Gas Station Air Chuck Solution
Air Chuck & Pressure Gauge For Nearly Impossible To Reach Valves
The Problem
How do you get a typical gas station air chuck on an often hard to reach motorcycle tire valve and get a true pressure reading at the same time? You make your own solution from easy to find parts, that's how.
You can see the finished product above.
What You'll need
You may have to shop around a little for some parts. Things like the Schrader valve, hose clamps and spring lever tire chuck might have to come from a local auto supply store while the brass "T" and pressure gauge are more likely to be found at a hardware store. If all else fails there's always good old McMaster-Carr.
- 1 1/4" brass "T"
- 2 1/4" hose barbs
- 1 spring lever tire chuck
- 1 1/4"male x 1/8"female adapter
- 1 screw in Schrader valve
- 1 2" face 100# x 1/4" threaded gauge
- 2 small hose clamps
- 1 approx. 3' length of 1/4" fuel line
How To Do It
Use Teflon tape on all screw fittings to prevent leaks and put everything together as shown here
- Attach spring chuck to tire valve.
- Introduce air through schrader valve (using any crazy tire chuck they can throw at you)
- Read pressure on attached dial gauge.
- When up to proper pressure, squeeze the lever on the adapter chuck. The chuck will just pop off your tire valve and you're on the road.
CAUTION: This assembly will not work for your air shocks.
First, NEVER use a gas station air host to fill your shocks. Your shocks may be damaged due to the amount of air from the air line.
Second, air shocks require a zero loss chuck so that little 'pffft' you hear when detaching the air chuck won't release a random (but substantial) amount of pressure from the shock itself.