What size nut goes onto a typical US passenger tire Schrader valve? (2023 Update)

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote on Thu, 08 Dec 2016 00:46:06 -0500:

Fair enough assessment.

Harbor Freight has everything you need, for under $200 overall. Out here, that's about 10 tires to break even on the tools. But the best thing is that you get the job done right when you do it yourself, because I have NEVER seen a tire-changing job done correctly yet at the tire shops. Not once.

Depends on the vehicle, but my sedan only has adjustments for rear camber and front-and-back toe, so, for me, that's all I'd need to measure.

I'm not so sure of that, because any good pothole can knock something off alignment but I can't argue the issue becuase I don't really know. I just know that I've seen it recommended to get the suspension aligned with each new set of tires (which is about every two years).

As you stated, if you have owned the car, then you know pretty much only have to deal with alignment drifting out of whack over time so a check of only toe and camber will do for cars, such as mine, that have no other adjustments anyway.

However, if you're buying a car, then by all means, have the tracking, steering axis inclination, ride height, etc., all checked at an alighment shop who has the tools to measure anything and everything.

But at home, my hypothesis is that only camber and toe need to be measured for my car (and many others) since that's all you can adjust anyway.

Both can be measured with home tools to reasonable accuracy (is my hypothesis); but I haven't tried it myself yet.

Fair enough that you need a level garage (or you need to level the car by using linoleum tiles under the wheels). And you have to set the vehicle ride height (which, for my car, requires about 500 pounds of weight).

But all of that is doable in a home garage.

This is a good point. I have always done my toe to the centerpoint line scribed on both tires, especially when it's to the centerpoint of the underside of the vehicle - but - to your point - any reference measurement can be used.

To my point, it's just a measurement of distance, and it doesn't have to be to the ten thousandths of an inch - so it just has to be a decently good measurement, which is certainly doable in a home garage.

The problem I have run into most is that you can't get a straight string across the underside of the car becuase of protruding stuff but that's why a C-shaped jig would work for that.

I think aproximately zero cars are aligned correctly, based only on my experience with my car at "normal" alignement shops. So, again, if you want your car's alignment to be done right, you often have to do it yourself (or, in my case, you have to bring your own weights to the shop!).

Heh heh ... I'm the shop's worst nightmare. The reason is that I WATCH what they do.

I have NEVER in my entire life, for example, seen a tire installed corretly at a tire shop. Not once. I can give you a littany of errors that they make, and they have thrice given me the job for free because I had to complain to their management.

Never once have I seen a shop do my model of vehicle properly for alignment either.

In both cases (alignment and tires), if you want it done right, then you have to do it yourself. So, while I do very much respect your advice and judgement, the one thing I have to tell you is that I'm fussy as hell when I'm paying someone else to do THEIR job right (and no mechanic ever does).

In my experience I can usually buy my Ford parts cheaper (or at least the same price for the same quality) at the dealers.

Real easy. 99.9% of the time it will just say "radial repair patch" on it.

Or inner tube patches, more likely.

Not a "drill bit" - a "reamer"

Much farther ahead to just pay to have it done properly. ( you DO know that concept, righthe amount of materials you need to buy, and the FACT that those supplies deteriorate with age and most likely will be useless the next time you need it, means you are cheaper long-term to pay to have it done in the first place unless you get a LOT of punctures.

As said above - you will NEVER come out ahead by buying the stuff and keeping it on hand for one or two punctures a year - or one every year or two.

And too close to the edge of the belt.

I find it mildly ammusing that 2 falacies pervade usenet. The first is that it's always cheaper to buy on-line and The second is that it's always cheaper to do it yourself.

READ for Crypes sakes!!!! I said you ONLY get what you pay for -

As is the location - which has a lot to do with VALUE. It is VALUE that you are looking for - not quality. Value is the quality/price ratio. If you want to live in Taft or any of a hundred or more hell-holes in California you can buy your house for less than you can build it for too. The HOUSE quality may be the same, but the neighbourhood sure isn't. There's a REASON people won't pay as much for the house in Taft , or any of the other little california outposts as they will in the valley, or the bay area.

The VALUE of something is also sometimes described as what the highest bidder is willing to pay for something at any given time and place.

Trader Joe's cost of inventory and handling are MUCH lower than the supermarket.. The "level of service" is also different. For some people that changes the "value" of shopping at Trader Joes vs the supermarket.

You want to buy tires in Ontario (Canada, not California)

Well, I'll respectfully dissagree. There is NO WAY you can "dynamically" ballance a tire on a $200 Harbour Fright ballancer. All you can do is static balance it - which might be ok on an old 4x4 or a Yugo. Balancing the tire from the inside to outside, or quadrant to quadrant is REQUIRED for a good high speed balance.

I've had cars where 1/4 ounce of dynamic inbalance caused a tire shimmy on a customer's car (admittedly at well over the legal speed limit.) Can't get that fine with a bubble balancer.

It's what you CAN'T adjust that you need to measure!!! If parts are worn or bent, you don't know unless you can measure.

A good pothole can BEND things. Adjustments can compensate for some of that damage.

If you own the car and hit a bad pothole YOU can knock the caster out. If YOU own the car and slide into a curb, you can tweak the uni-body, knocking the track out. You can do all kinds of things tht CAN change the alignment parrameters you cannot measure - and just because they are not "adjustable" doesn't mean they are not important, or that they cannot be fixed.

I KNOW. I did that stuff for a living for over twenty years. There are many ways to correct "non-adjustable" adjustments.

No, not just ANY reference. Any ACCURATE refference. The car isn't a Bimmer by chance????

It needs to be accurate to within .01 degrees on many cars. That is pretty "granular"

Boy, you are sounding an awfull lot like the guy asking about using his cell phone to align his Bimmer.

You have absolutely ZERO chance of aligning your car anywhere NEAR as close to correct as even the worst alignment shop - and I can assure you EVERY car that left my shop after an alignment WAS properly aligned. Every one that left my brother's alignment rack was also properly aligned. Every one road trested after the alignment as well.

And exactly what weights are you bringing yo the "alignment shop"?

You are the kind of customer that I would "fire" by the second time you came into the shop. If you don't trust your mechanic, get the hell out and stay out.

You think you are smarter than everyone else - and you are a cheap=ass on top of it all.

What do YOU do for a living???? Like I told a doctor customer of mine who bitched because it took 2 tries to fix an intermittent problem on his expensive car - I guarantee my work and fix my mistakes - you just bury yours. That shut the wize-ass up!!.

And YOU are going to do it right without the equipment and ebven the knowlege of how to do it?? And I don't mean watching You-tube videos.

Your disrespect of my first chosen profession is duly noted - and one reason many GOOD mechanics have left the business - leaving guys like you to fend for yourself. I took enough abuse in just under 25 years to do me for the rest of my life. -which is why I'll soon be retiring from my "second chosen profession" after 27 years

The last tires I bought were form a place that repairs them and rotates them for 'free'. My wife did something and bent a rim. I brought them a rim and they replaced the tire and ballanced it for free.

I think I have had one flat in about 12 years not counting that bent rim.

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

Oh Clare, lower your blood pressure. I believe it is the alignment troll. They are cheap asses whom think they know it all and can fix it for free with everybody else's help. I am surprised they don't invite people over to help them (actually do the work). Alignment racks are a thing of beauty these days. Rather than strings and bubbles they use lasers. Out of specs are printed out and adjustments verified. This guy is jabbering about nuts on valve stems???

The problem, at least here, is that there are very few shops that can actually do a competent alignment.

We used to have a place called Davis Alignment Service that had both some laser systems and some mechanical measurement gear from the sixties, and you could go in and expect to drive away with either a solid alignment or a good diagnosis about why the car isn't going to align properly. You could explain how you wanted the car to feel and they could adjust the alignment to match your request.

Today what we have are shops that have automatic digital alignment systems. They put the car on the system, it prints out some numbers, they put in some shims and drive the car off. Tie rod ends bad? They won't notice, they'll put some shims in anyway. You want a little more oversteer? They will look at you like some kind of alien. "The factory manual says we are supposed to set this parameter to this and we won't set it any other way."

Because it's very difficult now to find someone who can actually align the vehicle who knows what they are doing, a lot of people are interested in doing alignment at home. Can you blame them?

--scott

There is another reason to need this nut. Dually tires use valve extenders for the inner tire. The extender is fastened to a plate and held in position with a nut that is threaded onto the valve. That is the nut Leon is referring to. I lost one on my rv and am having a problem finding a replacement.

This is not a standard sized nut. The device you are looking for is specifically threaded to fit the Schrader valve. If you google "Schrader valve nut spacer" you should be able to find such a thing.

Otherwise it would be easier to talk to the company that made the extender.

You could cut your own on a lathe if you had the right gears available.

--scott

This is probably the easy solution.

My notes say it's 0.305-32 and searching ebay for "0.305-32 tap die" gets results that include "Schrader" in the listing title.

Elijah

------ probably easier than the lathe

i have a schrader valve on a air line and i cant find a nut to fit so i can mount it on my bumper. i had one but when i replaced it i lost the nut and cant find one. 5/16 fine is close but it is a finer thread

7.7mm x 32tpi. Decidedly non-standard among modern threaded things. Probably common in the 1890s but we've had several thread standard systems come and go since then

Some guys charge a lot for them:

others less:

Is that the standard nut used on motorcycle valve stems and tubes? A bike shop would probably give you one. New tubes come with two.