing up 37s twenty times trying to get them all to deflate to the same pressure killed it for me. I even tried using a bike tire and I was just never able to get them to be consistent.
Hey Ted, what is/was the brand of deflators you had trouble with?

The Staun seems to be very accurate once they're cleaned up. You have to remove anything that is going to cause internal friction ... manufacturing residue, gunk from use, etc.. The spring rate should be reasonably consistent over a normal operating range to yield a steady pressure. They are so simple that malfunctions shouldn't occur.

Now, as to difficulty setting the pressure, that I can't defend. The external, locking-collar mechanism is not the best design available ... I have a mark on the cap that aligns with the bleed hole as a check for movement. Instead of going with a smaller tire (good idea) I simply started with a pressure that was only 8~10 psi over the pressure I was trying to set. Since it's a simple poppet valve, that seems to work correctly.

There is at least one (Trailhead) poppet valve deflator that uses an allen wrench to set the pressure. Would love to have a set of those to fool around with ... they should be easy to dial in to the correct pressure. See this video:



PS ... while you were out here running trails in Utah this fall, I was back in Michigan running trails in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
 
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47Jeepster

47Jeepster

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Here's an additional video (review) of the Trailhead deflators. Looks like it was posted last month. It's a little long, but he discusses cleaning the deflators and using a bike tire to check the setting. Plus, he shows how easy it is to accurately change the setting.

 

1996cc

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My mom taught me how to use a core tool, lol. $4 tool and I’m always the first one aired down...

Just giving you a hard time. But it’s also what I do, and I never have to clean it :)
 

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47Jeepster

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My mom taught me how to use a core tool, lol. $4 tool and I’m always the first one aired down...

Just giving you a hard time. But it’s also what I do, and I never have to clean it :)
No worries mate, but how about a time check. Time it from "Jeep stopped" to "Jeep moving."

My time is seven minutes from 34psi to 14psi with 35x12.5 KM3s using the Staun deflators.
 
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wibornz

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I use this. It is easy and I never risk losing the core either. The reason I like this is I off road in a lot of different terrain and very my tire pressure for the type of terrain.

For instance on Silver Lake Sand Dunes, I run 6 psi.
Rock crawling, I run 8 or 9 psi
Normal Michigan trails, I run 12 psi
If I know that when running trails, that I will be on and off hard surface roads going from trail to trail, I run 15 psi.

This tool lets me easily adjust and is fast.

ARB600-2.jpg
 

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I use this. It is easy and I never risk losing the core either. The reason I like this is I off road in a lot of different terrain and very my tire pressure for the type of terrain.

For instance on Silver Lake Sand Dunes, I run 6 psi.
Rock crawling, I run 8 or 9 psi
Normal Michigan trails, I run 12 psi
If I know that when running trails, that I will be on and off hard surface roads going from trail to trail, I run 15 psi.

This tool lets me easily adjust and is fast.

ARB600-2.jpg
+1. Tried a few different kinds and this is my favorite. Maybe not the absolute fastest way to air down but gives me the most control.
 

2Wheel-Lee

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I actually installed a built-in 4-wheel inflator/deflator system I built. Sure, once you get it all hooked up it's fast, but you still have to hook up all four hoses and then deal with that mess for storage. Though I've always used and have been happy with the Staun's deflators, I still use a gauge to manually tune the pressure. I just started using both an ARB and Currie deflators (I have one of each), I think this will be my go-to method. For inflation, I'm super impressed by the ARB twin - I can inflate my 37s from 9 psi to 28 in no time, and I only have to deal with one simple hose. I'm abandoning my multi-tire system.
 

wibornz

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I actually installed a built-in 4-wheel inflator/deflator system I built. Sure, once you get it all hooked up it's fast, but you still have to hook up all four hoses and then deal with that mess for storage. Though I've always used and have been happy with the Staun's deflators, I still use a gauge to manually tune the pressure. I just started using both an ARB and Currie deflators (I have one of each), I think this will be my go-to method. For inflation, I'm super impressed by the ARB twin - I can inflate my 37s from 9 psi to 28 in no time, and I only have to deal with one simple hose. I'm abandoning my multi-tire system.
I also built a four hose system for airing up and down. I like it, but it take up too much space so I used it once on a weekend of trails and never again. I thought it would air down all the tires and equalize the pressure between all four. Well, it will, but it not like you think nor as fast as you would think. I thought it would air up the tires equally at the same time...Nope some they all filled at different speeds. Not a big deal as I could watch the TPMS on the dash and unhook them as they filled back up to 27 psi. The biggest problem was how much space the system took up.
 

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2Wheel-Lee

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I also built a four hose system for airing up and down. I like it, but it take up too much space so I used it once on a weekend of trails and never again. I thought it would air down all the tires and equalize the pressure between all four. Well, it will, but it not like you think nor as fast as you would think. I thought it would air up the tires equally at the same time...Nope some they all filled at different speeds. Not a big deal as I could watch the TPMS on the dash and unhook them as they filled back up to 27 psi. The biggest problem was how much space the system took up.
Exactly, the space for either an external 4-tire hose setup or even a built-in setup is more than what I care to give up. Not to mention, I'd still want an extra hose. And then dealing with that mess.

The other weekend, I gassed and aired up faster than a buddy gassed up using a standard hose to my twin.
 
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47Jeepster

47Jeepster

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Just a quick update on changes I've made.

First I did buy a set of the Trailhead deflators. Love them ... dialed in the pressures with no problems ... sweet. For some reason they take an extra 18 seconds (4:45 versus 4:27 for the Staun) or so to deflate a 35" tire from 34 psi to 14 psi as compared to the Stauns ... no big worry. There is one downside for anyone who runs their highway pressures really low. The Trailhead deflators don't have an external connection to the poppet. Thus, if you're only going to drop the pressure 10 psi or less, they won't work ... need more than that to initial unseat the poppet.

I built a two tire inflation system. Since I had to have a 25 foot hose anyway, I simply added a short side hose to include the rear tire ... my compressor is permanently installed in the rear of the Jeep. That way the extra hose is minimal ... so uncoiling and recoiling is simple ... no wrestling with an octopus.
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