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Question about Removing CTIS valves and balancing weights from tires

kendelrio

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I will be putting new shoes on my 923A2 shortly and I haven't seen this addressed yet:

My CTIS doesn't work. What's wrong with it? I dunno and based on the posts I've seen regarding it, it's a nice "have", but no so much a "need".

I know in order to change tires, I'll need to remove the CTIS hardware from the wheels. Is it necessary for me to put them back on? Can I leave them off and not use the CTIS DELETE KIT linked here?

Can the guys changing out the tires (I have fought deuce tires and they whipped my butt... there's NO WAY I'm tackling the 5 ton!) just balance them and they'll be good?

If I remove the hardware, I assume I'm ok to remove the air lines from the hubs?

Please walk me through this.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:

kendelrio

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Just unplug your ecu, put valve cores in the stems, then you can remove as much as you want.
OK, ECU is disconnected and I've had valve cores in since I bought the truck.

Removing the valves etc won't throw the wheel off balance? I'll need to remove the counter weight also, correct?
 

Mullaney

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I will be putting new shoes on my 923A2 shortly and I haven't seen this addressed yet:

My CTIS doesn't work. What's wrong with it? I dunno and based on the posts I've seen regarding it, it's a nice "have", but no so much a "need".

I know in order to change tires, I'll need to remove the CTIS hardware from the wheels. Is it necessary for me to put them back on? Can I leave them off and not use the CTIS DELETE KIT linked here?

Can the guys changing out the tires (I have fought deuce tires and they whipped my butt... there's NO WAY I'm tackling the 5 ton!) just balance them and they'll be good?

If I remove the hardware, I assume I'm ok to remove the air lines from the hubs?

Please walk me through this.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
.
Remember too that you can have a manual version of CTIS but it won't be "central". Meaning the Jeep off-road guys do it with some fancy valve stem caps that will lower your tire pressure (for sand for example) to maybe 20psi. Then with your truck's air compressor and a half hour or so, air the tires back up to highway pressure. No need to explain that cuz I know you know how to air up a tire...

MY OPINION is that these CTIS systems are pretty fragile. Most of us have trucks that are 20 or 30 years old and those little rubber pieces are just worn out. There are parts inside the axle too, so you could get a sack of money and fix it or be happy without it. My M936 came without and I sure am happy that it isn't on that truck. On the other hand, I am pretty stoked about the system on my 7-Ton but it is a lot newer.
 

HDN

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Like some have already mentioned, just remove the valves and wheel weights from the wheel and insert Schrader/tank valves into the wheel's valve stem. If you like the look of your stone guards, you can re-install those probably without worrying about them throwing the wheel off balance. I plan on doing that with my M35A3 this spring.
 

kendelrio

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Like some have already mentioned, just remove the valves and wheel weights from the wheel and insert Schrader/tank valves into the wheel's valve stem. If you like the look of your stone guards, you can re-install those probably without worrying about them throwing the wheel off balance. I plan on doing that with my M35A3 this spring.
Thanks bud. Will keep everyone updated.
 

KN6KXR

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If it helps any..... The M936A2 I bought had the wheel weights in the wrong spot. One stud off. I didn't know this until I refit all the valves to the latest style. By that time I'd bought the truck and driven it 2500 miles home across 8 states. The difference? Mild shakes up around 58-60mph on the highway. With them in the right spot it's really smooth all the way up past 60mph. The shaking could start as low as 55mph but usually close to 60mph (depends on the surface).

So I guess what I'm saying is even if they are a bit unbalanced it doesn't make a lot of difference until you are at or near max speed for the vehicle. So I wouldn't really sweat it. Definitley take them off if you remove the valves.
 

HDN

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If it helps any..... The M936A2 I bought had the wheel weights in the wrong spot. One stud off. I didn't know this until I refit all the valves to the latest style. By that time I'd bought the truck and driven it 2500 miles home across 8 states. The difference? Mild shakes up around 58-60mph on the highway. With them in the right spot it's really smooth all the way up past 60mph. The shaking could start as low as 55mph but usually close to 60mph (depends on the surface).
That's funny - the wheel weights on my M35A3 weren't consistently installed in the right spot either. The TM doesn't even have words to specify where to put them, so I went off the illustrations and my best judgement relative to the position of the CTIS valve. That was shortly before I decided to leave the system off the truck.
 

kendelrio

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If it helps any..... The M936A2 I bought had the wheel weights in the wrong spot. One stud off. I didn't know this until I refit all the valves to the latest style. By that time I'd bought the truck and driven it 2500 miles home across 8 states. The difference? Mild shakes up around 58-60mph on the highway. With them in the right spot it's really smooth all the way up past 60mph. The shaking could start as low as 55mph but usually close to 60mph (depends on the surface).

So I guess what I'm saying is even if they are a bit unbalanced it doesn't make a lot of difference until you are at or near max speed for the vehicle. So I wouldn't really sweat it. Definitley take them off if you remove the valves.
Thanks bud!
 

KN6KXR

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That's funny - the wheel weights on my M35A3 weren't consistently installed in the right spot either. The TM doesn't even have words to specify where to put them, so I went off the illustrations and my best judgement relative to the position of the CTIS valve. That was shortly before I decided to leave the system off the truck.
Yeah the TM's sure have a few weak spots (to say the least). The hydraulic tuning system (for the wrecker) is completely wrong. Would have been better to not say anything at all. Good thing I have experience with hydraulics elsewhere.....

The only reason I know the wheel weight positon is from the instructions that came with the updated wheel valves. Otherwise same thing. I'm going to try to stick with the CTIS but the project is getting deeper than I wanted. The wheel valve updates and transducer have me in for a large one and I've come to find I have at least one hub seal out. The good news is the hub seals are under $100 each from Big Mike but I think the bad news is they are going to be the long term unreliable part of the system and are a PITA to repair. That and the whole "let's flatten them ALL!" when one goes bad is kinda sketch. Not impressed with the failure mode to say the least. I'm trying to keep the truck perfectly historical but this item is going to be a challenge I think. Wish me luck.....
 

HDN

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I'm trying to keep the truck perfectly historical but this item is going to be a challenge I think. Wish me luck.....
I appreciate your attention to historical detail! I wanted to maintain the CTIS on my truck for the same reason, but I don't have the time or budget to keep it up. Good luck with your project :)
 

98G

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If it helps any..... The M936A2 I bought had the wheel weights in the wrong spot. One stud off. I didn't know this until I refit all the valves to the latest style. By that time I'd bought the truck and driven it 2500 miles home across 8 states. The difference? Mild shakes up around 58-60mph on the highway. With them in the right spot it's really smooth all the way up past 60mph. The shaking could start as low as 55mph but usually close to 60mph (depends on the surface).

So I guess what I'm saying is even if they are a bit unbalanced it doesn't make a lot of difference until you are at or near max speed for the vehicle. So I wouldn't really sweat it. Definitley take them off if you remove the valves.
I bought an M925A1 that had an A2 wheel and CTIS wheelweight on it, driver side front wheel. It went on towbars behind another truck. The unbalance was not noticeable under those conditions. It was probably fantastically dangerous. I towed it this way a couple hundred miles.

After I got it running and took it off the towbars and took it for a drive, the unbalance manifested itself around 25mph and at 45mph it was like the front of the truck was jumping off the pavement with each revolution.
 
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