Onboard Air

[JeepinSoldier]

Airing down your tires is a necessity if you are going to do any serious wheeling. I suffered for a while airing my tires back up with one of the little Chinese compressors - it worked and was better than nothing. But it was loud, took forever, and finally self destructed. Time to step up. I wanted somthing that could run air tools as well as air up the tires.

So I studied the various systems. engine driven, electric compressors, and CO2 tanks. The Engine driven and electric compressors are nice, and never run out of air, but they are expensive and complicated with parts that can fail on the trail. I finally settled on a CO2 system after Truck told me about a deal I couldent refuse. The CO2 system is pretty affordable, simple, and reliable. It runs air tools and reseats tire beads as well as airing up the tires.

I just got another system for 02TJ. The best deal I found on the various CO2 systems was from Ultimate Air. Best of all Brian, the owner is really cool and gives us a Military discount! Check out the Ultimate Air CO2 systems here:

http://www.ultimate-air.com/

Call Brian to order though if you want the discount, he is switching to a new e commerce site and the current site wont allow the discount codes.

[korisu56]

Cool. Thanks for the heads up. Going to be looking seriously into this after a couple maintenance expenditures. Gotta save up for a safari top too...summer's around the corner.

[trailsnail]

The only question that I have about CO2 is how much to refill a tank, and how long does a tank last?

[treefrog]

The only question that I have about CO2 is how much to refill a tank, and how long does a tank last?


How much depends on where you are. I have a 20lb tank and up here in Almost Canada, NY it cost me $14.00 for a fill. I'm still on the last refill and so far it has filled around 60ish 33" tires from wheeling pressure(anywere from 8-16lbs) back up to street pressure. A few 35" tires, some 31s and probably 50 bicycle tires for the neighborhood kids. Everytime I put the hose on something, I expect it to run out, but it just keeps going.
I built my system myself and have around $125ish in it.

[HillBillE]

Depends on the tank size, but 12 to 16 bucks is about all. Not bad when you'll probably only need to fill it once or twice a year.

[trailsnail]

Not bad. I was originally thinking about a York or an AC compressor conversion. It is nice to know there are other options.

[Lt. Dan]

Mmmmm..... C02 is on my short list of stuff this year....

[Junk Yard Genius]

You should assess the three requirements for OBA before you buy...
1. Application.
2. Application.
3. Application.

If you are doing constant trail repair and need large volumes of air for air tools and the like, then a belt driven compressor is a good way to go.

If you already have a York compressor mounted to your engine, that is a 'No Brainer'!
If you can lay hands on a mount and compressor cheaply, then a York may be the way to go...

If you are just airing up tires, blowing up beach toys, and occasionally running an air tool, then consider an electric compressor that can be mounted anywhere (just wiring, no belts & pullies to mess with),
And you can use a reserve tank to aid in faster tire and toy fills.
(Storage volume is everything when you are talking about an application that takes volume, like tires and float toys)

CO2 tanks are expensive, and can be dangerous, like SCUBA tanks can be dangerous if not handled correctly.

Also, my CO2 tank was empty at the worst times...
I REALLY hated that!
------------

I'm an electric compressor fan...
Cheap and reliable, easy to mount and wire and don't require the engine to be running or run out of 'Gas' when I'm trying to get something done.

I started off with SCUBA tanks, and they worked great.
80 Cu.Ft. of purified and super dry air that cost about $5 each to get filled.
Since I was SCUBA diving all the time anyway, they were a natural.

Then I got a jeep with a York already in place.
After a couple of modifications to keep a bunch of the oil out of the tanks and lines, it worked very well.

My latest two Jeeps don't have Yorks in place, and I'm using electric compressors.
They are pretty fast, reliable, don't require the engine to be running (a good thing when the air mattress needs a shot in the middle of the night and you don't want to start the engine in the middle of the camp!).

The electric compressor also pressurizes my distributor so the ignition will work under water,
Pressurizes my axles, transmission and transfer case so I don't get water seepage when I'm deep water fording.
This wouldn't be practical with a belt driven compressor since belts and deep water don't get along especially well!

Remember, most of what you will do will require RESERVE TANKS...
Reserve air volume under pressure is the way to compensate for a small compressor.

I use a regulator on my tank, so I can just hook up the air line and have a 'soda' while the tires are inflating.
That same regulator will DEFLATE or 'Air Down' my tires so I don't need expensive air down tools.

[korisu56]

I like the idea. How did you rig it to pressurize your assets? I would be really interested in doing this if it was cost effective and around a level 3 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 5...

[TexCJ7]

i have a helium tank if some body wants it come get it <---- to build oba

it will be in the pile of the rest of the stuff behind my house

[korisu56]

I thought that pile WAS your house...:)

[TexCJ7]

The army's house a-hole not mine

[korisu56]

No need to cry dude...jeez.

[Junk Yard Genius]

I like the idea. How did you rig it to pressurize your assets? I would be really interested in doing this if it was cost effective and around a level 3 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 5...

It was pretty easy since axles & transfer case already had vents in place to hook the hoses up to.

The transmission was a little trickier...
I had to use the CV joint boot from a ATV to seal up the shifter on the transmission, and drill/tap a port for a vent hose nipple.

The distributor cap was the most simple of all since I have the 'TeamRush' ignition upgrade with the large Ford style distributor cap, I simply pulled the distributor cap vent off, and screwed a MIG welder tip directly into the distributor cap and that made a really good nipple...
I use an inline air dryer to the air feeding the distributor, that keeps things from sputtering and coughing when it's humid, they are about $3 each and last a full season for me.

I use a regulator connected to my storage tank/distribution block that keeps the pressure to about 10 PSIG going out to the distributor & running gear.
Since I usually air down, and I use the regulator to air my tires down, it's already set at around 10 PSIG, so it's no big deal...

I see guys change seals every year and raise vents way up trying to keep the water out...
The next logical step for me was to just apply pressure to them to keep water out.

Now I have the distributor/drive train on a electric over air solenoid, so when I flip the 'Deep Water Switch' on the dash, it turns off my electric fan and turns on the air to the stuff that will be under water so I don't have to get out and manually plug in/turn everything on anymore... Makes things handy when I remember to turn it on!