Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

wow temps dropping fast next week! lower 20s at the racetrack. gonna be the coldest we've ever truck bed camped.

 

The thermometer in our trailer showed 29°F Thanksgiving morning at Eureka Dunes.

 

Don't think I mentioned it here but on our last trip I had something peculiar happen to the truck.

We rolled in late to camp (6:30ish) so it was dark already. Due to the timing we decided to just camp at the eureka dunes campground (first time at a developed campground in the park, likely the last time too). In the morning, the right rear tire of the truck was flat (9psi)...no big deal. I aired it up to 60psi first thing and started checking for a screw or nail since it was at 28psi when parking the night before I figured it wasn't a cut. Couldn't find anything so I went back to breakfast and packing.

An hour later it was still at 60psi. Loaded everything up and started driving while monitoring the air pressure. It was staying out at 60psi after a couple miles so I went ahead and dropped it down to 22psi along with the rest of the tires and it held there for the next 3 days until we aired back up at pavement.

Hasn't changed since. Tires were installed less than 5,000 miles prior to this and held air with no issues. Only thing I can think is that someone either in the campground or driving by (that was the wheel closest to the road) deflated it for some reason. Anyone ever had this happen? I'm totally stumped on what else could have caused this.

 

I've had this happen before, and have seen it on other trucks. Possibilities:

• Happened to me: the leak was at the bead around the rim. At higher pressure, the rubber was pushed into the rim and fully seated: no leaks. At lower pressure and after flexing, the two worked themselves apart just enough to have a very slow leak (my theory is that some dirt got in there during some flex). Very slow leak; couldn't hear it and only found it from soap bubbles. Airing up again reapplied pressure, and sort of reseated things in some slightly different way, and so there's no leaking when I air down later.
  
  
• Happened to someone else: if the way you air down is to remove your valve stem, then you might not get it fully seated on reinstall. A slow enough leak could be unnoticable for quite a while. When you air up the tire later, again, the higher pressure fixes it. So, you decide to drop it back down, removing the valve stem again. Only this time, you get the valve stem seated all the way after airing down, and poof, no problems.

Lastly - and related/similar to what happened to me on the trail with the Tacoma - I've owned wheels (on my 4Runner) that have oxidation/corrosion on the interior lip where the tire bead sits. Discount Tire even told me that the 5-star 4Runner wheels (3rd gen Limited wheels) are known for this. That uneven surface can make for a poor seal and slow leak even at higher (street) pressures. I had this issue on the 4Runner, and Discount Tire was able to wire brush the wheel to get it to be "good enough" for it to not leak.

 

@turbodb, 28psi is firm enough that if the bead would maintain a good seal but I suppose other than someone deflating it this is the most likely possibility.

I'm running f5s and the rim is in like new condition (confirmed when mounting tires).

I've been using the screw in deflators for a few years now and have never had this happen (I air down several times a month). Also, the tire pressure remained constant for the 20ish miles from pavement end to the campground and was still holding steady 2 hours after parking at camp (it dropped a couple psi because it cooled off but it was consistent with all the other tires).

My initial thought after no screw was found was a bad valve stem seal but it hasn't happened since.

 

Just relaying what I've seen happen. I find it hard to believe that someone would come along - while you were in camp - and air down *one* of your tires.

Here's where the valve stem issue happened to Mike @Digiratus, and he's been airing down and wheeling for decades. I think it's only happened to him once, so that seems like the most likely case for you as well.

As for the wheels - when it happened to me (here) and you can see I was running brand new SCS Stealth 6's, so... dirt can get into anything. Notably however, I was at a lower PSI than you - I was around 18psi - at the time. And of course, I don't wheel infrequently, either.

 

Wow never heard of this and it is something to watch for since @Crom and I run the same wheel.

 

Yes temps are dropping. How did you deal with the cold temps? I'm heading out today to the region and trying out a new 12v electric blanket. Unfortunately it has a timer and shuts off after 45minutes. Otherwise I've used a hot water bottle between my legs and the buddy heater on other trips too.

Why the last time? Eureka hasn't been too bad the times I've been there. It is far better than the main campgrounds within the park.

 

We have cold weather bags and our trailer has a heater that put the interior of the tent into the upper 30s.

Last time because I prefer disbursed camping where possible so I can't see/hear our neighbors. We had someone pull in and set up right next to us at 11pm...30 minutes of opening and closing doors (waking our kids up) that we wouldn't have dealt with elsewhere in the park. There were 7 vehicles in that little campground when we woke up in the morning (we were the 4th one when arriving at 6:30).

Same reason we avoid the hot springs. The crowds are not our thing.

 

Someone cleaned it up. Park Service perhaps…

 

Same MPG here. 4.56s, 'High clearance' bumpers and MT tires qualifies me for the HIGH DRAG vehicles, combined with a supercharger (really didn't effect my MPGs) nets me 12-12.5 MPGs. When in Mexico on long stretches where I travel about 40 mph, I have achieved 14 MPG. When I roll for long trips in the desert, my standard it 20 gallons of extra fuel. The idea of 400 miles worth of fuel makes me happy.

 

With an off road tire, you might see an object penetrate the carcass but not go all the way through. The bead could maybe have a slight defect where it doesn’t seat all the way. You may get dirt or debris in the valve stem—worth carrying the tool and a few spares. At low pressure, you might spin the wheel which could cause it to leak. Airing up would fix that. The other thing that might happen is a puncture cause by something like a finish nail that you cannot see—once it goes below the tread, it may “seal” itself or at least slow down.

 

I don't think I will ever return to Alabama Hills. Some real douche bags have seemingly made it their home - or at least that is my most lasting memory there.

Slow leaks for me - cracked rims (7 series low profile), bad valve stems or a screw/nail.

Fast leaks for me - sidewall cut while on Elephant Hill (UT) while my spare tire and rim were probably still bouncing around Hell's Gate (Moab) after it broke free from my undercarriage hanger. We had ~50-60 miles 'til pavement and enough CO2 to pop the bead back on and used the compressor every 3 minutes to air up back up from 8 psi to 20 psi.



That pic is 60 tire plugs. ...bthe end of that trail, my sammich maker had sliced up a bunch of things as plugs including a pair of her shoes.

On a related topic of deflators... Although my hearing sucks... Did you say something? ...my deflation consists of removing the valve stem, listening for the first octave (typically 20-19 PSI) and the second octave will put me at about 12-11 psi (I don't do unless I am running my beadlocks (makes me think it may be time to sell them).

If you want to never camp in a developed camp ground, camp in the Texas Flats or whatever they call that parking lot near Furnace Creek. That old Marine, if he still works there, is miserable. I have camped there once and my friend had parked his truck with one tire on the white line between his camp and mine and the guy went off like he was an upset camper because of cigarette smoke or something

I think I still have a 12v electric blanket. Always like my 2 Mexican wool blankets and our little or big buddy heater.

Sometimes I think the peace sign should be removed but I am not the king of DV (yet ).

 

What can happen is he valve stem is actually fine. However, when you deflate the tire a tiny piece of something gets stuck in the stem not allowing the spring to fully seat it. This causes a very slow leak. When you go to fill the tire back up the air pressure pushes that little piece of something out of the valve stem back into the tire and the problem fixes itself.

 

It held for several hours after deflating so any debris would have likely been an issue before then.

 

IDK. Let's say it loses 1 PSI an hour. You run for 4 hours before you camp. That brings you from 22 to 18. Can you really notice that difference with a loaded out rig? Then you chill and sleep for 8 hours. That brings you from 18 to 10. Your sure as shit gonna notice that.

To me that's a way more likely scenario then someone coming up to your vehicle and letting air out while your in it. lol

 

I can notice a 1psi drop







But only because my headunit tells me the tire pressure at each corner.

We weren't in the truck or RTT, we we in our trailer. I have a hard time thinking someone would come and deflate our tire which is why I was looking for other possibilities but I was an asshole teenager once so I know it's not unheard of.

 

We'll just chalk it up to one of Death Valley's mysteries. lol

 

Hot bottles work pretty well. A couple nalgenes each wrapped in towel last a long time. I've used the 12v with timer fleece throw and it works but the timer sucks for an entire night.

Amazon has a 12v trucker sleeping pad that I swapped to. It has all kinds of fantastic DANGER YOU WILL CATCH ON FIRE IF YOU LOOK AT THIS WRONG! warnings everywhere (which imo means it is a good unit). There is an infinite variable dial to adjust intensity and no timer. I find that just minimal 1-2 out of 7 setting is all I need in <25* temps. It probably used 20% of a 170Ah at its worst during these long dark nights. Makes for solid continuous sleeping.

 

...It was at the mouth of the second canyon that we had a discussion I'd never envisioned having while out on a hike in the middle of the desert: I mentioned the possibility of @mrs.turbodb continuing down the wash - following the original route - to Harry Wade Road, while I headed back across the alluvial fan to the Tacoma, before driving to pick her up.

Neither of us liked this solution - splitting up with relatively little food and water generally being a bad idea - but we both knew it was probably the right call given our location, energy levels, and the amount of water we had left.

With that, I poured some of my water into her Camelbak and handed the GPS to @mrs.turbodb - making sure she knew to follow the route east rather than take some random path - before I headed south toward Owl Hole Springs Road. Knowing that her route would be quicker, I also told her I'd start up the wash along the trail if she wasn't on the road when I got there....

Keep reading the rest here
Low on Water, We Split Up in the Desert - Owlsheads #3​

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Keep reading the rest here
Low on Water, We Split Up in the Desert - Owlsheads #3​