Safeguarding Tire Pressure

Do you travel with an air compressor? We do, and here is why. According to, the two most likely cause of trailer blowouts are overloading the trailer and/or under inflated tires. We do not overload our trailer.

The tires on our trailer are supposed to have a pressure of 60 PSI when sitting at rest. We were on a trip once when I checked the tire pressure and it was 54 PSI all around. That, I thought, was too low. Since it was the first time I had actually checked the pressure, I suspect it was because the place we bought it from had not bothered to fill the tires properly.

So, I had to pull up to an air pump at a gas station and fill the tires. Have you ever done that – with a trailer, I mean? What a pain!  When I was a kid (a long time ago) air pumps were free. Not any more. They actually take credit cards now.

It cost $4.00 to fill the tires.

We already had a compressor for our power tools, but it never occurred to me to take it along. My experience with the pump changed my mind. On our last long trip, I brought it with us, and I’m glad I did. The trailer tires were okay, but my F-150 showed that one of my tires had a slow leak. The nice thing about the F-150 is that the Tire Pressure Monitors (TPM) show the actual pressure in each tire. They don’t just give you a warning that the pressure is low.

I had to fill that one tire every 500 miles or so. When we got home, I took the truck to our Ford dealer assuming that there was a leak in the tire stem – it turned out that there was a tiny nail in the tire. I’m not sure what would have happened if I didn’t have the compressor along.

So, my recommendation is that you bring a compressor, a digital tire gauge, and a tire inflator with a digital gauge so you can see what the pressure is as you fill the tires. Why digital gauges? Because they are far more accurate than the type that have a little “ruler” that pops up to show you the pressure. I also recommend that you check the tire pressure before you go on any trip to make sure they are properly inflated. With a compressor, you can do that at home!

Here are the products we use, all sold on Amazon (the cheapest alternative I can find).

Senco PC1010 Compressor

Digital Tire Pressure Gauge

Tire Inflator with Pressure Gauge