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Ever heard of monster valves? They are a high speed inflate/deflate device made by Power Tank. I'm a little impatient and some of my recent trips have involved a lot of highway miles to trail heads - and as a result a lot of airing up and airing down. I've got airing down to a pretty short process by removing the core, but it's risky because you might lose the core, and on the last trip I installed a core crooked and almost ruined a valve stem. Airing up is a slow process even though I have a good belt driven compressor, and you have to keep pulling the chuck off to check pressure to get it just right. So I decided to try to improve on the process.
I did a lot of research on the internet to see what other people were doing and found several interesting products. In all of the side by side comparisons the Monster Valves were the winner. The one that seemed attractive also was the Oasis Trailhead deflators - you set them to a pre-determined pressure and just screw them on each time. They automaticly stop at the pre-set pressure and you remove them when you stop the next time. They don't do anything to improve the airing up process though.
I decided on the monster valves because they speed both airing down and airing up.... and you can use your original valve stem as a gauge port so there is no stopping to check pressures on the way up or down. I bought the valves directly from Power Tank and also bought a clip on chuck to make using a gauge easier. The total cost was around $170 - a little pricey in my opinion.
Before installing these I did a little checking to make sure I would not ruin my rims. My rims are made by Ultra and are forged aluminum. They are discontinued now and the last time I replaced a rim I bought the last one in captivity from a warehouse in Chicago. They're really nothing special but I'd just as soon not ruin them and have to replace them. The monster valves require a 1/4" NPT pipe thread hole to thread into. I talked to Redrocker about it (he's a machinist) and he reccommended a minimum thickness of 0.150" to get 3 threads engaged in the rim. I borrowed a ultrasonic thickness gauge from work and checked the area I would be drilling - they are 0.175" thick so good to go.
CAUTION: My rims are aluminum, and the monster valves are aluminum. They gall to each other - make sure you prep well and install them only once. I had one leak and had to pull it to add more t-tape, it lost about half it's threads. I threaded the hole deeper and got it to seal. The wheel is way harder than the valve but they still gall together pretty bad. There is a tape available from Lawson called nickel tape that I have used to keep stainless from galling - that might help if you have access to that.
The monster valves arrive in a neat little case that includes the big chuck they require, and a couple of fittings to make connecting the hose easier.
Here's the step by step how to install. One reason I am doing this is a write up I found on the internet. In that write up they broke the tire down off the bead to do the install, and actually sterted the tap from the wrong side, and did some of the drilling from the wrong side. There is not need to do that. These can be installed without breaking the tire loose from the rim.
Step One:
Identify where you want to put the valve. The valves are big so you need to put them fairly far in to protect them. You also need to pick a fairly flat spot to make drilling and tapping easier. I selected a spot directly across from the existing stem. These are 10" wide rims so I had a lot of room to install them - I went in about 1" from the last coutour of the rim. I also noted that the rim was not completely flat here but still sloped to the outside - so I drilled to match.
Step Two:
Drill the hole where you marked it. I let all but about 3 psi out of the tire before I drilled. The remaining pressure would blow any filings out instead of letting them fall inside. I used 3 drill bits, 1/8", 3/8" and 7/16". After the initial 1/8" hole was drilled, I put an air line on the original valve stem and used a valve at the air compressor to throttle a small amount of air through the tire - just enough to keep filings from falling inside.
Notice the shavings spread around the tire? Wear a face shield when doing this, the air flowing through the hole will make the shavings fly further than usual. If you flow too much air it really makes a mess - it does not take much.
Step Three:
Tap the hole. Use a pipe thread tap, 1/4". As you can see in the pic of the tap it makes a tapered hole. If you go too far the valve will not screw in far enough to tighten up good. I went in and out with the tap several times on the first rim to see how far I needed to go. Once I had it the right depth I marked the tap with a sharpie for the other 3 rims.
This pic shows the thickness of my rims as compared to the threaded portion of the valve:
Here is the tapered pipe tap:
Here is the tap started using a ratchet to run it in:
And here is the tap in the appropriate amount:
A little tip: when running the tap in stop every 2 turns or so and back up 1/2 turn. This cuts the shavings loose and keeps them from laying down across the new threads and messing them up. This will help to get nice clean threads even in soft metals.
Step Four:
Tape the threads with 4 or 5 wraps of t-tape and thread it into the hole. If you plan to install some balancing beads like I did, pour them into the hole before threading the valve in.
Here's the installed valve compared to another so you can see how far it's threaded in:
Step Five:
Air them up and down to see how it works....and enjoy.
Here is my testing results:
Before installing these I did some air down test. I also did some air-up testing after the valves were installed so I could watch a gauge as it aired up. All airing up was done with my shop air compressor with a 60 gallon tank.
Using clip on chucks: 6 minutes from 30 to 5 psi. I got tired of waiting at 6 minutes.
Removing the core: 1 minute 14 seconds 30 psi to zero.
I rigged this gauge up for the testing, and started all air-down test at 30 psi.
Here's the three clip on chucks and the valve core remover I used for the testing:
After I got the new valves installed, I checked to see how long it takes to air up through the old stem:
From zero to 30 psi took 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
Then I took some readings through the new valve:
Zero to 30 psi took 40 seconds.
30 psi to zero took 40 seconds as well.
Here's a few bling shots of the finished installation:
Valve open:
Valve closed:
The big schrader valve you fill through now:
I loaded a video of the tire airing down..... but it's boring as heck so I'll spare you.
I did a lot of research on the internet to see what other people were doing and found several interesting products. In all of the side by side comparisons the Monster Valves were the winner. The one that seemed attractive also was the Oasis Trailhead deflators - you set them to a pre-determined pressure and just screw them on each time. They automaticly stop at the pre-set pressure and you remove them when you stop the next time. They don't do anything to improve the airing up process though.
I decided on the monster valves because they speed both airing down and airing up.... and you can use your original valve stem as a gauge port so there is no stopping to check pressures on the way up or down. I bought the valves directly from Power Tank and also bought a clip on chuck to make using a gauge easier. The total cost was around $170 - a little pricey in my opinion.
Before installing these I did a little checking to make sure I would not ruin my rims. My rims are made by Ultra and are forged aluminum. They are discontinued now and the last time I replaced a rim I bought the last one in captivity from a warehouse in Chicago. They're really nothing special but I'd just as soon not ruin them and have to replace them. The monster valves require a 1/4" NPT pipe thread hole to thread into. I talked to Redrocker about it (he's a machinist) and he reccommended a minimum thickness of 0.150" to get 3 threads engaged in the rim. I borrowed a ultrasonic thickness gauge from work and checked the area I would be drilling - they are 0.175" thick so good to go.
CAUTION: My rims are aluminum, and the monster valves are aluminum. They gall to each other - make sure you prep well and install them only once. I had one leak and had to pull it to add more t-tape, it lost about half it's threads. I threaded the hole deeper and got it to seal. The wheel is way harder than the valve but they still gall together pretty bad. There is a tape available from Lawson called nickel tape that I have used to keep stainless from galling - that might help if you have access to that.
The monster valves arrive in a neat little case that includes the big chuck they require, and a couple of fittings to make connecting the hose easier.
Here's the step by step how to install. One reason I am doing this is a write up I found on the internet. In that write up they broke the tire down off the bead to do the install, and actually sterted the tap from the wrong side, and did some of the drilling from the wrong side. There is not need to do that. These can be installed without breaking the tire loose from the rim.
Step One:
Identify where you want to put the valve. The valves are big so you need to put them fairly far in to protect them. You also need to pick a fairly flat spot to make drilling and tapping easier. I selected a spot directly across from the existing stem. These are 10" wide rims so I had a lot of room to install them - I went in about 1" from the last coutour of the rim. I also noted that the rim was not completely flat here but still sloped to the outside - so I drilled to match.
Step Two:
Drill the hole where you marked it. I let all but about 3 psi out of the tire before I drilled. The remaining pressure would blow any filings out instead of letting them fall inside. I used 3 drill bits, 1/8", 3/8" and 7/16". After the initial 1/8" hole was drilled, I put an air line on the original valve stem and used a valve at the air compressor to throttle a small amount of air through the tire - just enough to keep filings from falling inside.
Notice the shavings spread around the tire? Wear a face shield when doing this, the air flowing through the hole will make the shavings fly further than usual. If you flow too much air it really makes a mess - it does not take much.
Step Three:
Tap the hole. Use a pipe thread tap, 1/4". As you can see in the pic of the tap it makes a tapered hole. If you go too far the valve will not screw in far enough to tighten up good. I went in and out with the tap several times on the first rim to see how far I needed to go. Once I had it the right depth I marked the tap with a sharpie for the other 3 rims.
This pic shows the thickness of my rims as compared to the threaded portion of the valve:
Here is the tapered pipe tap:
Here is the tap started using a ratchet to run it in:
And here is the tap in the appropriate amount:
A little tip: when running the tap in stop every 2 turns or so and back up 1/2 turn. This cuts the shavings loose and keeps them from laying down across the new threads and messing them up. This will help to get nice clean threads even in soft metals.
Step Four:
Tape the threads with 4 or 5 wraps of t-tape and thread it into the hole. If you plan to install some balancing beads like I did, pour them into the hole before threading the valve in.
Here's the installed valve compared to another so you can see how far it's threaded in:
Step Five:
Air them up and down to see how it works....and enjoy.
Here is my testing results:
Before installing these I did some air down test. I also did some air-up testing after the valves were installed so I could watch a gauge as it aired up. All airing up was done with my shop air compressor with a 60 gallon tank.
Using clip on chucks: 6 minutes from 30 to 5 psi. I got tired of waiting at 6 minutes.
Removing the core: 1 minute 14 seconds 30 psi to zero.
I rigged this gauge up for the testing, and started all air-down test at 30 psi.
Here's the three clip on chucks and the valve core remover I used for the testing:
After I got the new valves installed, I checked to see how long it takes to air up through the old stem:
From zero to 30 psi took 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
Then I took some readings through the new valve:
Zero to 30 psi took 40 seconds.
30 psi to zero took 40 seconds as well.
Here's a few bling shots of the finished installation:
Valve open:
Valve closed:
The big schrader valve you fill through now:
I loaded a video of the tire airing down..... but it's boring as heck so I'll spare you.
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