Topic: Pepe, the Little Mule

[JFanaselle]

Looks really good! What size air tank is that? I have a 1 gallon aluminum one and it's too small. I've been thinking of upgrading to a 3 gal or something, or just ditching it all together. I feel like right now it just acts as a buffer between the air flowing from the compressor to the tires and might be slowing me down, since it doesn't hold much air. If I can at least hold enough air for one tire, I can let the tank refill while moving from one tire to another.

[FixItGuy]

I used a 2 gallon tank. We'll see how well it works.

[Celt]

Looks really good! What size air tank is that? I have a 1 gallon aluminum one and it's too small. I've been thinking of upgrading to a 3 gal or something, or just ditching it all together. I feel like right now it just acts as a buffer between the air flowing from the compressor to the tires and might be slowing me down, since it doesn't hold much air. If I can at least hold enough air for one tire, I can let the tank refill while moving from one tire to another.

The good thing about having a spare tank is if you eventually get around to getting air lockers you won't have to leave your compressor on all the time when you want to activate them. In my opinion, even if you had a 3 gallon tank it wouldn't be enough to matter much when you are airing up 4 tires. In my opinion what matters most is the compressor itself when airing up the tires.

[RBduffer]

I put a 1.3 gal. air tank on my set-up, which is just like Pepe's.  I FINALLY used it today at the Desert Rendezvous.  Everything worked great!  With my tank, it takes about a minute to fill the tank from 40psi to 80.  That gave me plenty of time to get from tire to tire with out cycling the compressor motors, and you get a little boost when you start the next tire.  A bigger tank will just make the compressors work longer, unless you're going to use the air for something else.  I think that one to two gallons is perfect for tires.

[PainRoller]

OBA Update: 
Well, crap......crap, crap, crap........CRAP!!  OBA FAILED on "Randy's Most Excellent Run". 
Thanks Randy for getting us back up to pavement pressure. 

Failure resulted from heat related hose blowery.   
As a result, FiG bought/installed new, improved high temp hose and a couple of Brass Ball Check Valves. 

But because we have been known to OR solo, we didn't want to risk further failures.  So FiG put the OBA thru its paces on a nice warm day (well over 100 degrees) to ensure no further failures due to temperature issues.  And guess what?  Both air compressors DIED.  I just don't think those air compressors were up to the task, nor were they capable of sustained use - especially in a hot engine compartment.

So we move forward with OBA phase 2 (aka the high percentage play) :

ARB CKMTA12 '12V' On-Board Twin High Performance Air Compressor (I think both Danny and Joe are running with this unit?)




After much discussion, we've decided to install this unit in the rear cargo (passenger panel). Reasoning: Less dust, no engine heat, no water crossing issues, better air circulation.  Pretty much here, but positioned a little differently.... (this is an example, not our rig.  In fact, it's Danny's rig  )



Will post updates, with pics, when unit installed...... 

[Celt]

Those are really nice compressors and I'm sure you will be thrilled with it. The only input I have is putting it inside your vehicle can get noisy when it kicks on. I'm not sure if you are running lockers or not. If you aren't it's a non-issue because your air tank won't have a draw on it and the only time you will be using it is to air up.

[PainRoller]

Those are really nice compressors and I'm sure you will be thrilled with it. The only input I have is putting it inside your vehicle can get noisy when it kicks on. I'm not sure if you are running lockers or not. If you aren't it's a non-issue because your air tank won't have a draw on it and the only time you will be using it is to air up.

Pepe ain't gots no lockers...... yet 

LOCKERS?!?!?! WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' LOCKERS!!




Hahahahaha!  Best movie quote EVER!  Name that movie..... and if you are REALLY old, name the original movie (no google cheating). 

[ghenderson21]

 

Exciting! Looking forward to seeing it! When I get back from Montana, we should check out Bee Canyon.

[PainRoller]

Exciting! Looking forward to seeing it! When I get back from Montana, we should check out Bee Canyon.

Hell yeah!   Have fun in the Big Sky county....it's gorgeous up there.

[ghenderson21]

Hell yeah!   Have fun in the Big Sky county....it's gorgeous up there.

I know! This is my 14th year up there, I try and go every year I can. Fly fishing, yellowstone, and now off roading??? What could be better!

and thank you! I'll take lots of pictures

[JFanaselle]

Yep, that's the compressor I'm running, as well as Toro and Motorpig77 (and I'm sure many more). I ended up in the same situation as you - Harbor Freight unit failed on me at the end of a trip. TWICE. Thankfully I had the replacement warranty. They replaced it the first time and I relocated it to a new spot (and installed a fan) to keep it cooler. Still failed after one tire the second time around. So I came to the same conclusion as you. HF replaced it again for me, and I threw it in the space under my cargo area as a spare/backup compressor.

My ARB twin unit is mounted inside my front bumper. As Celt alluded to, the noise inside the cabin was an issue for me, especially since we bring our 4 year old son along for a lot of runs now. If he's asleep in his car seat or if it's too hot outside and he needs to stay in the rig while we're airing up, the noise would be a major issue.

Recently, one of my two motors stopped working. I had a great experience dealing with ARB to have it repaired. They sent me the parts to do it myself instead of having to ship the compressor to them and wait for them to fix it and send it back. When I popped the rear cover off to install the new parts, I realized that one of the O-rings failed and the motor assembly was full of mud. I cleaned it out with Lecro-motive electric parts cleaner, and installed the new thermal fuse they sent me and it's working like a champ. But I did send the photos of the compromised motor back to them and asked how we should handle it. They said I could send it back now or that they're ok with me just waiting until it's a problem in the future, even if it's out of warranty at that point.

[Celt]

You tryin to say I'm old if I watched Blazing Saddles when it was released? I might just need to get Mongo to come and pay you a visit on his "horse."

[steve c]

You tryin to say I'm old if I watched Blazing Saddles when it was released? I might just need to get Mongo to come and pay you a visit on his "horse."

Yes.



Stoked for you guys!  At this rate, I will never have to do OBA because all my cool friends will be sick and tired of waiting for me to air up with the Viar and just say back your truck up here and I'll do it for you.... My evil plans are coming together

[PainRoller]

You tryin to say I'm old if I watched Blazing Saddles when it was released? I might just need to get Mongo to come and pay you a visit on his "horse."

Blazing Saddles was quoting an older movie..... 
OBVIOUSLY you are not old enough (or a movie buff) to know the ORIGINAL movie quote!! 

[PainRoller]

Yep, that's the compressor I'm running, as well as Toro and Motorpig77 (and I'm sure many more). I ended up in the same situation as you - Harbor Freight unit failed on me at the end of a trip. TWICE. Thankfully I had the replacement warranty. They replaced it the first time and I relocated it to a new spot (and installed a fan) to keep it cooler. Still failed after one tire the second time around. So I came to the same conclusion as you. HF replaced it again for me, and I threw it in the space under my cargo area as a spare/backup compressor.

My ARB twin unit is mounted inside my front bumper. As Celt alluded to, the noise inside the cabin was an issue for me, especially since we bring our 4 year old son along for a lot of runs now. If he's asleep in his car seat or if it's too hot outside and he needs to stay in the rig while we're airing up, the noise would be a major issue.

Recently, one of my two motors stopped working. I had a great experience dealing with ARB to have it repaired. They sent me the parts to do it myself instead of having to ship the compressor to them and wait for them to fix it and send it back. When I popped the rear cover off to install the new parts, I realized that one of the O-rings failed and the motor assembly was full of mud. I cleaned it out with Lecro-motive electric parts cleaner, and installed the new thermal fuse they sent me and it's working like a champ. But I did send the photos of the compromised motor back to them and asked how we should handle it. They said I could send it back now or that they're ok with me just waiting until it's a problem in the future, even if it's out of warranty at that point.

It's hilarious we went down the same path.  Obviously we didn't learn from your history.... 

Couple of things:

1. Yes - noise would be an issue if:
    a. We had kids (I think Danny runs his in the rig? How does he do it?)
    b. We had air lockers (which we don't..... yet)

I figure at this point er'body will be out of the rig airing up the tires, so noise shouldn't be an issue.  If we get air lockers, it'll probs scare the shyte out of us if the compressor blasts unexpectedly in the cab...... LOL 

2. We did NOT get the HF warranty - so they will just have to make nice paper weights.  Maybe I can use them to bang tent pegs into the hard ground.... 

3. MUD - how did you get mud into them?      Seriously, mud and water are a MAJOR concern for us due to our proclivity to seek out both.  Ergo, in cargo area for safe keeping.....