Questions about how you air down and up. (2 Viewers)

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This came up at the trail head a while back. I don't wheel with very many people, so I figured I'd ask here for a broader response.

1. Do you air down every time?
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run?
3. What's your street pressure?
4. What setup do you use to air down and up?
5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up?
6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up?

For me, I air down every time, run 13 psi on the trail in all conditions and 30 on the street. I have a York and it takes about ten minutes to air up all four and something like 10- 15 minutes to air down with the Staun deflators. I don't like how the Stauns get slower as the pressure drops, and are nearly inaudible for the last three or four PSI. I'm always finishing with the tip of a key on the valve to just end the suspense. Airing up isn't bad, but I don't like how I can only do one tire at a time, and for both down and up, I don't like having to stop and check several times so as not to overshoot my target pressure.

Anyway, I'm just curious how you guys deal with this menial task we all partake in from time to time.
 
I just aired down for the Rising Sun Club Ghost Town Run and borrowed a guy's ARB tire deflator. Amazing product - very fast. It allows you to remotely remove the valve core (which is retained inside the deflator), and very quickly lower the tire pressure, while monitoring the actual pressure as you go. This would easily solve the 'deflating' half of your problem.

It's one of those 'where has this tool been all my life' tools. Just flat sexy. https://www.amazon.com/ARB-ARB505-E...=1534260387&sr=8-3&keywords=arb+tire+deflator

I ran 21 on the trail, and probably should have gone lower. I run 30-ish on the street on 33x9.5s (FJ40, here). I used an 'MV 50' compressor to reinflate my tires for the drive home, and it's pretty quick (for this relatively small airing up task).
 
I run around 11 psi. Could go lower but land cruiser is fat. around 27 on street. I have a manifold for airing up with an air zenith pump.

42s take a long time to air up and down.
 
1. Do you air down every time? Yes. Even if not for traction, for comfort.
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run? It varies, low 20's for general fire trails.
3. What's your street pressure? 35psi
4. What setup do you use to air down and up? ARB Rapid Deflator (air down), Puma Compressor (air up). Wits End OBA fittings (future)
5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up? 10/15 min (down, up)
6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up? Dragging my Puma out of the truck since I have not permanently mounted and wired it up yet.
 
1. Do you air down every time? YES
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run? 13-15 psi
3. What's your street pressure? 35-40 psi
4. What setup do you use to air down and up? ARB OBA
5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up? 5 mins to air down, about 15 mins to air up
6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up? nothing too excited to say about the process...
 
Air down for dirt is a requirement for confident and safety. Many tools available but I use knock off valve stem style, arb deflator is the quickest I know.

Air up I use my arb twin compressor, fast and reliable.

As for pressure it all depends on terrain, speed and tire sidewalk stiffness. Most of time I’m around 18psi, this is because my side wall is a lot softer compared to my old tire. I use to get down to 12 psi regularly. If you planning doing high speed fireroads then I wouldn’t go down pass 25 too much.
 
1. Do you air down every time? When ever I hit dirt
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run? 14psi
3. What's your street pressure? 36psi
4. What setup do you use to air down and up? up Puma down Stauns
5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up? down 5 min up 10min from the time I stop till the time I leave
6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up? When I air up means Im going home:(




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1. Do you air down every time? Nearly Every time unless is a smooth fire road.
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run? Varies with terrain and conditions. For mild "overlanding" type stuff I typically run 16-18psi. In the rocks and difficult terrain I run 10-15psi
3. What's your street pressure? 28psi
4. What setup do you use to air down and up? ARB rapid deflator for airing down. 20lb CO2 tank for airing up.
5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up? Roughly 3-5 min for either one.
6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up? Love the CO2 tank. Portable, FAST, adjustable pressure. Don't like the CO2 tank because it can run out if you do a trip with low volume. But still like it better than Sloooow compressors.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. For those of you that are airing down or up in the single digit times, is that per tire, or all four?
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. For those of you that are airing down or up in the single digit times, is that per tire, or all four?
that depends on the compressor. Obviously with CO2s is much faster. My ARB compressor takes about 2-3 mins per tire for 315s.
 
1. Do you air down every time?
Yes mainly for comfort
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run?
Varies based on what tire / rim combo you run and also terrain (fast dirt trail or slow rock crawling / snow)
I run roughly 12-15 psi on my 35" Toyo Open Country MT's

3. What's your street pressure?
35 ish Front - 38-40 Rear
4. What setup do you use to air down and up?
Valve stem core tool, my forefinger and thumb + air gauge in the other hand
5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up?
Down - <5mins
Up - ~10mins I only air up to 30-32 psi unless I'm going to drive long distance. I top my tires off at home with shop air.

6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up?
The fact that I'm not wheeling. But in all seriousness airing down forces you to hang out right next to your tires, hubs, brakes, shocks etc. it's a great time to look at all of these things and make sure nothing is out of place. I've caught a handful of things like; loose / missing drive flange nuts, missing lug nuts, blown grease seals, slashes in tires. Airing down is part of rig maintenance.
 
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1. Do you air down every time? Usually just because it is more comfortable. But only if I will be offroad 3-4 hours.
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run? 15psi for just about everything, stock wheels no beadlocks.
3. What's your street pressure? 35psi
4. What setup do you use to air down and up? I built an air hose with lock on chucks to air down and air up 1-side of the truck at a time.
5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up? Probably 6 minutes each side to air down and about 8 to air up.
6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up? Pretty easy nothing really to hate.
 
1. Do you air down every time? Yes, but not for short stints on well maintained dirt road
2. What pressure do you run on the trail, or does it vary with terrain and if so, what pressures do you run? Varies with expected terrain. High speed dirt road 20psi, soft beach sand 15psi, slow speed crawling 10-15
3. What's your street pressure? 34psi
4. What setup do you use to air down and up? ARB Ezy deflator. Takes about 90 seconds per tyre.
Once the valve stem is removed, dump the air, and watch the side wall and listen to the tone of the air escaping. When wheeling regularly I'd stop the air flow once, and usually within a couple of psi of what I wanted, then a couple of short bleeds to get to what I want.
Old school ARB compressor

5. How long does it take you to air down and to air up? 5-10 to air down. 10-15 to air up. I usually air up to around 30psi, top up to street pressure at a service station on the way home
6. What do you like the least/hate the most about the process of airing down and then back up?
Meh

Dislike rolling up a spiral air hose, and dislike noisy air compressors. But otherwise, it's just part of wheeling.
Gives a chance to stretch the legs before/after a long drivedrive.
I also try to do a bit of a post wheeling check over things while airing up.
 
I run 40 psi in my 285/75r16 tyres for road use. My 80 weighs about 2.7 tonnes (metric) which is just under the maximum legal GVM for an 80 in Australia of 2.96 tonnes.

Normally for off-road that is on well-maintained tracks (not stuff that is outside realms of normal public access) I don't air down, but if I am doing any stuff on non-public tracks I've got a Currie deflator that unscrews the valve core to do the airing down.

I'm running Cooper AT3's currently. Don't have or want MT tyres are they're far too ugly for mostly on-road driving.
 
I run 15psi on dirt / rocks, 30psi on the street. I'm on 35" Nitto Trail Grapplers. I use the ARB tire deflator and it takes about 5 mins for all 4 tires. If I'm in a group, I borrow someone's on board air. If I'm alone, I drive to the nearby gas station to air back up which also takes about 5-10 mins and anywhere from $2.00 - $3.00.
 
Air down every time.

Varies by terrain, but typically 7 rear 8 front off road. Less in the dunes.

25 on the street.

Have a York, which on high idle takes under 2 minutes per 40. Never timed it. Also have a 10lb powertank for mobile air, and for my other vehicles. That is super, fast, but also costs money.
 
Manifold up and down FTW.
 

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