tpms position on dually pickup?

CHICKDOE · 02-13-2019, 09:45 AM

i have 2015 ram 3500 with dual rear wheels and tire pressure sensors mounted inside the rims. i went to get a front end alignment and tire rotation. i clearly told the counter attendant about the tire pressure sensors and i was assured they have a device they use to read the position of the sensors and will update that position into the truck memory. so i got the truck back and the pressure readings on the driver display did not look right. so i personally checked the pressure of each wheel (all 6) and made sure each was to the proper pressure (80 psi front, 65 psi rear). yet driving a few miles the pressures on the display was still wrong (it showed the inner rears having 80 psi and the front having 65 psi). so back to the tire store. i explained to problem to the counterman and his first response was that ram didn't put pressure sensors on 3500's. that took a trip to the truck to show him that they do. so he said they would reprogram them. left truck for the day and came back that afternoon and another guy came over to explain that couldn't do anything as the rear tire are too close together for the programmer to distinguish between the inner and outer wheel. he said because of this their programming device does not support duallys.

so i've got a couple of questions:

how is the truck able to distinguish the pressure reading form the inner and outer tires in order to display it on the display panel?

how do i get the sensors reprogrammed to their new and current position?

i have a feeling i'm not dealing with a top tier tire store, though it is part of a large national chain.

2Evil4U · 02-13-2019, 07:19 PM

I rotated the tires on my 17 3500. Took about 5 miles before they reset properly in the evic. Not sure how it does it, but it worked.

Lins · 02-14-2019, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Evil4U

I rotated the tires on my 17 3500. Took about 5 miles before they reset properly in the evic. Not sure how it does it, but it worked.

Is yours a dually though? Some people have commented that on duallies you have to dismount/remount the tires to rotate properly and have the sensors work. What does the owners manual say?

Edit: looks like manual says rotate side to side only.

2Evil4U · 02-14-2019, 02:47 PM

Yep dually. As I have the cheap steelies I rotated front to back and in to out. It automatically updated after a bit of driving.

Lins · 02-14-2019, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Evil4U

Yep dually. As I have the cheap steelies I rotated front to back and in to out. It automatically updated after a bit of driving.

I wonder if the manual says side to side because of the sensors or just in case you have the polished outside wheels. My 2500 relearns on its own as well. Maybe the OP has to drive it more?

Mr Towed · 02-14-2019, 03:01 PM

If their sensor tool won't work because the tires are too close together, they should take the outer tires off an move them far enough away. They are a tire shop, they should know how to take tires off and put them back on.

I don't know about your truck specifically but on some vehicles you can learn sensors by putting the vehicle in a learn mode and drain/add air pressure to the tires one by one to identify them to the system.

klrobert · 02-14-2019, 10:54 PM

I have 2015 dually also. The inner rears have to stay in the inner position. The only way to rotate them is side to side. The outside rears and front wheels can be swapped. The reason for this is they use a different frequency for the rear inners and outers so the ECM can distinguish between the inner and outer rear wheels.

CHICKDOE · 02-15-2019, 06:04 AM

klrobert, thanks for the info on the different frequencies! that makes a lot of sense. i'll have to remember that as some day the sensors are going to have the batteries run out and i'll have to get new sensors. better get the right frequency sensors.

so the tire shop moved the fronts to the inner dually position. then they weren't able to reprogram anything because their portable programming machine does not have a dually option (6 wheels) for ram trucks. i have an appointment net week with the local dealership and we'll see how it goes.

some time ago when i got tires at costco they did say that they only way to rotate the tires was to actually dismount the tire from the rim and move the tires to while leaving the rims in the same position. i guess i'll learn some more next week at the dealership.

sometimes little things become way too complicated!

Scheinin · 02-16-2019, 03:00 PM

I also have the RAM 3500 dually. I had the same problem as OP. Each time I had the tires changed or rotated, I went to a RAM dealer. I am traveling full time across the country. The dealers obviously don't know of this issue. First I was told I had a bad sensor, and bought a new one. Next time the dealer told me I had a bad relay, I bought a new one ($300.00). Then I read on a forum the problem, as stated above. Now, I tell the dealer they have to manually celibate the sensors.

It appears few RAM dealers know how to handle the 3500 dually.

Lins · 02-16-2019, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scheinin

I also have the RAM 3500 dually. I had the same problem as OP. Each time I had the tires changed or rotated, I went to a RAM dealer. I am traveling full time across the country. The dealers obviously don't know of this issue. First I was told I had a bad sensor, and bought a new one. Next time the dealer told me I had a bad relay, I bought a new one ($300.00). Then I read on a forum the problem, as stated above. Now, I tell the dealer they have to manually celibate the sensors.

It appears few RAM dealers know how to handle the 3500 dually.

If they handle HDs regularly they might have intentionally hosed you. There’s a section in the manual where you can apply right to FCA for such cases for a potential refund

CHICKDOE · 02-18-2019, 06:07 PM

went to the ram dealer today and got the problem resolved, but it took a while! i'll make a long story short. according to the tech the sensors should report their new location after about 3-5 miles of driving and it should be automatic. why mine didn't he didn't know. so they used their standard reset technique, drive it a while, and that didn't work. then had a conference with the service manager and came up with a new plan. they reloaded the body control computer and some other computer with new software. that wiped out all records of the sensor and where they were. the tech then went to each wheel and used a machine to interrogate each sensor and manually loaded the sensor identified and wheel location into the computer he had just reloaded with software. this did the trick. i asked him about the sensor frequency that was mentioned previously in this thread. each sensor transmits on its own frequency so the receiver can tell them apart. there is no difference in the sensors other than the frequency they use. in my case the wheels that were on the front were now on the inner dually position. any sensor can be in any location.

so i drove away and the tire pressure display screen seemed to be working. then i tried to turn on the radio, or the climate controls, or the navigation system, or the phone and nothing worked. turned right around and went back. the reply was "i guess the reflash didn't work'. another reflash later it appears that all is working properly. this weekend i am going to go change the air pressure on each tire (one at a time), take a drive, an confirm that all is well.

Lins · 02-18-2019, 06:15 PM

Thanks for the update. I'd be surprised if the hub was sensitive enough to discern between inside and outside tires but you never know...

Scheinin · 02-19-2019, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

went to the ram dealer today and got the problem resolved, but it took a while! i'll make a long story short. according to the tech the sensors should report their new location after about 3-5 miles of driving and it should be automatic. why mine didn't he didn't know. so they used their standard reset technique, drive it a while, and that didn't work. then had a conference with the service manager and came up with a new plan. they reloaded the body control computer and some other computer with new software. that wiped out all records of the sensor and where they were. the tech then went to each wheel and used a machine to interrogate each sensor and manually loaded the sensor identified and wheel location into the computer he had just reloaded with software. this did the trick. i asked him about the sensor frequency that was mentioned previously in this thread. each sensor transmits on its own frequency so the receiver can tell them apart. there is no difference in the sensors other than the frequency they use. in my case the wheels that were on the front were now on the inner dually position. any sensor can be in any location.

I'll wager that when you have the inner tires rotated again, you will have the same problem.

You may also like: