Brass Valve Stem

[Blue Ox]

Another important point is that those appear to be high pressure valve stems, which would be correct for a K20HD. Standard valve stems are rated for a lower max tire pressure (maybe 60 psi?), but a high pressure valve stem will handle the 80 psi max of an E rated (or 10 ply) truck tire.

Not a big deal to have the right tire load rating and valve stems if you never plan to load the truck to near max, but very important if you have a camper or other heavy load. I have been surprised when tire shops just give me a dumb look when I ask if they are going to use high pressure valve stems with my 245/75R16E tires.

That is correct.

When I had finally assembled all the components I needed to mount the spare under the bed (Don't get me started on a certain cheapskate who moaned so much about the price of the truck that we ended up ordering it without a spare.* ) I brought a rim and tire I had to the tire shop to have it mounted. I asked them about a brass stem, and they said they didn't have them. But they showed me the stem they were installing and that it had a flanged brass insert. So it was rated for the 85 psi GM had recommended back in the day.

So, fortunately they knew and I knew. But if neither of us had known I can't imagine how dangerous a valve stem would be when launched at 80 psi.

* Okay, I got me started.

Because the truck was ordered without a spare it didn't just not come with a tire. I didn't come with any provision for it. So we carted the spare around in the bed, which is probably the most ridiculous use of a truck's cargo space I can imagine. Thanks to this forum and a couple from eBay that parted out the frames of these trucks I can now carry the spare where God and GM intended. And I can load plywood without having to move that fheckin' thing around, or leave it behind.

It's very liberating. And it only took about thirty years.