MRAP air leak

[metalworker393]

Hello and how is everyone today. I have a question for you guys ,perhaps someone can chime in and steer me to the solution.
I have the steel MRAP wheels on my Deuce, and I have I wheel that is being somewhat painful. I bought the adapter plates from peashooter all the hardware new orings and beadlocks. This tire/wheel, leaks air. I have made sure the o ring groove is clean, used BTR o ring lubricant on it , pressured it up to about 50 psi. 3 days later its almost flat.
So I took it apart twice now, used another new oring, reassembled it , pressured it up and initially, no leak. deflated it, re torqued all the nuts to 450 ft. lbs. inflated it again and installed it on the truck. 3 days later, almost flat. The only thing I haven't replaced is the air valve. Did a bubble test, no bubbles any ideas?
Now Im just throwing this out ther, but has anyone ever put a tube in these tires? Contemplating buying a rubber beadlock, drilling a hole in it and installing a tube in there . god idea, yes/no?
Thanks metalworker393

 

[yolner]

May be a stupid question, but how do you know it's not the tire?

 

[MtnSnow]

At this point you need to put the complete wheel/tire in a wading pool to find where the leak is.

 

[metalworker393]

Thanks for the response. Well after inflating it I had the tire flat on the ground, I used dish detergent and water in a spray bottle. sprayed around the bead area, and the holes in the wheel where the adapter plate bolts go through. Didnt see any bubbles. Flipped the tire over sprayed around the bead on that side. No bubbles or foam either. then stood the tire uprite, and slowly rolled it an sprayed it looking for any bubbles or foam . Nothing. even sprayed around the where the stem comes through the wheel. nothing.
Thanks metalworker393

 

[gimpyrobb]

What about the valve stem? Are you sure the shraider valve is tight?

I have a tube that is the correct size if you decide to go that route, but it would suck to have to do that.

 

[Eliteweapons]

At this point you need to put the complete wheel/tire in a wading pool to find where the leak is.

I second this! Get a small kiddie pool and fill it up. Pressurize the tire to 80 psi, and let it sit while watching for bubbles.

 

[peashooter]

I agree with submerging it. On a few occasions I've gotten the wrong ratio of soap to water, or wrong soap, or too hard of water, whatever..... but the soapy solution hasn't done its job well enough to make the leak obvious. The kiddy pool is a great idea! If you don't have one handy, maybe just using a tarp or something waterproof would work also to make a quick pool to find that leak. (you just have to use some creativity to hold the tarp edges up)

 

[silverstate55]

So I took it apart twice now, used another new oring, reassembled it , pressured it up and initially, no leak. deflated it, re torqued all the nuts to 450 ft. lbs. inflated it again and installed it on the truck. 3 days later, almost flat. The only thing I haven't replaced is the air valve.

This is pretty telling to me; been there, done that. I added extra silicone grease (or any grease that is compatible with your wheel O-rings) all around the O-ring and put a thin coating on the inside mating surfaces of one problem wheel I have....it worked!

Could be that when you re-torqued your wheel, some imperfection due to the torque distortion of the metal surfaces appeared and allows air to escape.

I also had to replace the valve stem gasket on several other wheels, as well as replace Schrader valves on a regular basis to cure leaks.

BTW, you might consider large-bore valve stems...since I've been slowly switching over to them, I've had far fewer issues with them and they inflate/deflate a whole heck of a lot quicker than standard valve bores. Just get a couple of large-bore air chucks & set them up as adapters, and you're in business.

I get all my large-bore supplies from Your Tire Supply's online shop; I've had great service, quick shipping, and I appreciate their prices: http://yourtireshopsupply.com/category/9_493_408/large-bore-valves-misc

HTH.