mt_goat

Just finshed mounting this puppy. http://community.webshots.com/photo/...63081887CFnVVk

It's a 15 lb aluminum tank (used it was $105) with a used/rebuilt CO2 regulator ($60). Add about $10-15 for hose and fittings and a homemade mounting bracket and hose clamps and no more coin operated gas station air pumps for me. Plus I can use air tools in the middle of nowhere. Less than $200 total

I also made-up my version of RB's 4air or the Quadra-Flate systems to use with it. http://community.webshots.com/photo/...58716401yAvmuW

crawler#976

Pretty slick!

It runs me $18.00 to refill my 20Lb tank. It usually they air up 28 to 32 tires per tank- 35" MT/R's from 10PSI to 24PSI street pressure. I found the local welding shop to be the cheapest source for CO2. I own my tanks, but we refill via an exchange- no waiting.

I pull the valve stem core, count to 30, and screw it back in- usually it's within pound or two....

mt_goat

My welding supply quoted me a price of $8.08 to refill. I haven't refilled yet. Have you had any problems with air hose failure, like cracking from the cold CO2? Just wondering if I will need a special hose sometime in the future.

crawler#976

The regulator gets pretty dang frosty- especially now that the humidity levels are up. Since April our humidity levels were around 10 to 15%- mighty dry, now they are up in the 40's to mid 70% during the monsoon season.

The first 6" to a foot or so of line freeze's up. I'm pretty cautious about it - I start with the right front- the longest reach for the hose, and work my way around from there. The 50' self-coiling nylon hose I bought has a 6" long spring to support the hose at the regulator, that helps. I've got the regulator set at 100 PSI now, I'll prolly turn it down some to avoid the freezing problems.

snwbdr

Looks good...how exactly did u mount that to your bed? I'm trying to figure out a way to do that on mine without moving the bed back...

mt_goat

I made this tie down bracket at the front : http://community.webshots.com/photo/...05765400MldAlF

And I made this tie down bracket at the back: http://community.webshots.com/photo/...05764446zDkLFp

I connected the two tie down brackets with angle iron from one of the side rails of a bed frame. The whole thing was made from an old bed frame someone was throwning out. The brackets (from the head board part of the bed frame) are screwed into where the tie down loops are normally. Just unscrew one the factory tie down screws and go to Ace Hardware and get longer bolts to replace them (mine were metric). The head board support brackets are very close to fitting but require enlarging a few of the holes and one of the slots. I took the whole bed frame apart by grinding off the rivet heads and knocking them out with a hammer and punch. It takes one bed frame for each side of the truck because you need both head board brackets for one side of the truck. So I was thrilled when my neighbor across the street put an old bed frame out for the trash collection a few months ago. I ran over and got it and made one for the other side of the bed too. I don't recommend welding on those old bed frames because that crap metal produces welds that are very brittle. But it holds up well if you just drill holes and use bolts to hold it all together.

The bracket for the CO2 tank was a copy of this one : http://www.powertank.com/start.htm that I made out of one of the side rails left over from the bed frame. That's when I discovered how weak the welds are on that crappy steel they make bed frames out of. If I hadn't already made all the cuts I would have scraped the bed frame steel and gotten some regular angle iron (about 1.5"x1.5"). Be sure to protect the tank with thick rubber strips where ever it makes contact with metal. Especially if you get an aluminum tank like I did. It doesn't take much in the way of scratches or scrapes to ruin a pressure vessel, remember they hold 1000 psi and must be pressure tested every so often.

snwbdr

yeah I have a tank from Offroadair and it came with a bracket...I was gonna mount it to the front of my bed, but that was before I noticed that there wasn't too much space between the cab and bed for me to reach behind....so I've been stuck tryin' to figure out another way....I hadn't thought of your idea....thanks