chetcline
I was fascinated by the many comments re Central Tire Inflation. I know a lot about CTI, as I've been making and using it for nearly 15 years on a wide variety of vehicles. But first, if you don't like tools, or are too lazy to use it, or you dont care about your own vehicle, and the environment, you won't like it.
But, if you do care, then CTI is superb. Let me be a little more negative. Several comments re Cross Fire and Cat's Eyes said things like, the hoses aged after 4 or 5 years. Don't you guys change your oil, or your v belts? The hoses are parts that have a usable life, just like tires. Why blame the tool just because you don't maintain it.
Now, after my grumbles. If you spend your life on the good roads, then you won't need CTI unless you drive a truck that changes it's load and earns a living. If your truck does carry payloads, then every time you change the load you should change your tire pressures. Otherwise, you are wasting tires. Michelin states that a 20% under inflated tire wears out 20% faster, AND a 20% over inflated tire wears out 22% faster. And almost everyone runs way too much tire pressure on bigger trucks. CTI will save at least 30% of over all tire costs. These are facts that I can back up with many scientific tests, and years of personal experience.
If you get off the beaten track, you should lower tire pressures. On gravel roads, I use about 60% of the correct highway pressures. As the terrain gets worse, my pressures drop more. On my JK unlimited, I run 34 psi on the highway. If it rains, I increase pressures to around 40. If I'm fully loaded and towing a trailer, I'll run 45 to 50 psi in the rear. On gravel roads, running in normal weights, my Jeep likes 20 to 22 psi. Hard pack dirt roads like 22. Gravel roads, 20. In fire trails, I'll drop to 10 or 12 psi. And in real tough country, or sand, or mud, or snow, I'll go down to 7. Tires are stock 17 inchers.
My Suzuki Vitara with 30 inch mud terrains, I run 20 on the highway, 10 to 12 on gravel roads, and down to 4 psi in tough going.
My Chev C65 runs 445 super singles. I run 40 psi on the front and 22 psi in the rear when empty.
I had a ford Louisville tandem drive truck with a flat top. Even with the Suburban on the back, I only ran 20 psi. naturally, fully laden, I'd run up to 85 psi, which is all any legal loaded truck needs.
If you are serious about learning more, look up
www.aircti.com or email me at
www.chetcline@hotmail.com
Cheers