I've just fitted a nice shiny red bit........
But seriously, folks.
In anticipation of one day getting round to fitting ARB air lockers and having had a couple of very slow electric tiyre inflators, I decided to try the trick that some of our colonial cousins across the big pond do, and convert an A/C compressor to do the job.
There are several ways of putting it together, but the main parts needed are:
A/C compressor
Air tool oiler
Filter/drier
Pressure switch
Saftey valve
Air tank
I built mine with an Ebay A/C compressor from Barrs' Jeep emporium, parts from a small 240v hobby compressor. also Ebay, plus a drier, filter, pneumatic lines and fittings sourced locally. The extra tank gives about 15 litres, (made from a fire extinguisher) and the underhood tank is about 5 litres.
The small tank under the hood is ok for running ARBs and pumping up tyres and saves using space elsewhere, the larger one allows the use of small air tools and gives more air in reserve if the copressor breaks down.
UKJEEPER is working on a similar setup, but using his tubular bumpers as air tanks to free up more space.
As you can see, it's quite a neat installation and has so far worked well. It will inflate a flat 31" tyre to 30 psi in about 90 seconds. Time will tell how durable this set up is. My only concern is that the compressor runs very hot if it runs continually, as it doesn't have cold refrigerant in it as a coolant. However, as it only usually runs for 60 second bursts when the system is in use, this shouldn't be a problem.
