Dual tire air maintenance system and method

A method for maintaining air pressure within tandem mounted tires comprising:

• mounting a first tire and second tire mounted in a dual side-by-side relationship to an axle, the first and the second tires each mounted respectively to a first rim and a second rim and each of the first and the second tires having a tire cavity bounded by first and second sidewalls extending to a tire tread region;
• providing a control valve housing that is coupled to a valve stem, the control valve housing being external to the tire cavity of each of the first and second tires;
• attaching within the first sidewall of the first tire an elongate sidewall air passageway operatively located to compress segment-by-segment from an expanded diameter to a substantially reduced diameter responsive to a bending strain introduced into the first sidewall from a rolling tire footprint thereby forcing air, segment-by-segment, along the air passageway;
• connecting a connecting tube from the first sidewall air passageway to the control valve housing, the connecting tube operative to sequentially direct air forced from the sidewall air passageway into an internal air passageway of the control valve housing;
• and
• placing first and second outlet tubes in fluid communication with the internal air passageway of the control valve housing and with the tire cavities of the first tire and the second tire, respectively, operable to pass pressurized air into the first tire cavity and the second tire cavity on an as-needed basis.