Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[Fallon]

Hi Zing,

You are entirely welcome, I'm just glad it helped someone.

My truck is very old- no TPMS, except me.

My Honda Element has it, and I hate it- the light has now been on for about 2 years, ever since about a week after I had new tires installed, it was fine for that time, then the light came on, even though a quick pressure check showed that the tires were all fine.

On the Honda Element Owners Group forum there are discussions about how to disable [or at least black out the space over it with electrical tape] the idiot light- but I'm too tired and old to be disassembling the dash on an otherwise perfectly-working vehicle for an annoying light.

There were once some rumors that having the sensor tripped could affect traction control or the cruise control, but I haven't had any such problems, so there it sits.

The main reason I didn't get new sensors put in is two-fold:

1) Cost- about 85$ per tire for the sensor and then the labor for taking the tire off the rim, doing the install, and then having to calibrate them, and register them to the on-board module- ask me how I know....

2) It turns out that they are made en mass and then shipped out to local areas- WITH THE BATTERY IN PLACE AND ACTIVE- meaning depending on how long they have been sitting on the shelf, they could run out of charge a day after being installed- especially for a not-very-popular model /size that sat on the shelf for a few years or more before being used...

You should think about installing a portable 12-V compressor [or a 110-V AC compressor with a power inverter] on your truck so you can air up whenever you decide/need/want to haul something...

They generally have a switch activated by centrifical force. So they are mostly or completely in sleep mode until the wheel starts spinning.

But ya, they are a pain. Have a 2nd set on the snow tires/rims. Les Schwabs replaced a pile of those sensors in the first couple years as they had issues. Luckily I only had to pay for one replacement on my original rims, the rest were on the nmsnow rims.

 

[LouNY]

I actually enjoy have the tpms's on my RAM and my wifes Equinox both of them have an actual psi readout for each tire and are surprisingly accurate.
I also have them in our snow tires which are mounted up on spare rims, the RAM will actually update itself when the I swap from summers to snows, the Chevy Equinox I did have to buy a tool to activate the sensors (about $20) and I have to put the car into the learn mode and then go around the car activating the newer sensors, that takes about 5-10 minutes after swapping tires, that's not bad for a very informative piece of equipment.
The cost of the sensors online was $25-$35 each and the snow tire ones were installed when the tires were.

 

[Morning Wood]

I like them. Had a low pressure for a week or 2. Thought it was software related. Then I topped off my spare. Away it went.

 

[4570Man]

I like them. Had a low pressure for a week or 2. Thought it was software related. Then I topped off my spare. Away it went.

That’s the only place I’d actually want one.

 

[PhysAssist]

I actually enjoy have the tpms's on my RAM and my wifes Equinox both of them have an actual psi readout for each tire and are surprisingly accurate.
I also have them in our snow tires which are mounted up on spare rims, the RAM will actually update itself when the I swap from summers to snows, the Chevy Equinox I did have to buy a tool to activate the sensors (about $20) and I have to put the car into the learn mode and then go around the car activating the newer sensors, that takes about 5-10 minutes after swapping tires, that's not bad for a very informative piece of equipment.
The cost of the sensors online was $25-$35 each and the snow tire ones were installed when the tires were.

Those sound like keepers- unlike my Honda's

 

[BigBlue1]

And this shows that bad things do happen when you don't properly secure your load...

Truck driver arrested in deaths of Shoreview mother, daughter killed by tumbling boulder

Short take: 800# boulder bounces off landscape truck and kills two in oncoming car.

Rob

 

[Industrial Toys]

I can get fined for having an insecure ice scraper in the bed of my p/u. But I can carry pretty much anything with impunity as long as my tonneu cover is on, secured by a couple of garbage plastic spring loaded handles.

 

[bcp]

Cycle transporter, found on the internet.

Bruce

 

[zing]

That thing was not road worthy, but that does not mean it can't be hauled. It had no brakes, etc. Your logic confuses me. Bad axles and poor tires and no brakes aren't much of a liability while being hauled.

The article describes the cop going on about the boat being blocked up by pallets and held on with duct taped straps, as well as the homemade axle and no brakes, and you can see in the picture that they didn't add straps or improve the blocking in any significant way.

The logic isn't too confusing, putting it on a flat deck solves only half of the problems. This cop is making a big deal about listing all of those problems on twitter, and then they tow it away with half the problems still in place. IMO, that makes them hypocrites. This was more about publicity than safety, or they would have solved ALL of the safety concerns before they towed it away.

The town of Abbotsford is right on the Fraser River and you can see for the picture in the article this wasn't some guy on the highway heading across the province, it was a guy on a local road heading to or from the nearest boat slip.

Around here people short haul their boats on crappy trailers to a local slipway all the time. It is no different from a farmer putting a bunch of round bales on an old wagon for a short trip from his field to his barn. They don't get strapped down like they are headed for the highway.

$2000 in fines and towing it away is overkill, and then the cop tweeting about it "How not to tow your boat this summer", Mangat tweeted. "Pallets are not a good way to balance a boat on a trailer held together with duct tape", he added. To me this looks more like a story about a cop who likes attention, than a public safety issue. Looking at that boat, this is not a person with a lot of money it is just a guy who likes to be on the water. 2K in fines, plus an expensive tow and storage fee, plus getting a crane to the tow lot to transfer it from that trailer to a commercial boat launch trailer (otherwise he will never get it out of there), that boat will probably end up being auctioned now.

I know this can be argued either way, especially when the safety police get their dander up. We all want to save the children. I just personally think this is an average guy getting the book thrown at him by a cop that is an attention hound.

 

[zing]

Hi Zing,

You are entirely welcome, I'm just glad it helped someone.

My truck is very old- no TPMS, except me.

My Honda Element has it, and I hate it- the light has now been on for about 2 years, ever since about a week after I had new tires installed, it was fine for that time, then the light came on, even though a quick pressure check showed that the tires were all fine.

On the Honda Element Owners Group forum there are discussions about how to disable [or at least black out the space over it with electrical tape] the idiot light- but I'm too tired and old to be disassembling the dash on an otherwise perfectly-working vehicle for an annoying light.

There were once some rumors that having the sensor tripped could affect traction control or the cruise control, but I haven't had any such problems, so there it sits.

The main reason I didn't get new sensors put in is two-fold:

1) Cost- about 85$ per tire for the sensor and then the labor for taking the tire off the rim, doing the install, and then having to calibrate them, and register them to the on-board module- ask me how I know....

2) It turns out that they are made en mass and then shipped out to local areas- WITH THE BATTERY IN PLACE AND ACTIVE- meaning depending on how long they have been sitting on the shelf, they could run out of charge a day after being installed- especially for a not-very-popular model /size that sat on the shelf for a few years or more before being used...

You should think about installing a portable 12-V compressor [or a 110-V AC compressor with a power inverter] on your truck so you can air up whenever you decide/need/want to haul something...

Sounds like you and I have some similar issues, despite it being different vehicles. I also have plenty of ways to spend my time, none of which includes mucking around with IPad software and bluetooth connectors, just so I can change the pressure in my tires and get rid of idiot lights. Besides, even if I did figure it out how to reset it, what an I going to do, reset those numbers every week or two before and after towing a load? Changing the pressure in four tires isn't really that much trouble, but resetting the computer over and over would, be a pain. I do like having the TPMS system and don't want to just disable it. It did actually work for me once when I had a front tire that had dropped to 60 PSI from the normal 80. Ironically it turned out the issue was a corroded TPMS module that was letting air out through the stem, and had to be replaced!

I have thought about a compressor for the truck, but I already have shed compressors and long hoses at both of my properties, plus two spare tires for my truck and two for the trailer to get me through long trips. It doesn't seem like a justifiable expense for a truck that is already 10 years old. Cheers.