Tire Pressure?

[SpikeBRC]

Well, just got a '77 couch model, Dodge 440 last weekend, and it's SO COOL! It is a tiny bit rough in places, and of course NO documentation whatsoever.  I have been crawling over, under, in and around her all week, just getting the 'feel', and getting to know her, so I know I will have TONS of questions soon. (I will be sending in for membership as soon as I fix my printer), but my first question is-

What tire pressures should I run?  I can't seem to find any plate on the body that will tell me, and the tires themselves say 60psi MAX, so should I run 60?  I think I will prolly replace the rear tires soon, they seem a bit weathered, but in the meantime, what pressure?  The DPO had them at 28, but I thought that was far too low, so I have them now at 40, but haven't driven it at all yet.

Also, what pressure for airbags?  I think the one on the drivers side is shot, but the passenger side seems to hold pressure for now, and that works because she sags on the passenger side, so with that one at about 70 she is close to level, but I am afraid of popping it if that is too high. (I will prolly replace the bags soon as well)

Anyway, thanks in advance for any replies, I appreciate ANY advice I can get, this is my first RV!

Thank you,
SpikeBRC

[Horst]

Welcome aboard and congrats on your new purchase.
You will have lots of work and fun ahead of you.
First - if you don't already know - learn how to determine how old your tires are - google search will reveal - but the quick and dirty is this:
On your tire, you will see a "DOT" raised emblem somewhere (stand for Department of Transportation) - followed by some letters, and then three or four numbers.
These numbers tell you when the tire was made.
The first two number represent the week, and the last one (or two) the year.
For example, 258 would mean that the tire was made the 25th week of 1998 (pray it's not 1988!)
1202 wold indicate the tire was made in the 12th week of 2002.

In my humble opinion (and that of many other expereicned RVers I might add) if your Motorhome tires are more than 5 year old - time to get new ones - doesn't matter if they only have 500 miles on them either.

Tire pressure depends on what kind of tire you have - but I wold run near the max or the max on what it says on the tread.
Definitely do NOT run low pressure.

Airbags - don't go over 90lbs. Most of run between 40 and 70 lbs, depending on righ weight, condiiotn of our shocks/leaf springs, personla preference, etc. I run at 65lbs.

Good luck amd welcome to the club.
Horst

[Richard Peterson]

You might want to check the air lines from the valve to the bags to see if your loss of air is simply a bad line.  You can find replacement lines at places like NAPA.  Hopefully you can reuse the old fittings if you replace one.

[SpikeBRC]

Thanks for the replies!  Well, I just put on 6 tires yesterday, so that fixes that, got them at 60 (I can't believe they were so low before!)  

I also found out that the DPO had put the rear rims on wrong, so the indexing pin on the drum dimpled the rims!  This mushroomed the pin, so I had to drill out the index holes a smidge to get them to fit right.

As for the air bags, the reason the drivers side was not working was the it was GONE!  Looks like the upper bracket broke at a weld seam, and there is nothing left there but the hose.  This baby is full of surprises!

Oh well, at least I don't fear a blowout now from the cracks in the sidewalls, and apparently th rims are seated properly now, so I feel a little safer, the airbag is kinda gravy after the other stuff!