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holyford86
Some guy with a problem
Supporting Member
Article Contributor
RBV's on Boost
GMRS Radio License
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 2,385
- Age
- 39
- City
- Plattsburgh
- State - Country
- NY - USA
- Vehicle Year
- many
- Transmission
- Manual
- Total Lift
- 7
- Tire Size
- 33x12.50R15
I thought I'd add some info on my ridiculous overkill of an onboard air setup. Much of the reason I've gone this far is because I've never really had a shop to work out of and my current living situation doesn't really allow me to have a shed I could use so I've been continually adding on to this system to make it the best I could. It's an engine driven system with a York based compressor which is actually designed to pump air. I had previously used a converted York but it was passing so much oil that it was making a mess wherever I drained my air tanks (about 8 ounces an hour). The new compressor passes nearly no oil and I've added about an ounce in about 10 hours of operation. I purchased it from Off Road Only and it was originally designed for a TJ wrangler setup (I reused my previous clutch). It uses a Solberg air compressor filter I bought off eBay, the outlet hose is a Teflon lined braided stainless steel setup that I scavenged from the trash at a truck shop.
The air tanks are about 5 gallons each and are kind of an oddball size, I had grabbed one off of a scrap M35 (deuce and a half) at the junkyard many years ago and it fit perfectly. I then added a tank scavenged from a small imported air compressor next to it for more volume but it rotted out in about 6 years, even with the truck not really being driven in salt over the winter... I was able to find another M35 tank last year from a guy parting out one of the trucks on marketplace near me so now I have two nearly identical tanks other than some minor port sizing differences. They're the perfect diameter to not hang down below the frame and are mounted to a bolted in carrier assembly behind the rear axle which is somewhat easy to remove. They currently have pull type drains which I thought would be a good idea but leak terribly, so in the spring they will be swapped out for a standard tank drain.
The filter/dryer was initially a standard filter for a small shop air compressor with an automatic drain, it wasnt super effective at actually filtering and the drain clogged regularly. Back to the junkyard I went and picked up a small DR41 (I think Parker/Racor still services them, but they aren't super common in north america) air dryer off of a cab over Mitsubishi truck, it is similar in appearance to a Bendix AD9 but much smaller and with no built in check valve on the outlet port, I disassembled and cleaned it, then replaced the dessicant. I also removed the heater because this will likely not be used in below freezing temps, and if it does happen to freeze it's no huge deal anyway. In order to use the unloader valve I had to make a circuit that powered up an air solenoid when the compressor switches off, I didnt feel like adding more wires coming from the engine compartment so I used the power already going to the pressure switch near the tanks and made an adapter harness to run what I needed to. This is necessary because heavy trucks use an air governor to switch the compressor on and off even though it rotates all the time. This circuit and valve combo takes the place of the unloader port on that governor. I can post up a wiring diagram of all of the electrical circuits and air lines in this whole setup if anyone is interested.
In cab controls are pretty basic, there's an illuminated pressure gauge, switch, and since I took the pics I added a pilot light in that hole between the gauge and switch that illuminates when the switch is on. the rest of the switches run lights and an internal winch control. the brass knob to the left of the gauge is attached to an air horn lanyard valve harvested from a Ford L9000 and runs the horn removed from the same truck.
Air lines are all either DOT nylon line or rubber hose, there's an air chuck in the front and rear along with a short coiled hose next to the drivers seat which usually has a blow gun connected to it. I had used rubber air hose and barb fittings everywhere when I first built the system almost 20 years ago (I think I posed it here pre hostile take over, iykyk, haha} and have finally removed all of it in favor of what I have now, It's lighter and any truck parts supplier has rolls of it in all the sizes I've used readily available, along with all of the fittings to connect it. Main supply lines are 1/2, the front and rear chucks are 3/8 and the cab and horn are supplied by a single 1/4 line.
How's it all work? I've been very happy with it, the compressor puts out 4 ish SCFM at 90 psi with the engine idled up to about 1500 rpm. Running air hammers, impact wrenches, and occasional short bursts with a die grinder causes no issues. it fills tires like a shop compressor and the reserve is enough to seat beads most of the time. Having a blow gun in the cab is handy for so many things, I clean the floor with it and blow out carburetors and other things reasonably regularly. The only things I'd like to change are screwing a sheet of aluminum to the bottom of the bed to act as a roof for the tanks, dryer, and rear winch (haven't added that yet) and switching the rear output to nylon line as well as making a hard mount for the chuck, I'll possibly be making the whole system only operational with the key on, the latter is coming at some point but not super necessary, the former two (three?) will likely happen in the spring.
The air tanks are about 5 gallons each and are kind of an oddball size, I had grabbed one off of a scrap M35 (deuce and a half) at the junkyard many years ago and it fit perfectly. I then added a tank scavenged from a small imported air compressor next to it for more volume but it rotted out in about 6 years, even with the truck not really being driven in salt over the winter... I was able to find another M35 tank last year from a guy parting out one of the trucks on marketplace near me so now I have two nearly identical tanks other than some minor port sizing differences. They're the perfect diameter to not hang down below the frame and are mounted to a bolted in carrier assembly behind the rear axle which is somewhat easy to remove. They currently have pull type drains which I thought would be a good idea but leak terribly, so in the spring they will be swapped out for a standard tank drain.
The filter/dryer was initially a standard filter for a small shop air compressor with an automatic drain, it wasnt super effective at actually filtering and the drain clogged regularly. Back to the junkyard I went and picked up a small DR41 (I think Parker/Racor still services them, but they aren't super common in north america) air dryer off of a cab over Mitsubishi truck, it is similar in appearance to a Bendix AD9 but much smaller and with no built in check valve on the outlet port, I disassembled and cleaned it, then replaced the dessicant. I also removed the heater because this will likely not be used in below freezing temps, and if it does happen to freeze it's no huge deal anyway. In order to use the unloader valve I had to make a circuit that powered up an air solenoid when the compressor switches off, I didnt feel like adding more wires coming from the engine compartment so I used the power already going to the pressure switch near the tanks and made an adapter harness to run what I needed to. This is necessary because heavy trucks use an air governor to switch the compressor on and off even though it rotates all the time. This circuit and valve combo takes the place of the unloader port on that governor. I can post up a wiring diagram of all of the electrical circuits and air lines in this whole setup if anyone is interested.
In cab controls are pretty basic, there's an illuminated pressure gauge, switch, and since I took the pics I added a pilot light in that hole between the gauge and switch that illuminates when the switch is on. the rest of the switches run lights and an internal winch control. the brass knob to the left of the gauge is attached to an air horn lanyard valve harvested from a Ford L9000 and runs the horn removed from the same truck.
Air lines are all either DOT nylon line or rubber hose, there's an air chuck in the front and rear along with a short coiled hose next to the drivers seat which usually has a blow gun connected to it. I had used rubber air hose and barb fittings everywhere when I first built the system almost 20 years ago (I think I posed it here pre hostile take over, iykyk, haha} and have finally removed all of it in favor of what I have now, It's lighter and any truck parts supplier has rolls of it in all the sizes I've used readily available, along with all of the fittings to connect it. Main supply lines are 1/2, the front and rear chucks are 3/8 and the cab and horn are supplied by a single 1/4 line.
How's it all work? I've been very happy with it, the compressor puts out 4 ish SCFM at 90 psi with the engine idled up to about 1500 rpm. Running air hammers, impact wrenches, and occasional short bursts with a die grinder causes no issues. it fills tires like a shop compressor and the reserve is enough to seat beads most of the time. Having a blow gun in the cab is handy for so many things, I clean the floor with it and blow out carburetors and other things reasonably regularly. The only things I'd like to change are screwing a sheet of aluminum to the bottom of the bed to act as a roof for the tanks, dryer, and rear winch (haven't added that yet) and switching the rear output to nylon line as well as making a hard mount for the chuck, I'll possibly be making the whole system only operational with the key on, the latter is coming at some point but not super necessary, the former two (three?) will likely happen in the spring.
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