On board air

[MR EXTREME JEEP]

Originally Posted by krankieone

yes but most aren't really big enough to do away with your compressor

How big would they have to be. Litre size and physically to have enough air to refill tyres. Seems like the tanks are easy to make. So a couple of tanks can be clamped to the cage and filled up prior to a trip. I am guessing this would be alot quicker than a mobile compressor?

[thebigrig]

You still run a small compressor on board to fill the tank up right?

[Mooreyfiveo]

Originally Posted by Mooreyfiveo

I read an an article in 4WD Monthly (I think), where some dude in a FJ40 used his roll bar as an airtank! Had connections on either side of the vehicle for hose/tools etc.

Originally Posted by thebigrig

You still run a small compressor on board to fill the tank up right?

The one I read about in 4WD monthly had a small A/C compressor out of a Hyundai or Nissan mounted under the hood and that used to top up the tanks constantly. Had some sort of pressure cut off or valve or similar and he just added a drop of oil once a month to keep the thing from drying out and seizing up.

[Butt Craic]

On my GU comp truck, I actually had quite a large truck air brake compressor tank mounted under the tray and just had it hooked up to an ARB to refill. I rigged up a length of hose with the standard male air hose connection fittings on one end and a tyre valve like fitting on the other. That allowed me to bring the whole system (under tray tank and roll bar that was also used as a tank) up to pressure using my home compressor.

The advantage of having the big resevoir of air is that you can run some of the smaller efficient air tools - blow off guns, an efficient rattle gun for tyres etc. I also used it a couple of times to reseat beads on tyres.

I bought 2 tanks for something like $5 a piece from a truck wrecker. They required some cleaning up and repainting and didn't look anywhere near as cool as the Snake Racing ones but I figured it was going underneath a comp truck and not a show car so it was worth the saving. I also had to fabricate up some brackets but I got lucky and had a head start with this as I was able to find some tanks that had been gas axed off the truck chassis with all the brackets still in tact.

Most truck wrecking yards have big bins of the cylinders. Not sure if any will be small enough to fit under a TJ but it could be worth a look if you continue to head down this road.

An alternative may be to speak to Wooders about the ones that Kilby supply as you know that they have already been tried and tested fit wise under a TJ. They will also probably be able to supply any other brackets etc that you will need.

[Butt Craic]

Originally Posted by Mooreyfiveo

he just added a drop of oil once a month to keep the thing from drying out and seizing up.

I definitely put a couple of small squirts of air compressor tool oil in the system.

I meant to mention in my previous post that I was also running Airlockers and had it set up so that I could lock off the compressor trying to supply the rest of the system with air when I needed to make sure that it's first (and only) priority was providing air to the lockers.

It may not be necessary for a non-comp truck but there was always a good chance in some of the winch challenge style events that you could snag sticks or rocks in the air lines and cause the rest of the system to leak out.

[MR EXTREME JEEP]

What sort of pressure rating do the tanks need to have to be useful for this kind of use BC? How do you know what one lying at a wreckers will be rated at?

[Butt Craic]

Most of them have their pressure ratings stamped into them. I can't recall what the recommendations where when I did it but I just called around some places that sold the tanks new and asked the question.

Of course, that's the big downside of going down the route with the wreckers . . . there is a chance that the tank could be faulty and without getting them pressure checked you wouldn't know. And if you do worry about getting it pressure checked, there is every chance that it will add up to costing whatever a new tank might cost.

To be honest, I just looked for some that were pretty much unmarked and took a chance. There was every chance that my hose work would be the weak link in the project anyway.