Mounting a heavy belt-driven air compressor

pender1

Active Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Location
Hartsville, SC
I've got an old Bendix TU-FLO 400 sitting in my garage that I'm looking at using for on board air. They used to be used for air brakes and such on big trucks so I know it'll work fine, but the issue is it's like 35 lbs. Anybody come up with any mounting options for such a thing? A york would be nice, but this is free.
 
That'd probably put out more than a York, but you got to build brackets & I don't know the size of it. I'm running a York, but don't recall the weight. York is nice with it's factory electric clutch. Does the Bendix have an electric clutch? Some of those units were air controlled clutch.
Just searched & some are on E-bay. Don't see any clutches. Gear drive, or like 1 on a tank, the guy is using a belt hand tensioner, to engage it. Most of those were also oiled by the engine. Sounds like a lot of problems.
 
rodney eppes said:
That'd probably put out more than a York, but you got to build brackets & I don't know the size of it. I'm running a York, but don't recall the weight. York is nice with it's factory electric clutch. Does the Bendix have an electric clutch? Some of those units were air controlled clutch.
Just searched & some are on E-bay. Don't see any clutches. Gear drive, or like 1 on a tank, the guy is using a belt hand tensioner, to engage it. Most of those were also oiled by the engine. Sounds like a lot of problems.
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The Bendix units don't run a clutch, but they run an air governor. Basically they don't make pressure when not needed, so you are only losing a couple of horsepower to spin the mechanism. That's if I don't pull the belt off. They are also very configurable, the one I have came off of a standalone air compressor, so it is internally oiled.
 
upnover said:
another possible concern is the RPM curve it can handle.
Click to expand...
I was driving an old Peterbilt, with a 3406 Cat, & 1 day in Charlotte, smoke started coming out of the hood. Got pulled over & stopped, yanked the hood up. The gear driven compressor, had thrown a rod, & knocked a hole in the compressor block. Oil was on fire, & my extinguisher wasn't working. Between me swatting it with a rag, & the oil burning out, it quit burning. That was close! Top that off when the company went to load it on a flat bed, the compressor had the engine locked up! Couldn't crank it! Pulled the driveshaft, & the Service truck winched it on the flat bed.
 
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