Airing Up (17 Viewers)

[Alan Kiecker]

Just wondering what folks are using to air up tires after airing down for the trail. For my FJ40, I use a Lasfit 12V portable air compressor. The power cables clamp to the battery. We just purchased a 2025 Land Cruiser. The battery is in the back. The minus terminal is easily accessible but the positive terminal is not. There is a rather large red plastic cover the positive terminal making it inaccessible.

I want to be ready when I hit the trails with the LC250.

 

[DTC72]

 

[Corbet]

I’ve got a Thors Lighting compressor in a travel case that I bounce between vehicles. It also needs to clamp to battery terminals. So far with the 250 I’ve always had the trailer wil me so I’ve used the battery in that to power it. Need to wire in an Anderson connector to the 250’s battery.

But if you don’t already own a compressor just get a 120ac unit and plug it into the inverter.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Arb HO single that came premounted in a tool box. Plan on upgrading to a dual arb brushless at some point. Takes a good amount of time with my 34s. I can air up 3 trucks in a row before doing a cool down, in a pinch.

 

[Rednexus]

IMO there are two reliable options for airing-up - a high-quality cordless compressor (like a Milwaukee M18) or a ARB compressor (single or twin). There are lower-cost Chinese compressors that are sold as single-head or dual-head units under many different brand names (Smittybilt, Ironman, Thor, Harbor Freight/Maddox, NAPA Maxi-Trac, MORRflate) and they are frankly junk. I had a Smittybilt version of this compressor on my rig hard mounted. I went through two of them before ditching it for a ARB twin. What finally killed the second one was a short in the trigger wire going into the electric motor - the wires inside the compressor are un-sheathed, rub on each other all of the time, and have poor-quality terminals on them. IMO those compressors are a fire risk. Also, the cylinder on mine was pretty badly scored with <10 hours of total use on it, and it could only air up 7 tires before a thermal shut-off was triggered.

A Milwaukee M18 compressor will be just as fast as a ARB single, and about half as fast as a ARB twin. It will be a little slower than one of the Chinese junk compressors but will be much more reliable and portable for other uses. But, if you are wheeling and inflating often, a hard-mounted ARB twin is the best way to go as it's fast and reliable.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Almost everyone in my group used thors lighting twin compressors. None of them seem that old and they have a lower duty rating than ARB.

Viair makes a really great product. They are optimized around air suspension and not tires. So I dont think they are the best option, but still a quality product.

 

[tacoshawn]

I have the Milwaukee M18 tire inflator with Lock-n-flate air chuck that I carry when on trails. Works very well. The 5AH battery is good for 5 - 6 tires from 18PSI back to 35PSI. I do carry the spare 5AH battery and am sure both are charged up fully before departing. I have a small cordless one stashed in the truck if I need to just top off a tire.