portable air compressor tank - The Tugnuts

We all know how important it is to keep our boat trailer tires properly inflated. Over the last three years I've found being able to get the trailer tires aired up is doable but often times problematic. Problematic because they're supposed to be checked when the tires are cold, some places don't have enough lbs. of air pressure, maybe its raining or any number of things that can get in the way. So for the convenience of being able to add air when I want, where I want and when the tires are cold I've been thinking of buying a portable air compressor to carry around in the bed of my truck....nothing fancy mind you, just enough to get the job done and have available at home for other projects. My question is has anyone else bought a portable air compressor and or have any sage advice and experience that they can share?

Jim F Jim,
We bought one several years ago to inflate the airbags on our pickup and top off tire pressure plus our well water tank at home. It came in it's own totebag including hose, pressure gauge, recoil hose that will fit anywhere around your pickup or boat from either battery bank, valve stem fittings with deflate or inflate setting, on/off switch on compressor, plus battery cable clamps. All in a self-contained canvas tote bag 16"long x 11" wide x 9" tall. It is a Firestone air compressor, WR1-760-, 12 volt, max amperage draw is 30, max pressure is 150 psi, and the air flow @ 60pse is 1.69 cfm. We believe it cost around $160-$175 on Ebay. We have been thoroughly satisfied with it.
Dave and Bette
"Sisu" Jim,

A cheap, simple compressor will do the job. You do not need to have a tank, which simply adds a lot of bulk. You do need a compressor that will output to a high PSI. When I trailered my R27, I used something like this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/12v-100-ps ... .html

Then I added this very light weight 50 ft. extension hose so that I could reach any tire on my truck or the trailer:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Amflo-1-4-in ... 5yc1vZc9n8

I don't think I would want to use a lengthy 12 volt extension, since that would cause a serious voltage drop to the compressor.

So, for about $60.00 you are all set. I never had to use this setup on the side of the road, but I did confirm it all worked by airing up both the truck and trailer tires to the proper pressure before each trip. I put about 9,000 miles on the trailer before trading the R27 and trailer in for my current R31 (with no trailer), so I was always very concerned about tires.

I also bought a cordless impact wrench to be used if I had a problem on the side of the road. If you are interested, I can provide you with the brand and model of what I have (I don't plan to sell it). And, I carried a grease gun and extra grease cartridges for the trailer hubs, in case of salt water intrusion. Then, I also carried a spray can of Salt-Away to deal with salt damaging the trailer brakes. Jim,

When I looked into this a couple of years ago I found that the lightweight, affordable 12v compressors simply don't have the oomph, unless you don't mind waiting 20 or more minutes to air up one tire. A large, heavy and expensive unit, like the kind found on an AAA service truck, is what's needed if you expect the same performance you get from a decent size home (110v) compressor. My opinion is that carrying a compressed air tank, like suggested above by jzois, and keeping it filled, either from a home compressor or the nearest gas station is your best bet. The tank idea is not real practical for topping off tires. These are service tanks, fill it up from a compressor and go top off a tire, or do a quick inflation of a tire with a leak to get it some where repairs can be made. Ok for quick inflation of a flat tire. My "E" trailer tires run at too high a pressure. A tank with 90 psi does a great job on a 35 psi car tire but will not to top off a 90 psi trailer tire. A compressor, even a slow one will get the job done, takes up a lot less space, and you don't have to worry weather or not the air has leaked out of the tank.

If you want to quickly be able to inflate lots of tires check out the off road community. I am also into off road Jeeps. Two tank options used are CO2 or SCUBA air tanks. The first, a liquid CO2 tank is used to inflate tires. because the CO2 is liquified at high pressure in the tank it can fill many tires quickly before needing to be recharged. The second SCUBA air works because a SCUBA tank is pressurized to psi so again you can fill a lot of tires quickly before needing to refill it. Problem is both have to be filled at industrial gas shops or dive shop for the SCUBA. There are also some much larger electric compressors available and some belt driven off the truck engine. Safety is a prime consideration. I have SCUBA tanks but I never leave them in the sun when they are fully charged and at PSI the tank should never be directly connected to a tire without a pressure reducing regulator. A tire blowing up in your face is serious business. Of all the recommendations the small compressor seems the best idea. We use "E" range tires and at 90 PSI we use a 120 VAC pancake compressor to top off. It is slow going but we are using "regulated" pressure. The compressor is rated at 150 PSI so you can tote it with you, charged up, to maybe top off one tire before you need some power. We have endured one blow out because I got in a hurry and under inflated one of the tires. We were running "D" range tires at the time.

Pat
Ladybug, Too I have found a pretty good compressor that we use to fill our Jeep tires after a day out on the trails. Most of us have 33" or35" tires which we air down to about 12psi. Between us we have found the following unit works really good.
The unit is a Smittybuilt. PN S/B 5.65 cfm . Cost is $149.99 with free shipping, one year warranty and an extended warranty available. We bought online through 4 Wheel Parts.com.
The unit connects to the battery terminals and some guys have mounted the unit under the hood. It comes with a carry case, and a flexible hose. I would suggest having the compressor as close as possible to the battery.
All in all a pretty good unit for the money.

Jim

As we know air compressor is a power consumption product, before your make a procurement, do you know where you spend you money on? Most clients will choose a cheap price at first, but this is not a good option, because for air compressor, only 15% is purchasing cost, the most is the power consumption, it is 75% of the whole cost, and the last one is 10% maintenance cost, because after you run the air compressor, power consumption is continued, and the cost will be higher and higher as time pass by, so choosing an energy saving compressor is very important to save much money in the future.

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