Started my OBA today. I was at the mall- er.. junkyard with a few buddies just browsing and my buddy started pulling compressors off the air ride caddy's, after he pulled his i had to have mine too.

$15 later



The goal here is to fill an air tank up to 150 psi, and then use that to set beads on the trail as well as fill my tires. It may be a slow fill but you cant beat $50

Parts/hardware needed:
-Air shock installation kit (for air lines)
-Caddilac air shock compressor and harness
-Toggle switch
-Pressure reg. with shutoff switch
-Air tank (or propane tank)
-Wire (For toggle switch)
-Misc. plumbing (To adapt the line to your tank)
-Air hose (To reach tires)
-Tire inflator attachment
-Time clock (So you can charge your buddys by the minute to fill their tires)
-Self tapping sheetmetal screws (Makes mounting the hardware MUCH easier)

Already came with the de-moisturizer (technical term?)


And check valve


Started by throwing the check valve up under the quarter panel


I went to NAPA and bought this re-line kit for $15 it had a butt connector and new air lines (I didnt feel like pulling all the old dry cracking line out of the caddy)

If you go to the parts store to get this just ask for an air shock installation kit with the air line


I wired teh compressor's ground into a switch in the cab


I routed the line back to the rear of the truck


I wont be getting my tank until tomorrow, then all i have to do is get a regulator with a shutoff switch and some air hose to reach the tires and i'll be good to go.

Edit: Upon talkting to my buddy we decided larger lines would be beneficial, i'm going to plumb some up tomorrow i will post pics

 

Wanting to see how this turns out! Subscribing!

 

Subscribed!! Cool, now we can air up at the trail!!

 

We will see how it airs up. I'm thiking this will be emergency to set beads on the trail.
If it airs up any faster than a 6 year old girl filling a water raft, we could air back up at the staging area but something tells me it wont perform.

 

as long as you have the tank and have the pump kick on at like 100 psi I think it'll be just fine. Probably faster than some of the gas station pumps we've used! lol!

 

Subscribed...

 

How do you plan on setting beads with this?

The only way I know using air is with a "cheetah" bead seater. Its basically a 5 gallon portable tank, with a big 3" outlet and a ball valve and a special angled top, you fill it to 120psi, rest in on the bead, and quickly open the ball valve. BAM! It shoots ALL the air out in a split second.

I see no way to set a bead with compressed air using just a hose. ESPECIALLY out on the trail.

The de-moisturizer is called an air dryer.

I've heard stories about the caddy compressors melting the plastic pistons.

A better option would be the "MV50 Superflow" it can be had for $50-$60. They have metal pistons. I have 2 of them that I will install for my OBA.

 

I'm not making any claims as to how this will work its jsut an experiment

I mount and dismount my own tires and i set beads monthly using a regular air hose and schrader valve running 120 psi from my compressor no problem. This will work fine running 140 or 150 from the 5 gallon tank.

I didnt know about the plastic piston, i may end up with a different compressor down the road.

 

if the caddy compressor dose give out and you still wount to go cheap go buy 2 of the $10 compressors at wallmart and hook them up. they dont work that fast but all your doing is airing the tank up so they sould work good for that.
good job on the how to the cheap way. i hate spending my $$

 

you could always fill the tank before you left the house then you would have air ready to go and the OBA would just be a back up for emergencies.

 

Adam, if you do this give us a good write up, please. I have one MV-50. It works good on 30x9.5x15's.

Great Idea.


Al, thanks for all the ideas for "On The Cheap".
What year Caddy's are you scrounging these off of?
Maybe, if you could find Rovers with compressors, it would work better. I bet they are more expensive than the Caddy ones.

 

oh yea this looks interesting!

I saw a similar thing today at the junk yard.
Subscribed as well

 

Well riddle me this...why not use the compressor from the AC...just rig a switch to it. I know they'll pump at least 70lbs with a washing machine motor turning it. Don't ask how I know...

 

Yea, using your AC pump is a great way to go. Just have to run an inline oiler to it. You can run air tools with it as well.

 

nevermind

 

im considering the ac compressor conversion my next class is on air conditioning so im going to try converting my ac to run OBA with a mini truck air tank. im gonna try it and update my progress later.

 

It would be really cool if you could somehow figure out a way to use the factory AC switch in the dash to turn the compressor on. Maybe bypass the low pressure switch?

 

I'm sure you can use the same switch but you'll have to rewire it. I'm going to assume that these trucks are wired like other vehicles, when you turn the defroster on the AC kicks on to dry the air so it defrosts faster? I'm just assuming they work the same...

I'm considering doing this to my runner first and putting tanks where the spare tire was. I just have to find out if the AC Actually works or not...Blower motor cage is shot...I will be doing this to the truck eventually as well. Just need time and $.

Like I said I'm not sure how much pressure you can get out of one of these. I know they pump at least 70lbs.

Here is something I just found to confuse me a bit...If reading this right the compressor will pump up to 260lbs. So you can get a good 150lbs out of it and I really don't think that you'd need more than 100lbs just volume now.

Example air conditioner output pressure: using R-22 refrigerant and assuming an outside air temperature of 85 degF called for 120 degF. inside the compressor (add 35 degF. to incoming air temperature) and an output high-side compressor pressure of about 260 psi.

Example of air conditioner input or suction line pressure during operation (low-side pressure) during normal operation of the same compressor model and refrigerant and the same outdoor air temperature of 85 degF called for 45 degF. temperature entering the compressor (subtract 40 degF. from incoming air temperature) which on the service chart indicates that the incoming or suction line pressure would be about 75 psi.

 

Revive an old tread..... any updates on this project?