Onboard Air Options

joshself

joshself

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Mar 4, 2016
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I am getting ready to purchase an onboard Air system for my jeep and was trying to figure some stuff out:
-best set up/ brand of onboard Air
-what are some different locations I could put the tank and compressor

My requirements for the set up:
-be able to air up tires
-eventually run lockers
-run light use air tools

It would be great to see pictures of others set ups. I just don't know what to purchase since there are so many out there with varying reveiws.

Right now I'm thinking about putting the compressor somewhere under the hood and the tank could go on a rear wheel well or under the jeep (somewhere protected)
 
As soon as you said 'run light use air tools', that dramatically upped the cost of the OBA system. It take more CFM (cubic ft./minute) of air to run an air tool than any inexpensive air compressor can provide. Unless you have an unlimited budget, I'd probably drop that requirement off your list. It's nice to be able to do that but as I found, you probably won't use it much past the curiosity stage. Installed a belt-driven York a/c compressor running off my alternator and it produced more CFM than my big shop compressor does. And I used it twice in the next six years for air tools, neither was actually needed. That Jeep was stolen 6 years ago and while I miss its OBA and fast tire air-up times, I don't miss the air tool capability on the trail at all.

I didn't want to go to all that trouble of installing another York into my current TJ so my recommendation for you is what I ended up with... a 10 gallon C02 tank setup. $90 for the aluminum 10 gallon tank from the internet, $50 for the regulator, maybe another $30-35 for everything else. It's as fast at airing my my tires (<5 minutes to refill all four 35" tires from 6-8 psi to 25 psi) and if I really wanted it to, it could easily run an impact wrench which would plug right in. I've never bothered.

Not to mention a C02 tank is portable so if someone in your wheeling group has lost the bead on a tire, you can take it to that Jeep to give them the burst of air (C02) needed to get their tire reseated.
 
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Do a search either on Google or wrangler forum on converting a stock sanden AC pump to OBA, if your jeep is already equipped with it then it will be relatively cheap to do. My jeep was a non AC model so it ended up costing me about $300 for everything all said and done with a used pump off ebay.
I can fill up my 35s from 8psi to 30psi in just about the same amount of time it takes to lower the pressure. I've used it probably 10-15 times filling mine and at least one other jeep with 33s with no problems. I also experimented with air tools on it, and it ran an impact wrench enough to take off tires.

Here's some older crappy photos of my set up, I wish I would have done a write up when building it a few years back.

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Aluminum block from kilby including guage, safety relieve valve and pressure switch.

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In line tool oiler, you can see the intake line at the top of the air box, instead of using an independent air filter.

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Here's my air tank, it's only 1.5 gallons, I wanna replace it with something a little bigger.

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I opted to just have one connection spot instead of the two some guys run, works well. Living on the coast I've had one rust out already, so I just keep it clean and apply WD-40 often and it's been solid for the last year and a half.

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The switch on the left is for the OBA and the right is wired up to control my winch.
 
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I also did the conversion of the stock Sanden a/c compressor to OBA. I followed this write-up from JeepForum.com. I don't run a tank or air tools because I didn't want to run the extra plumbing and felt a tank might get caught on the rocks. I really love this setup. It will air up my 35s from 6 to 36 psi in about 1.5 minutes each.

I will warn you; keep the compressor well-lubricated. I built my setup with an oil mister (same as recommended in the write-up). This ran well for a couple of years, but last fall the compressor seized on me. I don't know exactly why, but I suspect I should've upped the drip rate of the mister. I'm in the process of replacing the compressor and will be sure to increase the flow. In this regard, the York is probably a better choice because it is a sealed unit, but its much more expensive. Plus, I already had the stock a/c compressor, so was able to build my setup for very minimal cost.

Write-Up I followed: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/b...k-tj-c-system-full-write-up-pictures-1382701/

Pics of my setup. Its run from a master switch on my dash, pressure switch, etc. with air chuck under the hood:

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So if I took air tools off my list could I go with a kit? I'd like to stay away from having an oiler run through it and would like to keep my AC for now

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If you want to keep your a/c, you could consider one of the many Viair kits. I've no personal experience with them, but they advertise kits to air up 35s. I believe they come with a tank so you COULD likely run air tools as well. Its not going to be as efficient as a belt-driven system, but may be a worthwhile investment. I'd check around for opinions before committing to a purchase...

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Towing/C...pt=100435&t_pn=V/A10007&Manufacturer_PQ=VIAIR
 
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Figure out just how long you want to wait for your tires to refill, 5 minutes to 40-45 minutes, and see if your budget matches your wants. ARB and Warn are a couple who have some absolute killer electric compressors but you'll pay big $$$ for their high CFM abilities. At the other end, you'll see good looking compressors that in reality take 30-40 minutes to refill the tires and they piss off everyone in camp when you start them at 7am before heading for home. Not to mention many of the low-end compressors have a low duty-cycle which means they can't make it through all four tires without getting hot and shutting off.

If you're out offroading a couple times or even once a month, it's worth paying for a good high CFM compressor. If you're offroading only a couple or half-dozen times a year, maybe you can live with that 30 minute refill time... if you don't mind waking the camp up early at times. ;)

Keep in mind that CFM (cubic feet/minute) is king where filling big tires goes and pay NO attention to some manufacturers who only give the CFM rating into 0 psi (without any back pressure). Your lungs can probably put out 10 CFM into the open air a 0 psi back pressure but how many CFM can your lungs put into a tire? The only CFM ratings that are usable are those that are given when working into a pressure, like 10 or 20 psi.

If you can get a compressor that puts out 2-3 CFM into pressure, that's very usable. My York put out something like 7-8 CFM into pressure but few small portable electric compressors will be able to do that.
 
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869fc8b95708bbe01d948f912f2d9b16.jpg


I bent some metal with a friend for my airtank. Worked out really well and it is very stout. I used the seat brackets to clamp the "feet" down and drilled the top ledge into the wheel well.

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joshself said:
View attachment 5630

I bent some metal with a friend for my airtank. Worked out really well and it is very stout. I used the seat brackets to clamp the "feet" down and drilled the top ledge into the wheel well.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Nicely done! I may have to copy that. Is your hose connector at the tank or plumb outside?
 
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That's a nice job of installing it at that location though I still preferred my OBA tank's location. It was tucked underneath the tub next to the frame and parallel to the rear driveshaft. Completely out of the way yet well protected in a location that my local rocks were never able to find a way to get into.

This photo isn't of mine but it shows where & how mine was mounted. It's probably the most popular location for TJs.

York air tank.jpg
 
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Stinger said:
Nicely done! I may have to copy that. Is your hose connector at the tank or plumb outside?
Click to expand...
It connects at the tank. I didn't want to worry about the plumbing getting damaged outside the jeep. My hoses can reach all the way around from either side, so it works out well.
Also, if you do it right you can still fit the rear seat in the jeep. That's why I made sure it went under the seat clamps and against the wheel well.

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Jerry Bransford said:
That's a nice job of installing it at that location though I still preferred my OBA tank's location. It was tucked underneath the tub next to the frame and parallel to the rear driveshaft. Completely out of the way yet well protected in a location that my local rocks were never able to find a way to get into.

This photo isn't of mine but it shows where & how mine was mounted. It's probably the most popular location for TJs.

View attachment 5639
Click to expand...
Originally I was going to do that, but I live in Ohio and the winter salt destroys metal. I didn't want to worry about rust on the tank since everything else is already coated underneath. If I lived somewhere where it wasn't an issue i would have.

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joshself said:
Originally I was going to do that, but I live in Ohio and the winter salt destroys metal. I didn't want to worry about rust on the tank since everything else is already coated underneath. If I lived somewhere where it wasn't an issue i would have.

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Click to expand...

Would be my concern also. Sick of dealing with rusty crap!
 
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joshself said:
Originally I was going to do that, but I live in Ohio and the winter salt destroys metal. I didn't want to worry about rust on the tank since everything else is already coated underneath. If I lived somewhere where it wasn't an issue i would have.
Click to expand...
Everything else underneath there is exposed too. Your concern is valid though, so I' would just add a couple extra coats of Rustoleum paint over the tank and not worry about it.
 
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