4WD Touring Australia – June 2018

088 | 4WDTouringAustralia

TRACKSIDE MECHANIC

REAL ADVICE

FROM OUR

MECHANICAL GURU

The brilliant simplicity of brass tyre deators.

ADAM ADLER

The 4WD industry is full of gadgets that can make our life that

little bit easier. Remembering to take them can end up being

the difference between a fun trip and a total downer. They

don’t have to be big things either, sometimes it’s all about the

smaller and the simpler the better...

GO NUTS! – Adam.

The other thing I thought of? If you have a desired PSI then,

depending on your driving, it doesn’t take long for the tyres to

heat up.

When the tyres heat, the pressures will increase, so setting a

pressure to 22PSI may soon see the pressure rise up to 26. Depending

on your driving, this is when you may want to stop and drop the

pressures a second time.

Unfortunately you can’t just screw them on and leave them as,

believe it or not, they are actually quite heavy for their size and

damage to the tyre valve could occur through the centrifugal

forces from the wheel spinning.

Adjusting the pressure beyond your set PSI may mean that you

also need to carry a tyre deator as well, but for most of us we

usually stick to one set PSI.

Beach driving may be the only time that dropping tyre pressure

further may be an advantage, sometimes driving in mud as well.

These little brass deators just seem to work and if you can

take the time to preset them to the pressure you want, then it

becomes even easier again.

GO NUTS!

Adam

AIR

SUPPLY

By now, we all know why we let our tyres

down – a much larger footprint gives much

better traction.

A softer tyre allows it to mould around

rocks and sticks to help against punctures,

plus, a softer ride eases the suspension

work rate and overall ride of the 4WD.

Last weekend, we were out in the High

Country, up Bulla way. B1 (Brett) needed to

let his tyres down and he pulled these little

brass tyre deators out. He simply walked

around the 200 Series and screwed them

down and walked off.

I, on the other hand, have always used

the speedy tyre deators, which I love, but

after getting up from the third tyre with

my knees struggling from sitting crouched

while I let the air out, I suddenly took

more notice of these little brass things.

I rst saw these Staun tyre deators

when they came out years ago, and I’ve

seen them from time to time ever since

and have been duly impressed on each

occasion.

The ones that B1 had, were just a copy of

this great product. B1 doesn’t even remember

where he got them from. They are very basic

to use and are pre-set to a PSI of 18.

Of course, if you do want to get slightly

technical, you can actually override them

with a separate PSI if you like.

From what I can see, they are just a

simple apparatus that works with a valve

and a spring. As you tighten the valve,

the spring tension is greater so it holds a

larger pressure. And, when screwed out,

it releases tension on the spring so it lets

out air to a lower PSI.

B1 sat down and watched me walk around

the car while he simply waited for the valves

to stop letting air out and then he unscrewed

them and retted the valve caps.