Tire Inflation Systems

I have the TireMaxx system on my Fontaine flatbed. I've had it for about 2 1/2 years now and no problems.

 

im not all that sure about civilian systems but i know in the army they were a constant maintenance issue little stupid things could jack them up to the point of taking a truck down or worse running 100 miles with the compressor roaring because of a leak if i had my own rig i would avoid it at all cost.

 

Just searched the same thing as a trailer I ordered automatically comes with this system. Hendrickson Tiremaax at http://www.hendrickson-intl.com/TIREMAAX

Would like to know the gremlins as well as anything maintenance wise that needs to be done.

 

Make sure the tire monkeys align the hoses properly when you get tire work done. If not they will rub on the wheel. Make sure you allow for centrifugal force. Mine just started having problems (5 years old). I think the swivels under the hub cap are leaking as it's blowing air out the axle breather tube. I've not pulled them apart yet to find out. The control box has a ball valve that was a temporary fix till it warms up. Other than that I'm satisfied with the system and I'll get it fixed.

 

Just watched the maintenance deal for the last 30 minutes at the link above. Think it may be easier just to check the pressures manually. But if yours made it 5 years, that says a lot.

 

No matter how perfect of a driver you are, how often you check you tires and how even you keep you pressure you are not going to outperform inflation system. Keep in mind that you have to be perfect!!! Most of drivers care to go to the back of the trailer to take a piss. When you get 250K miles on trailer tires it pays for itself.

 

Most of our trailers have the Hendrickson TireMaax, very few issues with those. 2 of them have the Pressure Guard and we've changed a bunch of the axle plugs due to leaking, I don't recommend Pressure Guard systems.

For the TireMaax, all we do on a PM is check the light operation and spray some soapy water around the hoses to check for minor leaks. There is a petcock by the controller. Turn the key on and crack that petcock, the light should come on. On oil changes, we pull the hoses off the hubcap to check pressure, they've always been OK.

One thing to watch out for is hoses rubbing on wheels. Most are a little long, so rather than line up the valve stems with the hubcap, we offset them a hole, that way the hoses stay off the wheels and don't chaff.

A small downside is if you have a very small leak. You'll notice the light come on occasionally, but all 8 tires are full. You need to check all 8 for a small leak. When we have a truck over night, we'll take the hoses off to the tires and leave it sit overnight to see which one loses a few PSI to narrow the search.

 

Grape ape
Great ideas
I ordered my new trailer in 08 with meritor system and it's been about flawless except for changing several of the lines from hub to tire that tend to start leaking after years of use