Moe Zhoost

Anybody here (who has a compressor) use these chucks? They are not cheap, but probably worth it. I use JACO Lightning press-on chuck on my digital air gauge/inflator to for my car tires and like it a lot. I'd like to use the same inflator gauge for my bikes because it is more accurate and easier than a floor pump, but the press-on chuck does not play well with a presta adapter. Any feedback would be appreciated.

veganbikes

Never heard of it but it looks nice and they share the name of one of the best jazz bassists Jaco Pastorius. The price seems pretty reasonable a two pack is on sale on their website for under $30 and have a lifetime warranty so doesn't look that ridiculous. Sure not 5 bucks but $15 is a few trips to say a Starbucks or similar.

If I had a compressor I might consider one of those it certainly looks purdy with that anodized blue (if it was 3DV I would have them in my cart already planning my compressor purchase...LOL)

2_i 

I have no experience with the JACO chuck, but I tried the Birzman Snap-It quick-connection chuck and found it absolutely awful, so much that I started to question Birzman as a brand.

Moe Zhoost

It appears Birzman no longer sells those connectors. Probably for the reason you found.

The JACO press-on connectors for car tires work so well that I think I will give the bike ones a try.

2_i 

Please report how it went. I would be certainly interested even if they worked just most of the time - I have pneumatic quick-release connectors for swapping chucks on my main pump, so can afford occasional stumbles.

As to Birzman, they indeed updated their chuck of this type, but the positive reviews for the new version came from the same sources that reviewed positively the previous Snap-It - no reason for me to blink.

epnnf

I have a jaco schrader inflator- works good. Also have a jaco presta inflator- works ok, just a little twitchy getting it secured on the valve stem

Troul 

I'd have went that route if I didn't make these work:

https://www.amazon.com/AUTUT-Plastic.../dp/B07RZYGXFW

I had the air hoses & couplers already to make the extension assembly to direct connect to the mechanical gauge to which quick connects to the air hose spool using a standard NPT coupler .for easy change outs.

biker128pedal

You must work for Jaco. I ordered the chuck set and inflator. I’ve been wanting a digital inflator anyway. Hey good quality. I like the Chuck convert and does both presta and Schrader. Easter to use on my motorcycle. Presta seals well. Now if it will fill and seat tubeless it will do it all. I’ll have to try that later when I break down the bead on the only set of tubeless I have now. Oh hey the inflator came with a straight Schrader Chuck. They both seal with an o-ring and twist off easily.

Moe Zhoost

Well, thanks to Amazon Prime I now have a set of the JACO chucks and can report that they work very well. There is a small threaded split ring inside the body that, when you turn the sleeve, expands or contracts to fit the different valve stems. Once you set the chuck for your intended valve, it takes just a few quick turns to seal the o-ring to the stem. You will lose a bit of air doing this, especially with presta but not much. The best part is that a quick pull back on the sleeve disconnects it with almost no leakage. I do like my floor pump, but its gauge is probably 15-20% off. Using these new chucks with my digital inflator/gauge gives me the accuracy I want.

2_i 

I had the misfortune of reading this thread and slipping badly in buying the Jaco chuck, +barb adapter, for $40+. The chuck is a disaster, maybe worse than the Birzman I tried before. No matter how you mount it, on whichever valve, it is usually leaking the air badly. It releases air from Presta, that is supposed to hold air on its own! Now maybe you do not care about air leaking when you are getting a massive delivery from a compressor. However, the air departure continues while you are taking the chuck off! Every tire I tried to pump, whether Schrader or Presta, I had to redo with a decent chuck (Hirame), to make sure that I ended up with the pressure I wanted. The worst part about the Jaco L3 Ligtning chuck, presumably, as that what happens is somewhat erratic - you may find a better seating for the chuck where it works a tad better. However, by the time to get there you wasted so much time that you would be far better with a chuck that nominally gets mounted at a slower pace but yields a predictable operation off the bat.

Yes, I watched the video to make sure I operated the chuck correctly. Yes, I have a dozen of various pumps, two dozens of various chucks and I pumped tires 1000+ times in my life and I do not want the Jaco chuck in there. As it is from Amazon, I will look whether I can still return it.

smd4

If you have a Hirame don’t know why you would want to use anything else.

2_i 

I know I must be spoiled. I have 2 Hirame, one set up for Presta and one for Schrader and I swap them with QR couplers. People value these less for Schrader, but their Schrader version is good too. I already got my money back for the Jaco mishap .

staehpj1

I have a prestaflator and am happy with it. They make a variety of chucks and have one that comes with presta and schrader that swap quickly, but mine is just presta. I have a Kobalt brand schrader inflator from Lowes that is fine as well.

Moe Zhoost

Man, I'm really bummed that you bought something on my recommendation and that it did not work for you. I'm actually quite surprised because this system works perfectly for me. Easy mounting on both type of valves, no leaking under pressure, and no loss of air when removing. I have not tried it on a smooth stem presta nor have I used pressures > 90 psi; however I don't think that would be an issue. They worked so well for me that I pumped up every mounted tire I could find, whether on a bike or not. 11 tires, without a single fault, and many inflations since then with no problem.

I hope you can get Amazon to accept return. Jaco has a 100% satisfaction guarantee within 30 days of purchase, too.

2_i 

Moe, really no problem. I apologize for the outburst at the moment of frustration. I got my money back from Amazon and I do not even have misgivings about the return as I did not manage to mar the chuck I tried. The forum is there to share experiences and sometimes you get burnt when something worked well for somebody else. Still you want to try new things from time to time and the risk is a part of it.

As to the chuck, I wonder whether the way in which pressure rises from the hose side, in a rush from the compressor and quite gradual from a manual pump, makes a difference in its operation. In comparing Jaco with Birzman, they both use the principle of the outer shell being pushed down on the vent and twisted. However, in Birzman you make no selection for Schrader or Presta like in Jaco - it is supposed to adjust itself on its own

Ridinglurker

Did anyone test the gauges mentioned? The Jaco lists +/- 1% of full scale. So at 200 psi you have +/- 2 psi.
I looked for better digital gauges that are limited to 100 psi maybe (so the 1% accuracy would be +/- 1 psi. but haven't found one. Many don't even show accuracy (probably due to lack of). But they promote resolution (like 0.1 psi) to trick people into thinking it is accurate to 0.1 psi.

Even for cars (typically in the 30+ psi range) the 200 psi gauges are too large. Home air compressors only make 90 psi. So 100 psi range would be better. IMHO, a 200+ psi gauge will be inherently inaccurate for car/bike pressures no matter how good it is. Even worse, gauges tend to be most accurate in the middle of the range. So if you have a car, or MTB, you would want a 60 psi gauge and so on.

I only found analog types with 100 psi.

Digital gauges in theory could include computation to correct for the changed sensitivity at different pressures temperatures etc. I'm just not sure if the ones you buy are that good.

Since I couldn't find a more accurate air chuck, I wonder if it is better to buy one very accurate gauge and use that tho re-adjust after filling with the less accurate chuck. Like this one is rated to be +/- 0.5 psi https://www.amazon.com/JACO-ElitePro...s%2C128&sr=1-2
That way you also can "know" if the less accurate one is +2 psi off and manually adjust for that inaccuracy. Like if you know that gauge shows 2 psi higher, you just inflate to 2 psi higher. the trick is to find the one gauge that is accurate.

icemilkcoffee 

I have a different requirement. I somehow ended up with two sets of older HED wheels. These are wheels with thin non-structural carbon fairings. There cannot be any side load on the presta valve stem. Basically the valve stem cannot be bent in any way or the carbon fairing will tear. So this limits me to pump heads that can be operated with one hand (the other hand is holding the valve stem steady) , with minimal struggling or wiggling. Any HED or Flo wheel owners have good or bad experiences to share?

smd4

I believe Hirami or Hiro (sold by Silca) chucks excel when used with disk wheels.

Fredo76

Thank you for reminding me of that possibility.

jnbrown

I could really use this. I bought a nice digital inflator that works great on car tires.
but to use it on bike tires with presta I have to use a screw on Schrader to presta adapter.
when I am inflating the tire it only shows the pressure when air is going in because it does not push down on the presta valve to keep it open. I think it is worth a try despite the mixed reviews.
I am not seeing anything that looks better. I use latex tubes so I am always pumping them up.

Moe Zhoost

I use mine with a portable tank with full pressure of 120 psi - so equivalent to a compressor. I wonder if your issue was related to hooking the chuck up directly to a compressor hose. The chucks are open flow so unless there is some sort of valve between the air source and chuck, you'll be fighting the air flow trying to get it hooked up to the valve stem.

I have mine hooked up to my digital gauge, which has a trigger operated valve that prevents air flow until actuated. Basically I fix the chuck on the valve them and then trigger the air. Once inflated to the proper pressure, I release the trigger to stop the flow and then release the chuck from the tube. There is a very slight micro-second of air release when it's removed.

I'm thinking about making a video to show how it works for me.

2_i 

In the context of this thread I played around with my Birzman chuck, which I never bothered to return, as it cost me just $10 or so, apparently on sale. The chuck decomposed itself during my recent trials and some parts fell out. After a few attempts, I managed to put it back together. Now, on the Amazon site, some customer posted photos of Jaco that fell apart for that customer. The parts look identical to those in my Birzman. I.e., it seems that both Birzman and Jaco have been getting their chucks from the same source, that quite plausibly even designs them, and they are just different (including historical) variants of the same. Birzman now call their chuck of this type Push and Twist and they have a troubleshooting video on their use:

Moe Zhoost

Thanks for the update. I saw the pics on the Amazon review page and the parts look like what I would expect the innards to look like. I wonder how it came apart and I'm tempted to disassemble the 2nd one that I have ... well maybe not just yet because I don't want to ruin the spare. I'm hoping that I'll get reasonable service out of these.

So I made a short video of me inflating both schraeder and presta valves. A bit of air leaked from the presta when I attached the chuck, but that's normal for me with most chucks.

2_i 

Thanks for the video. You seem to be screwing on more than I did, when putting the chuck on, and unscrewing less than I, when taking off. The disturbing amount of air coming out from Presta when putting the chuck on is somewhat consistent with my experience. I say disturbing because the air is not supposed to come out at all from the Presta. Of course this is idealized, as usually you touch the stem, but the amounts of air coming out tend to be minute, hardly registered on a gauge. In any case, I think I take less time to put Hirame on a valve and some other chucks too. Lezyne heads take longer, but they can be quite precise once you get a full control of them. So then the only potential attraction of Jaco is in the swapping Schrader and Presta. However that is actually cumbersome, as it is hard to grab firmly the narrow strip on the chuck to accomplish the swap. Moreover, for me the chuck started moving from one position towards another when I was screwing it on. So overall I think I am quite happy having returned it. Even if I learned to use it better, the reason for the unhappiness with the chuck could have just shifted a tad. (This goes back to the question of why looking for anything better than Hirame .) Also, the Birzman troubleshooting video suggests that the experiences may depend on details in the valves.

P.S. I think there is one definite advantage to Jaco, in that it is quite compact in spite of being dual-valve. Some dual-valve chucks can be unsuitable for tight spaces.

Moe Zhoost

Yeah, I screw the thing on probably too much. It seems to seal with just a few twists, but I tend to go until I feel some resistance. Same tendency probably affects the initial air leakage on a presta valve - I push the chuck on a bit too far before tightening. I'll have to try it a bit less aggressively.

All in all, I think I can say that I like this chuck. I bought it specifically because I can use it with the inflator that I've been using on my car tires, but after some additional thought prompted by the discussion in this thread, I think I might have liked a different system better. In any case, I'm glad that I was able to offer this review to the forum community.