On board air

Jason W.

Jason W.

Dysfunctional Veteran
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Location
nebo nc
On board air,,, is it worth the cost, yes or no
I am looking at a medium duty or heavy duty viar system, if I do get a system I am definetly leaning towards viar. I can stand cheap junk that may work for a year or so.I plan on airng up with this system, probably little air tool use, I have air on my work van so while working on the Jeep I have a 175 psi supply.

For airing up or repairng a flat, is this a good investment or a waste of money.
 
talk to cltdba. chris. we have it on the race rig and is pretty nice if i do say so myself.
 
tlucier said:
Jason - interested to see what you do. Would love to have on board air on my TJ.
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Sure will man, Ive been think about it for a while, ive been rattling around in my head compresor location and tank location.

OH yeah, will locating the compressor in the egine compartment be a good or bad place, as in heat on the compressor form the engine.
 
I had a ViAir 450 I think it was several years back. It would air up a 35" tire in about 2.5/3 minutes from 10-32 psi. I didn't run a tank. It also had enough pressure to seat a bead if you can pull the tire up tight to "seal" it while inflating. I had the compressor mounted on the drivers side fender under the hood and never had an issue with it. The only reason I got rid of it was I went to CO2.
 
i have been using my smittybuilt compressor since like 07 and its aired up many tires but if i ever feel the need for more ill get a co2 tank.
my son has a york oba system on his jeep and it's nice for air tools but compressor,tank,pressure switch,relif valve and plumbing takes a lot of space.
 
The space issue is what im thinking the most about, I dont run a back seat so maybe compressor under the hood and tank in the back of the tub.

Maybe I am just over thinking this.
 
If you want OBA for a Jeep, Kilby has been making the kits for probably a decade and has a ton of information and parts: http://www.onboardair.com/

I personally carry a 20lb CO2 tank, which will run the heck of out of air tools, and inflates tires very quickly.
 
Another vote for CO2. Portable, you can transfer it between rigs (mine hangs out in my daily driver in the off season), runs air tools, can blow a bead back on, $13.00 to fill, lasts a good while, easy to sell.
 
Jason, I ran a Power Tank regulator on a 20lb restaurant Co2 tank for many years and had no problems. Power Tank is lifetime warranty! Regulator fubarred in SD, I contacted them and sent the reg back. They called me a few days later and said they cut the reg apart and found metal particles which ruined it. They figured they were from the compressor that had filled the tank. They sent me a new and upgraded regulator free with no hassle! I had bought the setup used from a friend several years earlier. "Atom Ant" is a great guy to deal with and stands behind the products they sell. They are offroaders and know the sport!
 
Jason, Not knowing your engine and components, I am wondering if there would be a way to add a pulley on something like the alternator
and adding a compressor. Build a bracket to bolt it on??? My hauler has both AC and OBA. I know that's apples and oranges, but it's worth a look see. I had a custom tank on mine made out of Tube. Pretty much make a tank to fit where you want it. Another option for a tank is a Fire extinguisher, they come in all shapes and sizes.
I am not a fan of the Viar, unless I am having to borrow air from one. For the cost, I think there are better alternatives
 
I converted the A/C compressor on my Samurai and added a tank, filter, etc.
So, if I can get all that on a Samurai, space isn't that much of an issue.

And I would seriously look upnover's suggestion. The converted compressor is a much better option that Viair. ( IHMO - don't flame)

Matt
 
I've kinda been wanting some air on my trucks, but the CO2 looks like it is pretty well proven and seems to be really cheap to refill and all that. How big of a tank are you guys running and how long do they normally last? Where is a good place to get them from and what kind of prices am I looking at? I figure between now and Monday would be a good time to buy a setup online :D

Any other accessories yall would suggest? Dos and Don'ts of CO2?
 
Google "Power Tank", Like I said I ran a Co2 tank that supplied pressure to a soft drink fountain(20pound) and saved a lot. Tank is only a few inches taller and a little bigger around than a 15pound.
 
The only issue I ran into with my CO2 tank is having to get it re-hydro tested. I have one of Kilby's nice tanks and I am hesitant to give it to National Welders or anyone to ‘send it off’ for testing. Someone did tell me about a place around here that did the testing, but if IIRC it was over an hour drive from my house so I haven’t done it. Right now, I’m just using the 5lber from my kegerator until I can get re-hydro’d.
 
FrontPorchFab said:
The only issue I ran into with my CO2 tank is having to get it re-hydro tested. I have one of Kilby's nice tanks and I am hesitant to give it to National Welders or anyone to ‘send it off’ for testing. Someone did tell me about a place around here that did the testing, but if IIRC it was over an hour drive from my house so I haven’t done it. Right now, I’m just using the 5lber from my kegerator until I can get re-hydro’d.
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I can deal with that once every 5 years.

I have a Powertank and love it. Simple, effective, portable.
 
Jason,
I have the viair 10009 extreme duty. I run my air locker, air tools, and air up my tires. It works fine but is a little slow airing up the 39's. If I didn't have the locker, I would have gone with a power tank. It is much faster and will run air tools much longer. The downside to the power tank is that if you run it out while on the trail the you are screwed. The viair while slow will charge your tank back up in a couple of minutes.
 
levellinebrad said:
Jason,
I have the viair 10009 extreme duty. I run my air locker, air tools, and air up my tires. It works fine but is a little slow airing up the 39's. If I didn't have the locker, I would have gone with a power tank. It is much faster and will run air tools much longer. The downside to the power tank is that if you run it out while on the trail the you are screwed. The viair while slow will charge your tank back up in a couple of minutes.
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Keep up with your stuff and you won't run out. It's cheap to fill so if I have to fill it with some in it, so be it. The season is almost over and I have a little left in my tank. I used it to fill up car tires last night. I'll get it refilled and be good to go. Just like your gas tank. No gauge, but it's done by weight so you can feel wehn it's getting light or you can throw it on a scale.
 
It's been a while for some of you...what did you end up going with @Jason W. ?

I'm thinking tank....and came across this which SEEMS like a pretty good idea...since it comes with a bottle you can just exchange at Northern as opposed to having to wait around for your "pretty" bottle to be filled, tested...etc.

Since this would be my first venture into a tank....would this be a mistake? I'm not running tools, only filling from trail pressure to road pressure.

Any advice?
 
It's nice if you have the space to put it where it's easy to pull.

Can you swap those tanks at Northern???


I had one and it was a PITA to find a decent place that was easy to get to for swapping out. I ended up getting a Viair compressor and will plumb it into my frame rails for an air tank. the compressor is small and can fit just about anywhere. With a simple pair of remote reservoir mount bushings in the appropriate size, you can mount it to a tube anywhere with some good hose clamps without welding anything.
 
rockcity said:
I ended up getting a Viair compressor and will plumb it into my frame rails for an air tank. the compressor is small and can fit just about anywhere. With a simple pair of remote reservoir mount bushings in the appropriate size, you can mount it to a tube anywhere with some good hose clamps without welding anything.
Click to expand...


I haven't ruled out a hard mount compressor. Another option I thought about was the PUMA a few folks here linked from pirate. I guess it would occupy about the same real estate. I just hate yet ANOTHER battery draw.
 
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