Air con compressors ARE oiled in their standard role and the oil level is important - as the compressors are running for long periods and pumping up to 300psi around the aircon system. For short periods and depending on the type of compressor you may get away with none. HOWEVER, if it were my truck I'd be inclined to oil the incoming air then install an oil seperator afterwards.

We have a (garage) oiled compressor which we use for spraying. It is fitted with an oil spearator and the air we get is DRY.

You could then have a valve to switch from dry air to oiled air for the tools. A regulator may also not be a bad idea - aircon is quite a bit too high a presure for airtools.

Marko

There should`nt be a problem with putting in an inline oiler then drying it after the compressor. With a small tank you could also fit a small pressure switch so as it can build up pressure then cut out, as for running airtools, I dont like your chances as the compressor may have a lot of pressure but it just wouldnt be able to cope with the flow, with a decent sized tank you maybe able to run them intermittently but it would be anyoying stoping then starting

Just thought I'd drag this back to the surface...

Has anyone used the compressor sold by Matt Savage? (Apart from his Dad, Toby!! http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/redface.gif)) Does it rate against the Grand Erg?

Yes, I've used it in Morocco last year without any problems and I've just carried out a test on BFG 235.85.R16 At's.

Results (together with those found by Chris Scott above) are

Truck Air after 2 minutes reached 1.3 bar or 18 psi
Grand Erg after 2 minutes reached 2.5 bar or 35 psi (road pressure)
Matt Savage after 2 minutes reached 1.85 bar or 27 psi. (After 3 minutes it had reached 2.25 bar or 32 psi.) It took under 4 minutes to get to 2.5 bar or 35psi - road pressure.

Like Chris, I started with the tyre at 1 bar but it's colder up here in Northumberland :-)

Not as good as the Grand Erg, but smaller and considerably cheaper, and quicker than the TruckAir.

Yes it got warm - maybe slightly hot, but not so hot I couldn't touch it on the barrel or anywhere else.

I've got mine mounted under the driver's seat in my 110 (see my web site for picture http://www.a2b.uk.net/Mods.htm )

Finally I agree with the general thread here. Get one. It'll change your off-roading life.

Pete.

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Pete Sinclair.
Alnwick to Botswana
http://www.a2b.uk.net

Thanks for that Pete - exactly what I needed. Sounds like the Matt Savage one is the one I'll go for. Did it require any special electrics or could an incompetent like myself manage to fit it?

...incidentally, has anyone got any data on the Brownchurch one?

Hi Ollie,

The electrics were very straightforward. I've hooked it up to my auxilliary battery with a biggish fuse - 15 amp I think. I've run this feed via a switch which I've screwed to the side of my cubby box.

All I have to do is open up under the seat, whip it out and inflate away. The compressor comes with a coiled hose long enough to reach all the wheels on my 110, and the spare on the back door. At a stretch it will just about reach the wheels on my trailer as well. The hose will also store under the seat, but comes with a 'quick disconnect' so you can stash it somewhere else if necessary, and plug it into the compressor when needed.

Pete.

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Pete Sinclair.
Alnwick to Botswana
http://www.a2b.uk.net

Glad to see this thread is still thriving. Just back from a month in Libya. My Land Rover Carawagon and Kev White's Camel Trophy 110 Defender. Both fitted with 7.50x16 Mich XS's. We both had Matt Savge comps (Well I would wouldn't I!) Kev also had an ARB one that is also used to lock his diffs. I have an old fire extiquisher as a resevior. Turned out we were about equal on time to go from 1 bar to 2.5. Him with two comps, me with one and the extiquisher. Didn't do acuarate timings but it was about 15 minutes per vehicle. All of them performed faultlessly, but I wish I had plumbed in the air intake for the comp to my snorkel as the dust was flying. Didn't take a foot pump! Toby

I picked up a twin tounge compressor from opposite lock in Australia for about £260, it is rated a 2.9 CFM compared to Matts at 1 CFM, and it is rated for comtinious used at pressures up to 50 PSI, I have bolted and hard wired it into my 110. It only takes around 1 minute to re-inflate 7.50x16s from 18 to 32 PSI but I will time it on the weekend for a more acurate time and post it next week.

Col Campbell

To add to the exhaustive debate, I've fitted a Blue tonge II bought on the web for £160 from Oz delivered to the UK with bracket and hose which performed well on a recent trip to Algeria. Chris had his grand erg which was about twice as quick. I was a bit paranoid about getting my pressure back to the recomended rear 48psi for a 110 where as the TLC has lower pressures. As I see it (now I've let tyres down and reinflated many times in a day) buy the best you can afford (From about £150) and don't even concider one of the plastic types (even truck man which I've now dumped) if you want to let your tyres down deliberatly for traveling. I wasn't conviced by the expense before I went.

Hi All

I used an ARB compressor that was wired for airring up and for the lockers fitted to a TLC80 that I had in SA, in fairly hot temps (40+C) in the Namib desert it airred all 4 tyres up but was a little slow, although I gave it a rest between tyres to be on the safe side.
I would say it was a good piece of kit but not really designed for airing up tyres.

cheers



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ChrisC

Just on a point IanS has raised. You 110 drivers shouldn’t get too hung up on the 48psi that LandRover recommend for the rear tyres. They only need 44psi to carry a rear axle weight of 1,800 kilos - the over inflation is to induce understeer on the rear axle.

I mounted an A/C compressor in the engine bay and after a couple years of use I can honestly tell you that it’s the best modification I ever did. I highly recommend that any serious traveler should install one.

The compressor performance is awesome. It inflates tires jut as fast as a regular full size shop compressor. Since I have 2 outlets, we often use the compressor 2 at a time with no problem. I air up my 31x10.5x15 from 10 PSI to 30 PSI in 20 to 30 seconds. When traveling in more than one car over long stretches of sand and getting stuck often, electric compressors will slow you down severely. Now, my friends don’t bother getting their electric compressors out and just use mine and we still start moving again much faster.

Most important of all, with this pump I can reseat the tire on the rim after repair. That’s something no electric compressor can do.

The whole thing ended up costing me less than a good quality electric compressor but installing it is a bit more involved.

Following is a description of what I did. All these parts, even if they sound alien to you are standard air compressor parts and can be found almost anywhere. Let me know if you need any help with this. It’s very easy once you understand how it works.

Here’s what I did:

The Compressor:
I got hold of an old York compressor. These were used in a number of Mercedes and Volvo cars over the years. There are 3 sizes; I got the biggest one that has a displacement of 10 cubic inches. (If interested I can tell you how to differentiate them). The thing about the York is that it’s a vertical unit with the crankshaft (and oil) at the bottom, so the air doesn’t mix that much with the oil. So very little oil comes out of it, which means less work for the oil filter and longer periods between compressor maintenance.

A metal fabricator made me a mount to mount the compressor right next to the air conditioning compressor in my Jeep. I got a replacement alternator pulley that had an extra groove and connected that to the air compressor with a small belt.

You HAVE to oil the compressor since it’s basically a crankshaft, connecting rod and piston. Would you run your engine without oil?

Input / Output:
I installed a small air filter to the compressor input and an oil filter to the output. Since the York hold the oil at the bottom I only have to top off the oil every year or so. But it has to be oiled.

Plumbing:
The air coming out of the compressor goes through:

One-way valve with pressure relief: This holds the pressure in the tank while relieving the pressure in the airline linking it back to the compressor. This lightens the load on the compressor when it starts pumping again.

Pressure switch: This is connected to the compressor wiring. It turns it on when the pressure drops below 80 PSI and off when it reaches 130 PSI. It is linked to the one-way valve with a thin tube to relieve the pressure when the pump stops.

The Tank: an old fire extinguisher bottle with a pressure gauge attached to it.

Relief valve: Also attached to the tank. When it gets hot the air in the tank expands, thus increasing pressure, the relief valve lets the excess air out and maintain the tank pressure at 150 PSI max.

From the tank I plumbed airlines to the front bumper, the rear bumper and inside the cab. All air outlets are fitted with quick disconnects couplings for fast operation.

Uses:

Naturally I use it to inflate the tires. But I also use the in-cab air outlet to clean my camera equipment as often as I can while driving.

The compressor it powerful rnough to power air tools. I carry a ½ inch gun that comes in handy in a variety of situation, like changing a tire.

Since this thing outputs monstrous amount of air very quickly, I now carry a full size 25 cm thick air mattress to sleep on. It takes me only a few minutes to inflate it and now I always wake up fresh http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif. I also adapted a blender “top” (the thing you put the fruits in, whatever that’s called in English) to run off the air gun http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif. Fresh juice, milk shake or margarita anybody??


As I said above, this is the best modification I ever did and I’m very happy with it. Every serious traveler should have one installed. Let me know if you need any help figuring and installing a similar system and I can get you pictures of my setup if interested.

Take care,

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A.B.
www.ShortWheelbase.com

[This message has been edited by A.B. (edited 21 April 2002).]

I was in Cairo not long ago and can confirm A.B.s mods looked very good indeed, he was very pleased with the performance.

Although I did not taste the product of the blender, it is a welcome addition.

Only question was what was that balloon thing being used as a dust stopper on the air line.

We are carrying a 12v job that does work and is fan cooled, better than Halfords, from the States, but doesn't make Margaritas.

Toby, Its nice to hear there was actually somebody else in Libya, as we didn't see anybody apart from a 22 car Italian convoy. Independant travel??

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A Journey of Hope
www.expeditionjasanne.co.uk
www.fugroseastar.com

In my opinion the best solution of the lot is to fit a compressor and tank from a Range Rover. The compressor is rated to run all the time, so no over heating problems. Connect this to the tank which fits easily between the chassis rails and is of 10 litres capacity. Install a pressure switch which will stop the comprerssor once you have 160 psi (11 bar) in the tank. Connect your airlines to the tank.

We had the tank installed just in front of the rear crossmember on a 300 Tdi Defender 90. The space is not used by anything else and although tempting to put the fuel tank from a Td5 under there, usually there is enough weight on the back axle as it is.

This will inflate at least three of your tyres (we were running 33") as fast as a garage pump from 1 bar. Sure the compressor has to run for a while to charge the tank back up, but you are driving whilst this is happening.

Others in the group had a variety of systems from twin cylinder electric compressors, through to a/c pumps and even small workshop compressor in the service barge. In all cases we were pumped up and ready to go a good ten to fifteen minutes before the rest of them.

The downside of course was the extra weight in tea and coffee we had to carry whilst we brewed up waiting for the others!

If you don't want to go to the full expense, try visiting the Old Sodbury Sortouts as you will freqeuently pick up the bits as a bargain there.