So I have been wanting to purchase and test different off road products for a while now. The first one that caught my eye and fit my budget was the Colby Valve Emergency Valve Stem Replacement valves. The theory is that if you should find yourself in a situation where a valve stem becomes compromised then you pull out the bad valve part, push in the emergency valve, and re-inflate the tire. Truth be told - it was not much harder than that.
Setup - I ordered the Colby Valve Stem Replacement package on Amazon for $35 with free Prime shipping. The package arrived as expected. The package could easily be added to a basic tool box or thrown into the factory jack area. I was surprised that Colby says the emergency valve stem is reusable as long as the rubber material at the mating surface is not damaged upon removal.
So on to the test....
I decided to use the spare tire from my 2001 4Runner because it was available and the tire probably needs to be replaced once the test is done. Skipping past the simple prep stuff - removed the air and cleaned the valve stem hole in the rim. I had a little issue removing the old/bad valve stem. I ended up using a pair of pliers to get the valve stem out since it had been stuck in there for over a decade.
Next step was following the 1-2-3 directions on back of the Colby Valve package. Step 1 - Fully Insert Emergency Valve Simple step but you have to push until it is pass the brass base and then up to the flat washer part directly under the brass washer. If you do not insert it far enough then the emergency valve will not properly seat. Step 2 - Maintain Pressure and Twist until Snug The one part I wish was better defined is "snug". I twisted the valve for 4-6 rotations and the valve still was not snug and had some side-to-side play. I ended up needing to use the pliers to get it fully snug because the wings were tough to grab with gloves on my hand and that close to the rim. I did manage to get it "snug" enough so as to not flex side-to-side. Step 3 - Air Up Tire I used my garage air compress to do this. Simple and straight forward - it aired up to 20 psi easily.
I checked the air pressure multiple times over the next hour and it was holding at 20 psi. I will update with a pressure check after 24 hours and then later after a week.
It does appear that it would be a working solution to replace a damaged valve stem in a bad situation. The package says you can replace it one minute. I think I probably took about 3-5 minutes but that was also taking my time and allowing for pictures. I do think it would be faster than swapping out a spare tire. Overall for $35 it appears to be a good deal at this time.
Overnight the tire kept 20 lbs of pressure.
Setup - I ordered the Colby Valve Stem Replacement package on Amazon for $35 with free Prime shipping. The package arrived as expected. The package could easily be added to a basic tool box or thrown into the factory jack area. I was surprised that Colby says the emergency valve stem is reusable as long as the rubber material at the mating surface is not damaged upon removal.
So on to the test....
I decided to use the spare tire from my 2001 4Runner because it was available and the tire probably needs to be replaced once the test is done. Skipping past the simple prep stuff - removed the air and cleaned the valve stem hole in the rim. I had a little issue removing the old/bad valve stem. I ended up using a pair of pliers to get the valve stem out since it had been stuck in there for over a decade.
Next step was following the 1-2-3 directions on back of the Colby Valve package. Step 1 - Fully Insert Emergency Valve Simple step but you have to push until it is pass the brass base and then up to the flat washer part directly under the brass washer. If you do not insert it far enough then the emergency valve will not properly seat. Step 2 - Maintain Pressure and Twist until Snug The one part I wish was better defined is "snug". I twisted the valve for 4-6 rotations and the valve still was not snug and had some side-to-side play. I ended up needing to use the pliers to get it fully snug because the wings were tough to grab with gloves on my hand and that close to the rim. I did manage to get it "snug" enough so as to not flex side-to-side. Step 3 - Air Up Tire I used my garage air compress to do this. Simple and straight forward - it aired up to 20 psi easily.
I checked the air pressure multiple times over the next hour and it was holding at 20 psi. I will update with a pressure check after 24 hours and then later after a week.
It does appear that it would be a working solution to replace a damaged valve stem in a bad situation. The package says you can replace it one minute. I think I probably took about 3-5 minutes but that was also taking my time and allowing for pictures. I do think it would be faster than swapping out a spare tire. Overall for $35 it appears to be a good deal at this time.
Overnight the tire kept 20 lbs of pressure.
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