Frozen Valve Stem - solutions?

[MillerAndCheeto]

Hey Forum,

I ran into an interesting problem today, looking for your ideas/solutions if you've had a similar experience.

I went winter offroading today, it was COLD, around -18 C (0 F). This particular route has a few river crossings. The deepest one was a good 18" with a frozen top layer, so we busted through a bunch of ice on the way through - absolutely no problem. First picture below. Final destination was the frozen waterfalls, picture #2.

The problem I ran into was after getting back to the staging area to air back up.....it was super cold and now the rims and valve stems were covered in a thick layer of ice from the river crossings. I tried chipping away at them but I was worried I'd hit a stem too hard and "just right" and break a stem. I found a carwash relatively close by to defrost the tires.

So my question - has anyone ran into this issue before or have a solution in mind? Off the top of my head I'm thinking just carry some lock de-icer during winter offroading? A blowtorch seems a little over the top.

Thoughts?

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[helifino16]

The way the weather is shaping up for this month, I have feeling that this thread will attract a lot of attention. All the way down to Fla.

 

[HighVelocity]

I've just knocked off as much ice as I can and grab them with my hand, holding on for a couple minutes until they warm up enough.

I've seen guys put hand warmers on them as well.

 

[Montana Bronco]

 

[SuperDave150]

Hot coffee. Black. No cream or sugar.

 

[HighVelocity]

Hot coffee. Black. No cream or sugar.

This.

Drink a ton of coffee while driving, then when you need to defrost your valve stems, you have plenty of nice, warm urine to complete the task.

 

[SuperDave150]

This.

Drink a ton of coffee while driving, then when you need to defrost your valve stems, you have plenty of nice, warm urine to complete the task.

Or radiator fluid, per the movie “Red Dawn”

 

[Valhalla]

interesting question, I've not run into this. I wondered if 99% isopropyl alcohol would do the trick... especially if it were warmer from being in the truck....

 

[MillerAndCheeto]

interesting question, I've not run into this. I wondered if 99% isopropyl alcohol would do the trick... especially if it were warmer from being in the truck....

That's my initial thought as well, lock de-icer I believe is mostly isopropyl, and I have a large bottle of 99% for cleaning computer components. Might need to add to the winter kit.

 

[Ducati1098]

I feel like a simple cheap lighter would do the trick. No need for a blow torch lol

 

[GI_Jo_Nathan]

Maybe.

 

[Brian_B]

Seems like a few highway miles would eventually thaw them out. Going with care to limit top speed based on how low you aired down

 

[HighVelocity]

This is why 4wd burnouts are a thing.




Probably.

 

[MillerAndCheeto]

Seems like a few highway miles would eventually thaw them out. Going with care to limit top speed based on how low you aired down

Maybe if it was warmer? We drove 20 minutes at 90-95 km/hr and they were still frozen, which is when we found a car wash.

 

[the poacher]

Just put lots of anti-seize inside your valve caps and you will have no issues removing them once you break off the bit of ice build up.

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