I submitted this to Forest River's design dept. Forest River does not see fit to include any TPMS option on the Forester, Sunseeker and probably most of their other rigs. I feel this is an oversight and will explain why and what I did about it, in hopes it ultimately reaches the design engineers.
There are many reasons why a good TPMS option is almost essential these days. The fact that almost all new car manufacturers including Ford include internal sensors on all their new cars today, is reason enough to make these standard equipment on motorhomes. There is plenty of data available to shows the dangers of blowouts on motorhomes, and this danger only increases as tires age. It is incumbent on motorhome owners to protect and watch their tires carefully and replace them as needed, and on a time schedule even if appearance and treadwear do not dictate this. I think this is inarguable.
I decided long ago, that a good TPMS system is cheap insurance on a big Class A unit given the cost of those tires. If a tire has a slow leak the driver often does not know about it until it is too late and it either causes a blowout or at the very least has let the pressure run so low that the sidewalls of the tire have been ruined, and the cost of a single big rig 22" tire is as much or more than the cost of a TPMS system. So TPMS is cheap insurance for that reason alone. Where almost all motorhomes today have duallies on the back, it should be obvious that a flat on an inside dually may never be visible until it is too late, making it quite likely that driver is driving down a highway with all the rear weight on one side totally supported on a single tire, thereby greatly increasing the chances of a blowout on that tire from overload. But even on a Class C where the tires are more in the $200 range, safety and convenience and timing on the road make a good TPMS invaluable. And yet only a small percentage of motorhome owners have a TPMS system, and thanks to manufacturers who don't include them as standard equipment, or at least optional equipment, owners may not even know about them.
Therefore I think it is incumbent upon industry leaders like Forest River to offer TPMS as an option on all their rigs, if not as standard equipment which industry leaders like FR should seriously consider. I have installed external tire pressure sensors on other motorhomes I have had, which then communicate with a dash mounted display to provide the driver with a constant readout on the pressures on all 6 or 8 tires and sound alarms when the psi falls below a pre-set minimum (or above a maximum). This always worked well but I found it very difficult to install this kind of system on my Forester because of the use of the stainless Dicor_Fastliner- style wheel inserts. Making it even more difficult is Forest River's decision to use cheap screw on valve extensions to bring the valve stems out to the outside where they are accessible for adding air. Thus a screw on external Tire pressure sensor might be on top of two or more screw on extensions, thereby great increasing the likelihood of introducing slow leaks.
Since I had a system with external screw on sensors, saved from an earlier Class A, I tried this route first with little success. The multiple valve extensions and stainless wheel inserts made it all but impossible to get it right. I ordered a set of Duallyvalve.com solid one piece valves of the proper length custom designed for a Ford E450, purchased from accu-pressure.com. While these reached thru the stainless wheel lines for attaching an air pressure chuck to add air, it was still very difficult or screw on the sensors due to clearance issues without using short valve extenders, defeating the purpose of the custom one piece valves.
Finally, after some research I discovered the Dill Air internal system
1506-453 Trailer TPMS System With 6 Sensors
available as a 6 tire system perfect for a class C motorhome with duallies on the rear. I had the internal sensors installed by lesschwab.com with a banded/cradle setup ordered from tirerack.com
6 BAND14/26IN ADJUSTABLE FORD TPMS STRAP 13.00ea
6 1025U DILL CRADLES FOR TRAILER TPMS 2.00ea
I used the brass Duallyvalve.com solid one piece valves to bring each valve stem out to where an air chuck could be fitted easily to add air when needed. Total cost was around $800 or so but now I have the ideal system to keep a careful eye on my tires.
I take the time to explain this carefully in hopes that FR will eventually decide it is good business to offer this system as an option, if not as standard equipment, on all their RV's.
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