On-Board Air

I wonder if anyone has used a 5lb CO2 tank?

10lb tank looks like a gigantic thing on the roll bar (20.5”x7”). More frequent refills, but if I had two 5lb tanks I could just switch them out. The size is 18.25”x5.5”. Doesn’t seem much smaller in numbers, but definitely smaller side by side.
 
L J said:
Sherpa Big Air - ~4.5cfm @ 90psi

View attachment 292769
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Here is a LITTLE cheaper option.

extremeaire_specs.jpg



psrivats said:
Yeah .. you may need to consider a CO2 setup probably. Or something like a York (can get spendy unless you go pull something from a junkyard and do what @jjvw did).
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If you decide you want to go with a York I have a spare one sitting on my shelf that I bought YEARS ago at the Moonshiners Swap Meet. @Alex01 got one of the two I had. It's yours if you want it.
 
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I use a 5lb CO2 tank. I can fill up all 4 of my 33's from 12lbs to 26lbs about 5 times. I use a quick fist mount on the right side of the tub. I like the size because the tank doesn't sit higher than the top of the tub and allows me to run my tonnaeu cover. Our local Matheson does exchanges only and costs me about $20 per fill.
Thanks to @Alex01, I also have an ARB single can under the hood. It does surprisingly well. About 1.25 minutes per tire. The CO2 tank is now a secondary form of air. It's nice to be able to take the tank out for another vehicle, or for filling up tires on the property.
 
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On the higher end price wise, the arb dual compressor works great. My buddy has one mounted in his JL that we use to fill both of our tires. I can go from 11 lbs to 28 lbs on my 31s in roughly a minute per tire, and his 35s don't take much longer. We do both jeeps from start to finish in ten-ish minutes.
 
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Just curious, those with CO2 tanks. Do you have slower fill times when it's colder (35* and lower) ?
It seems like piston pumps like my York just laugh at the cold weather.
 
alittleoff said:
Just curious, those with CO2 tanks. Do you have slower fill times when it's colder (35* and lower) ?
It seems like piston pumps like my York just laugh at the cold weather.
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CO2 tank pressure does vary with temperature. As long as there is liquid CO2 in the tank, the gas pressure is something like 850 psi at 70 degrees, and something like 500 psi at 32 degrees (Working from memory here). So yes, the pressure is less when colder, but if you are running a regulator at something like 200 psi for filling tires (like the powertank) then it should still fill at about the same rate. Unregulated, I think it would be slower - but still pretty fast.

’Course, all bets are off if the regulator freezes….
 
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Thanks for explaining that. We were on a night run in the Anza-Borreggo area after a Turkey day dinner a few years ago.
The regulators looked like they were just taken out a freezer chest.
IIRC, after he filled his and 2 or 3 more sets of tires, it slowed down to almost nothing.
A couple others pulled up next to me and used my York to fill theirs.
 
alittleoff said:
Thanks for explaining that. We were on a night run in the Anza-Borreggo area after a Turkey day dinner a few years ago.
The regulators looked like they were just taken out a freezer chest.
IIRC, after he filled his and 2 or 3 more sets of tires, it slowed down to almost nothing.
A couple others pulled up next to me and used my York to fill theirs.
Click to expand...
I never volunteer my CO2 to others unless it's an emergency and there's no other source of air for someone I'm wheeling with. Between my previous TJ's York and my present CO2 tank I miss my York but the CO2 works so well that I would not bother installing another York.
 
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alittleoff said:
Thanks for explaining that. We were on a night run in the Anza-Borreggo area after a Turkey day dinner a few years ago.
The regulators looked like they were just taken out a freezer chest.
IIRC, after he filled his and 2 or 3 more sets of tires, it slowed down to almost nothing.
A couple others pulled up next to me and used my York to fill theirs.
Click to expand...
Powertank has supposedly done something special to their regulators to keep them from freezing.

A few years ago I was testing my small 10 pound tank to see how many times I could air up. After filling something like 10 tires, the tank finally slowed down. I thought it was empty, but my scale told me there were a few pounds of CO2 left. I picked up the tank, flipped it over, and heard a giant piece of dry ice sliding back and forth. After I let it melt overnight, I then filled one or two more tires, which finally emptied the tank.

But with all that, the regulator never froze, so maybe there is something to powertank’s no freeze claim on their regulators.

Anyway, I thought it was funny.
 
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Here's my on-board air setup with a Speedmaster PE560.1001. I made a bracket out of some angle material and recommissioned some rubber dampers to reduce vibrations. After removing some extraneous fittings and rotating the cylinder 180 degrees, it slid nicely down into the cavity to the outside of the master cylinder. It already has a relay, so I tapped into it to hard wire it to the battery and installed a rocker switch in the dash.

20220213_155353.jpg
 
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Kooper said:
Ok, so I need to ask why are you filling your tires with CO2? Is there some advantage to using this gas vs. good ol compressed air?
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I think the main reason for CO2 is because a liquid is denser then gas and the tank pressure is only 850 psi vs 4,000 psi for compressed air. It's arguably safer and the tank can be smaller and much lighter.
 
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