Basic tire inflation procedure - Motorhomes

Thought a short post covering the important points of setting and ensuring you have the necessary inflation on your motorhome tires was in order.

 NOTE Trailers have slightly different needs for establishing the "set" pressure than motorhomes but the rest of this post would apply to towables too.

1. Ensure your gauge is sufficiently accurate. To me this means +/- 3 psi of the real pressure. This level of accuracy is easy to confirm yourself if you follow these steps:
      A. Get and keep a "Master" gauge. This is not used for checking the air in your tires but is used to confirm that your daily use gauge is sufficiently accurate and to allow you to adjust the reading of your daily gauge accordingly. I have provided an example of what a low cost "Master" gauge could be in THIS post. The master gauge should NOT be kept in your tool box but in a box or case inside the RV where it is protected from damage.
     B. At least once a month, measure the air in one of your tire with the Master gauge and immediately get a reading with your daily gauge. You now know how much to adjust your reading when setting your tire pressures. If your daily gauge reads 3 psi lower than the Master then you need to set your tires 3 psi high when using your daily gauge.

2. Learn the actual load on each position of your RV. This has been covered in a number of earlier posts that have the label "Load". Please review those posts if you do not know how to learn your "corner" loading. The minimum inflation for all tires on any one axle is based on the inflation needed for the heaviest loaded end of the axle. ALL tires on an axle should have the same cold inflation.

3. Establish your "Set" or "Goal" pressure pressure that you should have each morning of a travel day. I suggest this be 10% above the minimum needed to carry the load on your tires you learned in step 2. above

4. Set your TPMS to provide warning if you have lost air to the point of being 10% below the Set Pressure. This should provide adequate warning to allow you to safely get off the road or at least out of traffic. If you don't already have a TPMS then get one. If you don't think you need a TPMS then I would challenge you to try this experiment. Get some black tape and cover all your dash gauges and see how comfortable you are traveling down the highway without having any of the factory provided warning instruments you have become accustomed to.

I feel these steps are the minimum every motorhome owner should take



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