This just sucks. Tymate TPMS failed me

Driving through Charleston WV on Sunday I smoked a Goodyear Endurance and my Tymate TPMS didn't alarm until I was off the road. Turns out I need a signal booster. I was very disappointed.

I had no trouble changing the tire using the Trailer aid ramp once I got off the interstate. Found 4 new Goodyear Endurance tires at NTB the next morning and replaced them all. Valve stem failed.

This my friends is one of the many reasons why you don't overload you rig.

 

Damn. don't you hate it when that happens. I had an air leak on my SC for the longest times and I kept struggling to find the culprit. I sprayed soapy water on the thread, but had no success, it took a car wash to figure it out, while I was scrubbing the quarter panel a massive bubble developed right on the valve stem. So I replaced the valve stem and the cap, as both were leaking.

 

At least it didn’t tear up your trailer. Looks like you caught it before it shredded. I had a similar issue on my Mazda, very slight cut on the valve stem. Finally found it like blackdemon_tt.

 

Have a link to the trailer aid ramps you use?

 

I have this one.....

Trailer Aid Camco Tandem Tire Changing Ramp with 4.5-Inch Lift, Yellow (21000)

$56 Trailer Aid Camco Tandem Tire Changing Ramp with 4.5" Lift, Yellow (21000)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I4JPZE

 

Booooo. This stinks. My nightmare when towing. And I've got "Trailer Kings" on mine I think.

 

You can basically use about anything that won't harm the tire or the item itself. Some things are obviously easier to pull onto than others.

 

Could it be low battery in the sending unit? Meaning basically a signal booster will only work if the sending unit battery is also in decent condition.
Also, metal valve stems might last longer, but would obviously snap off easily too. Kinda gotta pick your poison.

 

I replace the batteries each year before we leave to go south. I inquired about a valve stem similar to the TPMS style and NTB they said the type in there were all they were allowed to install in a high pressure tire. I questioned having the extra weight of the sensor causing a problem and they said they've never known that to be a problem.

 

I carried blocks but a fellow camper that traded his 5er for a Class A kept them and gave it to me. I almost left it behind this trip too. I had never used one and was skeptical until I tried it. With the wife watching the climb up the ramp, I got it stopped right in the dip on top. By yourself it might be easy to go too far.

 

Yes. Hit and miss. Coming from an industry where fail safe is the norm, dummy me assumed if the signal was lost it would alarm. Nope. Not designed that way.

 

That one is very similar to mine. If I measure from the ground up to the low spot in the cradle I get 5.5". Mine also has a 1" thick black plastic piece where the good tire rests so maybe that's why I have the extra lift. It states 15,000 # capacity at 70°F. No way a 4.5" light would have been enough with the spread between my axles. The 5.5" barely made it.

 

I'm not sure how you'd get it up on the blocks, especially with one flat tire.

I was hoping to be able to use the bottle jack that came with my truck but it's only rated for 3000 lbs and my trailer GVWR is 7500. I'm also not sure where on the frame would be safe to jack.

 

My original plan was to use a combination of the stabilizer jacks, one heavy duty scissor jack and the Tundra jack balancing between all of them. I carry enough blocking with me for any leveling, ramping and the tongue jack so I'm set there. The trailer aid was simple and safe and I was impressed.

 

I have an Autel programming pad and like their system. I will contact them and see if the have a system using the sensors like our trucks use.

On a positive note I always wanted to get my tires balanced. Although my OCD kicks in when my current system reads three tires at 64 psi and one at 65.

 

I've always been told not to try to lift the trailer on the stabilizer jacks.

ETA: I see Chris beat me to it.

 

Sorry that this happened to you but it definitely could have been worse.

I've played around quite a bit with my TPMS to find the right limits. It's startling when it goes off as you're heading down the road. I had to up the limits on pressure and heat so I don't get the false alarms.

I've often wondered if I should buy one of these ramps. I do have roadside assistance but there are places in the country where it's probably much faster to just change it myself if/when it does happen. I'll order one before next summer when we're planning a long trip.

 

Same here that's why the delicate balance requirement. The scissor jack is rated at 4 tons so that's probably perfectly safe by itself.

Whan at NTB I held the TPMS rx outside the truck between the truck and trailer when the tech took of one of the tx caps and almost instantly I got the loud alarm and showed 0 psi. So I think getting the repeater will help.

Here's my ramp and TPMS.
https://www.amazon.com/Tymate-Press...4f8-4bf6-a9a3-422755bc3c69&pd_rd_i=B07S7CP3PB

 

I do not tow but from watching Lifestyle Overland and Kevin has been towing trailers for over 4 years now. He has his trailers tire with TPMS and he has a device he uses separately for the trailers tires. It was a while ago when I remember him describing his setup but since I have a wife that confuses hotel rooms to camping it meant little to me.

With some good searching you should be able to find something

 

I was also thinking if I'm really stuck I'd call AAA. No point in paying for it if you don't use it. But I don't ever venture off the beaten path.

 

It took me longer to pull three Rubbermaid containers out of the pass through to get to the one with the tools than to get the tire elevated and off

 

Sometimes to raise axles without a portable jack, one can unhook a trailer and lower the hitch, then place blocks or stands under the rear frame followed by raising the hitch again. Just depends on the trailer construction.

 

Ooof... Glad you got it before it shredded and did a bunch of damage whipping up under your trailer.

The Trailer Aid makes things much easier, I use mine to grease the bearings too. I like how it has the dip on top, once you climb the wheel up there you can actually put the truck in neutral and feel the trailer settle in the dip so you know you're on it. A little harder to do that with just blocks by yourself.

Yeah, the TPMS systems are not infallible, but they certainly better your odds of knowing about something before it goes really far south.

It's interesting to watch the temps and pressures rise and then level out. Often the temps will tell you of something going on, if you have one tire heating up more than the rest. Trippy seeing the difference between the two tires on the sunny side of the road compared to the shady side.

I haven't used my TPMS on the last couple of trips 'cuz I need to replace the batteries & O-rings, and now that I've gotten used to seeing the pressure & temp info, I did NOT like the feeling of just rolling along hoping all is well.

I have the TST 507 w/Cap Sensors (Non flow-through)

 

I normally would have seen a problem on the open road since I can see the tires (just barely) in my clip on mirrors and glance at them often. The section of Charleston is busy with traffic and lane changes so my attention wasn't on my tires but keeping from getting creamed by semis. Even if the TPMS caught the rapid leak the tire would have been ruined by the time I got pulled over. Seeing smoke was my first indicator and initial thoughts were brakes dragging but the right foot didn't agree.

I gave one good Endurance and the Chinese spare to NTB and asked them to trash the Endurance that was on the same side of the failed tire. It had been overloaded. One Endurance from the other side I kept to give to a fellow VC owner to use as a spare.