Woods / Dunlop tire valves HELP!!!

[Onweels]

The Chinese made ebike I have has a Woods / Dunlop valve which won't let me pump up my tires without an adapter, so today I spent the whole day traveling into the nearest town which has these and back.

I have never pumped up a bike tire and starting with a woods valve and no one to show me how is proving to be a bit more of a problem than I anticipated.

My first problem is the pump I have came with no instructions. I guess they assume nobody is as clueless as I am ...

Below is some information about the type of pump I am using.

Sick Lines » Axiom Enforce Air DLX Gauge

It says it has a reversible valve with a removable alloy cap and the valve can be reversed to work with either Presta or Schrader valves.

I can't figure out what this is or how to make use of this feature or if it would work on a woods valve.

I am also confused by a lever that pulls out near the top of the nozzle of the pump and I'm not sure what that lever does, or at what stage of the pumping procedure the lever should be in close up to the handle and when it should be pulled out.

I brought my tire pump along but it was too far to bring my ebike and I got the guy at the bike shop give me a demonstration of how the pump and adapter works. They didn't have any bikes with a woods valve ( I bought my ebike even further away from where I live ) It seemed the guy had never heard of a woods valve, but he showed how the adapter worked on a bike with presta valves.

Except for the pump being difficult to separate from the adapter when it is still on the valve, it seemed easy enough and the built in pressure gage on my pump showed the pressure when the adapter was used on the bike with Presta valves.

Of course woods dunlop valves are a bit different than a presta valve.

When I got home I tried to figure out how to use this on my woods valve.

There is a nut with no threads on woods valves that I know needs to be screwed tight to keep the air from escaping and instructions I found online for using an adapter on a presta valve say to loosen the nut. If I recall correctly the nut on the Presta valve had threads, so once it was loosened to sit flush with the top of the inner valve the adapter screwed onto the nut.

My first problem. My woods valve nut has no threads.

I made the mistake of entirely removing the nut with allowed a tiny core with a rubber sleeve to be forcibly ejected into the grass along with all the air that was in my tire.

I'm not sure if I found everything that was that got ejected or if I need to keep looking in the grass for a tiny spring.

As this was obviously not the right way to do this, I put the nut back on and after several times of managing to sort of pump up the tire and accidentally letting all the air out again as I struggled to remove the pump from the adapter, and the adapter from the valve, I eventually managed to pump the tire up to be just slightly softer than it was to begin with.

I think my final and most successful attempt involved pumping up the tire with the nut sitting in it's tightened position, but I'm not entirely sure the tire got more inflated and perhaps my success had something to do with how I chanced to use the little lever on the pump on that try.

The pressure gage that showed the correct tire pressure on the bike with the presta valve just went up and down to zero as I pumped on my bike, regardless of the actual amount of air in the tire.

Because I'm in an out of the way rural location and I haven't even figured out how to pump up tires, changing to inner tubes with Schrader valves won't be possible for a while. Meanwhile I'd like to be able to use my bike.

Does anyone know how to use these type of pumps ? What does that lever do and when should I use it? How can I use it to work with a presta valve and would it work with a woods ?

Could someone please tell me if the nut is supposed to be tightened as far as it will go to the base near the tire when I connect the adapter, or is it supposed to be partially loosened leaving just a tiny bit of the inner core which is threaded to attach the adapter to?

And if I managed to pump up the tire to some degree would that mean I found and replaced all the parts that got ejected into the grass?

 

[Onweels]

I think I might have figured out how the pump converts from being set up for a schrader valve to a presta.

From what I read in yahoo answers it sounds like most modern pumps are dual purpose for schrader and presta. It looks like this pump may convert by screwing off the metal head that connects to the valve and flipping over the inner plastic piece. It looks like then I may be able to use the pump I have without an adapter. It's too dark to go out and see if this might work, but from what I read and how the pump looks I think it might.

If it does my two remaining questions would be

do I need to partly unscrew the nut on a woods valve to pump up the tire and

when I first put the pump on the valve, should the lever on the head of the pump be pulled to as far from the body of the head of the pump as it goes, or as closed as close to the body of the head of the pump as it goes, and once the head of the pump is positioned on the valve, do I move this lever to the other position until the tire is pumped and then too remove the pump from the valve do I place it in the same position it was in when I first put the head of the pump on the valve?

I guess I also still need to know if I need to look for lost parts in the grass.

I can't wait till I have to figure out how to fix a flat tire ....

Sorry to be so clueless

 

[Mussels]

Wouldn't it have been cheaper and easier to order a couple of normal inner tubes to be sent to your home.

 

[essexman]

oh dear.

Right the pump you have wont work on woods valves. You need either new inner tubes or get an adaptor like this:

I'd also suggest you get some bike training and a good book on basic bike maintenance.

 

[Rad]

Seriously, get shot of the woods valves, they're nothing but grief. Schrader's the way to go. You can use a car foot pump at home, and your new pump when you're out on the road. You can also use filling station air pumps, though apparently that's not recommended.

 

[flecc]

You haven't lost anything and you don't need to undo the Woods valve head.

Use one of the adapters screwed on firmly. Then, looking at the entry point on your pump attachment, operate the lever both ways and you'll see that one way compresses the rubber collar in less than the other. That's the way to use on the adapter.

They are still difficult to pump, especially when the valve rubber is new, so I agree that new Schrader inner tubes are preferable in the long term.
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[Onweels]

Thanks for the input. You're all right about the woods valves being hard to work with.

The adapter I have looks just like the adapter in the link posted above.

What I find really surprising is I can't find any clear instructions anywhere on line telling how to inflate a tire with a woods valve.

Flecc, When you say I don't need to undo the Woods valve head, do you mean I don't need to loosen the nut at all, and it can be left in the fully tightened position to pump up the tires?

I just tried this on the front tire and it didn't seem it made any difference, though when I pump the pressure gage on the pump does shoot up to 4 or 5 and then immediately drops back to 0 when I finish the stroke. It doesn't do this when I push the nozzle against my leg so it would appear some connection with the air inside the tire is being made, and perhaps it is just stiff like people say.

I also tried to pump up the front tire with the plastic piece in the pump nozzle reversed and it turns out it is too big for the inner core of the woods. I don't think it would fit over the nut if I loosened it to be flush with the inner core. The only thing I have managed to do by trying to pump with a loosened nut is loose all the air, so I don't want to try unless someone tells me this is for sure how to do it. Part of the problem is that the the adapter gets extremely stuck into the nozzle of my pump and is a major struggle to disengage. If the nut is loose, it is very hard to tighten it before the air rushes out.

And I still have no clue about what the lever is supposed to do or what position it should be in for what purpose. I can't see any rubber collar and I can't tell which position tightens this rubber collar. I am not even sure what the rubber collar is, or if this pump has one.

I have to be doing something wrong and there must be some way to pump up my tires.

I agree that I need to get a book on basic bicycle maintenance . I did find a book partially available on line in Google books titled "The Complete Idiots Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and Repair " It was certainly written with my skills in mind. It only says Woods Dunlop valves are one of those strange British things which could be expected from people who would come up with Monty Pythons Flying Circus and I will probably never ever see one.

Obviously if I can't even inflate a tire I'm not going to be able to replace my inner tubes without some knowledgeable hands on help. Paying someone familiar with hub motors to remove my old inner tubes and install new ones, on top of figuring out how to get my bike to this person, is a lot more than I want to pay right now. Just the ebike was a major expense for me. It seems I should be able to ride a new ebike with new tires for a while before I have to do this.

I have tried to contact the nearest bike shop where I bought the pump for information but he is open when he feels like it, and he doesn't seem to answer his phone or reply to messages. I also hear he is not fond of ebikes.

It's pretty upsetting not to be able to do something as simple as inflating the tires.

 

[iaing]

Don't know anything about the pump you have, I have a Topeak Joe Blow Max II Track Pump. This has a lever too so the following may be of help to you.

With my pump:

Remove the dust-cap from the Dunlop valve, touch nothing else
Place the Presta end of the hose valve onto the inner tube valve
Turn the lever so that it is in line with the Schrader end (the main effect of which is to close the Schrader air outlet, not sure if it does much to fasten the hose to the valve)
Pump

Perhaps you could try the Presta valve on your pump having first tried pumping air onto your hand with the lever in its different positions to see what effect this has.

Might work.

Iain

 

[flecc]

This is what I mean onweels. Have a look at this photo of the part of your pump which fits onto the Woods valve. Inside the shiny alloy part is a black rubber collar. Operate the lever first one way, then the other. Each way will squash in the black rubber collar and make the hole smaller. The way that squashes it in less is the one to use with your adapter. The one that squashes it in more is the way to use without the adapter.



You do not loosen the head of the woods valve, just take of any dust cap if one is fitted. Try pumping with and without the adapter using the two lever positions on the pump.

In action when you pump, the air has to force it's way from inside the rubber sleeve on the valve insert that you nearly lost, and that's why it's difficult, especially when the valve rubber is new.

If you still do not understand this, it's best that you take it to a bike shop to have the tyres pumped, they'll be able to do it for you quickly and cheaply.
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[Onweels]

I did it! I did! it I did it! Such a little thing. Such great feeling of satisfaction. If at first you don't succeed keep obsessing about it until you do!

I think the problem may be that the pump I have doesn't work well with a presta adapter because it's built not to need one.

The trick is hidden in that plastic collar inside the pumps nozzle. It is 2 pieces not just one. They fit together so well it looked like one, even though I removed it and reversed it several times. When it surprised me and came apart in my hand I discovered in the hidden joint in the middle was a smaller hole which can be flipped to sit in the nozzle which fits the woods valve perfectly.

The nozzle then easily fits on the valve when the lever is down and flipping it up locks it on to the valve by sliding the plastic collars a bit forward. I can't see that any hole actually changes size.

Leaving the nut screwed tight and pumping with the right plastic part at the front of the nozzle there was no more noise of air hissing out of badly fitting connections, and I could set the tire swell with every stroke. After 3 or 4 strokes the tire felt quit hard. I released the lever and easily removed the nozzle from the valve ( I was having to pry it off before with a metal tool and even then it was hard )

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy.

The nearest operational bike shop at this time of year is a days trip away and I was there yesterday. The guy had never heard of a Woods valve and he also had trouble with the nozzle sticking to the adapter, while it was screwed on to the presta valve. I wasn't looking forward to spending another day going back.

I'm glad I figured this out. Thanks for your help and patience.

 

[flecc]

That's great onweels, glad you've sorted out the problem. There's nothing like the satisfaction of finding the answer oneself, but get yourself that bike maintenance book to gain more confidence with fixing any little problems that crop up.
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