Finally!

Thanks Mark! Sounds like its a good thing I'm going to have enough room for two. Then I can have one of the trumpets at the back of the rig and one in the front since I will have two 1/8" outlets.... So you don't think 4gal@150 would be enough to power airtools?

 

It sort of depends more on the compressor your using to fill the tank- you'll lose pressure pretty quickly on the 4 gallon tanks, and if you've got a compressor that can't keep up, you'll just be running right off the compressor, like Mark said. It'd might be okay for short bursts (like taking off lug nuts) but not for an air-driven cutting wheel.

 

Got mine ordered! My rear bumper will also be an air tank so that should put me right around 5 gallons of air! Add a 100% duty cycle compresser and I should be good to go!

 

Also for $25 ill weld new fittings on the darn thing!

 

i have a stand alone compressor with a 5 gal tank and a 1/2 IR gun at my house... well, i can remove 4 lugnuts off my sisters honda civic before the air supply is depleted and the compressor cycles back on to replenich

 

As noted, depends on your compressor flow rate and the air tool consumption. As noted on the page above, I get about 5-7 seconds of run time on an impact wrench from ~2 gallons of storage, which is just enough to bust one lug nut loose.

 

From my research I think y'all need one of them co2 set ups.

 

Thanks RB!

So, as long as I get a good compressor I should be in the clear. Thats a good idea about using the rear bumper as another place for air storage. I'm going to be working on some plans for one next weekend so thats something to take into consideration.

UBoat,
I disagree... Its like the difference than NAWZZZZZZZZ!! and a turbo/supercharger. Yeah, boost costs more but you don't have to get it filled every time you use it. Yeah, its cheap to fill but over time the compressor will pay for itself. And you have the piece of mind that its always there and won't run out. I'm also going to be doing air lockers, so I might as well.

 

On more than a few occasions I've had to fill tires for guys whose CO2 tanks ran out at the end of the trail. My compressor has never run out of air in 7 years of use and I never have to remember to fill it or put it in the truck before a trip. Also, I like to take long trips (a week or more) and having an unlimited supply of air is very handy.

 

Well how 'bout both then?

 

Sure, that's an option.

 

This is the classic argument for a compressor, and it's certainly valid. It's the leg I stood on to make my decision to run a compressor vs. CO2.

But... Remember that with even the largest typical under-hood compressor, you still can't run a tool without waiting for the tank to fill. Something I didn't bring up before was that it takes _time_ to fill the tank. My Viair 450c (0.97CFM @ 90PSI) will take about 2 minutes to fill my 1.5 gallon tank to 90psi. So, if you're running 4 gallons of tank, then figure about 5 minutes between 5-7 second blips of the impact wrench. Obviously a larger compressor would do the fill faster - the 550c is rated 1.55CFM @ 90PSI, so you're looking at probably 3 minutes to fill the 4 gallons of tank.


If you're looking into the idea of running both a compressor and a CO2 tank, then think about running a smaller compressor and a smaller air tank so that you can get some reserve for your ARB. The money you save there will help pay for the CO2 setup.

 

I was looking around the net all morning and found that a belt driven compressor is definately the way to go but, they just don't make any for our rigs do they? All i could find is domestics...

I think I am going to end up with the 550. Anybody have this unit? I guess I'll do my part and SEARCH before asking

But I was also thinking, and you should be able to adjust both sides of the pressure switch right? Well if you just don't let the pressure go down all that far before kickign in then it shouldn't be that bad right?

 

Rob (WATRD) has one... He mounted it in a tool box in his bed so that it can be portable:

(click for a larger pic)


fwiw, it's a BIG (and heavy!) piece of gear.


Most of the fixed switches work along the lines of "off at 150psi, on at 120psi" (or some such), so it's not like you have to wait for the air pressure in the tank to hit 0 before the compressors switches on.

The thing is that, with an air tool (or even airing up a tire), you'll be draining the air faster than the compressor can put it back in. For example, when I air up (32's) from 15psi, I'll get about 5 seconds of air before the compressor kicks in, but then the pressure in the tank (and in the complete system of course) will drop ("equalize") to the pressure in the tire. After that, I'm running straight off the compressor.

 

Can 3000psi scuba tanks be used for filling up tires?

 

Sure, one of my 4Air inflator hose customers uses a SCUBA tank to air up the tires on the truck he drives at a diving resort in the Caribbean. They haul diving boats and water craft in and out of the water all day and he airs down and up many times a day. Says the SCUBA tank with the 4-way air hose does all 4 tires in under a minute.

You would probably want to make a protective guard around the regulator like the Power Tanks have and make sure it is WELL secured in the truck. Wouldn't want something like that breaking loose. Biggest issue is you usually need to have a dive certification to have a tank filled at most dive shops. I think a typical SCUBA tank is like 80 cu.ft. which would do maybe 20-30 tires depending on size and pressure change:

[IMG]How much air to fill a tire.[/IMG] http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...uchAirForTires

 

Diving tanks are pretty cheap too, about $50 for a used one. Probably isn't too tough to rig up a compressor for it too from an old power washer?

 

Na,
You wouldn't want a compressor with a scuba tank. I mean, you could but it would defeat the purpose of having it. You might as well save some weight and get these tanks. A compressor will not fill it anywhere near what its designed for. It would still only be able to get up to the 150 range correct? Maybe I'm wrong but I thought that was the whole reason why gas was better than air.

Thanks mark,
I figured he would have the biggest/baddest... he always has the newest everything I'm going to make a box out of diamond plate for mine, not quite as creative... but i'll have more :bling: under my truck than most .

 

Austin, as far as belt-driven compressors, you could try converting a York compressor, its mostly a matter of finding the space up front, making a bracket, and converting the pulley on the compressor from a v-belt to a flat serpentine belt type. I don't know of anyone thats done it on a 3rd gen, but it'd be fun to try!

 

Hmm... thats something to consider...

I just found the jedi site through Roger's site... pretty good source of info. It also looks huge... But damn, it fills a 2gal tank from 0 to 100psi in 30sec at idle. and you could run airtools straght off the thing at 1,200rpm

http://www.jedi.com/obiwan/jeep/yorkair.html