Portable Air - What's available?

[Rigger]

Context: I have one of those portable battery units. It is designed for jump-starting; has a set of cables and clamps on it. It is pretty well-designed and works good for jumping. It also has a built-in compressor for airing up tires. Problem is, the compressor appears to be sort of an after-thought trinket. It is slow and pretty weak. I want a better on-board air unit.

So; I would like to know what is available in the way of on-board air compressors. Do you know of anything that is:

1) Portable; can be easily moved from vehicle to vehicle
2) A compressor, not a tank (I don't want to store air, I want to compress it as I need it.)
3) Effective; strong and fast.

Does any such animal exist?

 

[spressomon]

Essentially an electric York:

XD4000 Continuous-Duty Air Compressors on Oasis Manufacturing

 

[Rigger]

That is a nice unit! Thanks for the link. I will not be able to afford it, though. The price: $1699!

Now I think I understand why people make their own air compressors from used A/C pumps and smog pumps.

 

[greentruck]

Lots of folks use Viair compressors. They make a nice one for around $200 complete with kit.

Then there is the HF knock-off, which is either very similar or identical, depending on who you ask. The differences some cited was in the quality of the accompanying kit, but the most important thing is the bag. On sale for $60 recently, I stripped the kit off (which some may do with the Viair's kit, too) and replaced it with new.

The coupler for the air hose was a tiny frail thing, as was the whip hose. I took em off and replaced with standard 1/4" components, upgraded the coil hose to the same, and added some plumbing. It all still fits in the supplied bag, making for a package that stows away neatly until needed.

The factory inflator is a bypass type that exhausts excess pressures from the system, since there is no storage tank. Instead, you need to make some provision for letting excess pressure out when not actually inflating or you risk damaging the pump. For my modded pump, I added a 125 psi Milton safety valve. It was the lowest pressure they had at the box store, I may go lower if I can find one. I also installed a small Milton regulator and a cheap HF pressure gauge. Works great, although I haven't timed it to see what it's capacity looks like in real world terms. These size compressors are generally considered the minimum needed if you're trying to air 33" tires. The ones in all-in-one packages are OK for passenger car tires and are indeed pretty feeble for the nominal size offroad tire.

I still need to get a lock-on air chuck for airing up after the trail (any recommendations out there?), but the inflator on it in the photo works great for topping up along the road.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Frankly, you can rig-up a CO2 air-up tank for $100 - 150.

10 and 20 lb. CO2 tanks are the norm; you should be able to score one for free if you try hard enough. A fixed pressure regulator (the one I use is rated at 90 PSI) should not cost more than $50 while the hose and air chuck should not cost more than $20 - 30.

This is quite portable, and will air-up big tires very fast in comparison to a 'lil electric air compressor!


Regards,

Alan

 

[rusty_tlc]

I have the Harbor freight $50 compressor and two CO2 set ups.
CO2 is nice and pretty cheap to get into, however i think I could have paid for a good Viair unit with what I've spent on re-fills over the past three years.

The HF unit works, not fast or fancy, and the cool kids laugh at me. But it gets the job done.


The big advantage of CO2 is it's ability to run air tools. Unless I had a mechanical OBA system (York or Sanden) I don't think I would be without CO2 on any truck I thought would need a major trail repair. I also use the small CO2 tank to run my nailer, very nice for home projects.

 

[Tools R Us]

I have had CO2, fast, alright if you don't wheel/air up often. We often binge wheel, sometimes air up every day for a week or more, so CO2 runs out and got tired of the payments.

Have run and still have a couple of the tsunami compressors. Work great, price is right, once I went to 37"s, is slower that I prefer and can't run air tools.

Now run a Puma. Great unit, airs up quickly, can run air tools, compact, portable, unlimited air and no refill hassle/payment. Most of the local club has switched from CO2 to them.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/camping-outdoor-gear/166969-puma-12v-compressor.html

 

[esh]

There seems to be a few rebadged compressors of the Extreme Aire/Puma variety. PacBrake rating is 150psi max/3.4CFM/45A/ 3/4hp/constant duty, which is essentially the same for all of this type.

Extreme is overpriced, so look at PacBrake (HP625) or the Puma above. They are constant duty compressors for about $250, and flow larger volume than the smaller compressors from HF or Costco (or Viair). Air bag suspension type sites or truck air brake / suspension are places to find them.