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On Board Air

21K views 114 replies 18 participants last post by  zr2toxj 
#1 ·
Since I am hoping to plunk down some money on a on board air system in the next month I thought I would see what you guys are currently running, or have thought about running.
At first I was going to go with this nice little setup:
eBay Motors: Co2 Onboard Air Source For Jeep XJ, TJ, or JK Powertank (item 380109639343 end time Mar-19-09 21:12:55 PDT)

The more I have thought about it though, I would like to not have to worry about my tank being full so now I am looking at this:
VIAIR-10007 - VIAIR - Complete 100% Constant Duty Onboard Air System | Tellico 4x4

I think I am pretty set on the the VIAIR 10007 setup. It comes with everything I would need and seems easy enough to setup. Now just trying to find the lowest price, of course.

So any opinions about on board air, your current setup, etc?
 
#2 ·
One other thing you will have to consider is the cost of refilling your tank, and where. I am assuming a welding shop would be able to refill your tank. That would be cheaper than CO2 from food grade sources. If you go the tank route you can also use nitrogen, which can be gotten at a welding shop and is the preferred gas for tires now anyway.

Another option if you are not running AC is to use a stock Jeep Sanden compressor. You can get as simple or elaborate as yo want. But these compressors will air tires up in a hurry and you can use a stock bracket and belt for the whole thing. They have lubrication issues, but most guys just squirt a little vegetable oil down the intake once in awhile
 
#3 ·
Yea there are a few places around here to have bottles filled that aren't expensive. I am leaning more away from it for the fact of..."Is the bottle full, do I need to get it filled before this trip"...etc.

Yea...I have read about the Sanden compressor method. I like my AC, and I plan on keeping it for awhile.
 
#4 ·
One other route you can go if you want to get rid of some cash is with the KILBY Enterprises kit that uses a York compressor.

::Kilby Enterprises::

KILBY doesn't list a kit for an XJ, but I think they can fix you up if you want to go that route

I have seen one fabbed next to the alternator on a YJ that used a double pulley on the alternator and a belt to the AC pulley on the compressor. It wasn't perfectly straight, but it worked.

Here is some photos of my on board air system, which would be considered very high end, in my humble opinion of course. Bear in mind that this system is on a Chevy 4.3L V6 and not a 4.0L I6

This is the comnpressors. The one on the right is my AC unit. The one on the left is the air compressor





There is a Viair tank in the back. Here is the manifold that has oil recovery, pressure relief valve, pressure switch, pressure regulator and ARB solonoids for the lockers that I will install in the near future.




Here is a shot of the air chuck on the front bumper



Finally, the finished product. One hose from the compressor to the manifold is pressurized air, the other to the center of the compressor is an oil return line from the oil recovery canister. There is a bank of relays on the engine intake tube in front of the air box that control compressor crankcase pressure and oil return. It is all automatic and complete no brainer and will fill tires in less than a minute and a half. Future plans call for an automatic high rev for the engine when the compressor is running

 
#5 ·
I run the Ultimate-Air Co2 tank myself with adjustable regulator, fill ups are cheap and easy. I look at it this way, since I weld daily anyway....it's nice to know I have extra welding gas nearby if I need it, it's portable and allows me to use it outside my vehical, I've ran airtools in the house with it, I blew out A/C lines in the house with it, I toss it in the tow rig when going on long trips......it's pretty versital once you realize it's potental.

It's nice to share, but tooooo many times leaving a trail, I see the guy with the Onboard air system stuck filling the tires of a line of Jeepers taking advantage of him, of course you want to help........but being the last guy to leave everytime.......I'm told gets old.

Just my 2 cent opinion, I like the Co2.:pop:



4.3......Thats pretty trick!
 
#8 · (Edited)
I haven't kept track of it. There are some things I am redoing, like the exhaust currently. I have replaced the fuel injection and sensors and so forth as well as rebuilding the 4L60E tranny with all the right stuff and the Advance Adapters motor mounts and tranny adapter. Then there is the Griffin radiator and fans and numerous small parts from the wrecking yard. The smog police got involved with this and made it much more expensive. Originally I was going to go with stock Chevy bell housing and clutch and run a cryo treated T5 and call it good. But as I say, one thing led to another and I ended up with a NP231 in place of the 208 because of the adapter and on and on it goes. If I had it to do over again, I would replace the 2.8L with a Camaro 3.4L.
 
#7 ·
Do you want an electric or an engine driven compressor? Both have advantages and disadvantages...

I'd take a look at some of the mini-truck websites too, because they've got some pretty slick on board air setups for their air ride suspensions, and you may find a better deal on stuff through a dealer that caters to the lowrider crowd vs. the 4x4 retailers.

Just a thought...

Later.
 
#10 ·
Yea the Kilby setup is really nice but I know most Jeep kits run into a thousand. I am just not wanting to spend that much money on air.

Yea I have found the VIAIR 10007 on a lowrider website and hornblaster website for a lot less than 4wd websites. I wish I was ready to order today though. 4wd.com has it for about $350 shipped. Since I just spent $800+ on a new bumper and winch this week, the wife said no, not until next month...bah!

I am pretty set on the VIAIR setup at this point. I just wanted to start this thread because it didn't seem like on board air had been discussed to much on here, and figured it would be nice to see others setups.

REALLY NICE setup 4.3lXJ
 
#11 ·
Thanks

One thing I would do with the Viair setup is refrain from airing too many tires for your buddies. You know how they are. Even though it says 100% duty cycle, I wouldn't push it to far. Still I think it is a good system
 
#12 ·
Yea, I usually wheel in smaller groups of people, and all of them seem to have air already, I am the one needing my tires filled now. lol.
 
#13 ·
One thing, the electric compressor is a lot easier to set up. I went with mechanical because I will be running air lockers and wanted a reliable consistent supply of air.
 
#14 ·
Great topic - I've been thinking about doing OBA for a while now too. My AC blows cool air, not cold, and when I refilled it in May, by September it needed another refill. It's no longer my DD so I've been playing with the idea of converting the AC compressor into an OBA setup. Seems like it'd be the most cost efficient way of going about it.

I also have an electric pump that I use for airing up (bought at Pep Boys, the red one, forget the name right now). I could probably use that in conjunction with a tank to get the OBA setup that I want, to run air tools on it and such, but I'm not sure if it'd be sufficient or up for a task like that.

The CO2 is great. Couple questions though (and I apologize for the hi-jack), but what size CO2 tank is a "good" size? About how long do they typically last (airing up tires, running air tools, etc.)?
 
#19 ·
The CO2 is great. Couple questions though (and I apologize for the hi-jack), but what size CO2 tank is a "good" size? About how long do they typically last (airing up tires, running air tools, etc.)?
yeah i have the same questions as 2000. anyones thoughts?

i have seen the viair in action and it seems like a nice kit.
 
#15 ·
Oh def. no apologizing for high jacking. That is the whole intent of this thread. Ask questions, bounce ideas. let the pros chime in and tell us whats good and what is not.
 
#20 ·
Don't attempt to run air tools with a CO2 tank. I use it daily in my job and I'm very familiar with it. CO2 is stored in a liquid state and is cold when it leaves the tank. It can and most certainly will dry out your tools and that means no oil 'em....you'll ruin them.
 
#23 ·
Well I have spent most of the day trying to convince my wife to let me plunk down the money for the VIAIR 10007. 4wd.com has it on sale until tonight for $350 shipped, which is pretty darn good. I don't think she is going to budge, BAH!
 
#27 ·
That is the trouble with wives, they just don't have our priorities. I try to never tell my wife how much this stuff costs
 
#28 ·
Well I took advantage of the group buy going on over at NAXJA and picked up the VIAIR constant duty for $345 shipped! It arrived via FedEx today and hopefully I can start the install on Saturday.

 
#31 ·
Yeah, keep us posted on this install with some pics, etc. I'm in the process of setting up the heavy duty system. I'd like to have the compressor under the hood, but figured it would be a tight fit & exposed to too many elements. This thread is making me take a second look.
 
#32 ·
Will do. I don't know how techie it will be honestly. Right now I just plan on getting it installed in the cargo area. I don't plan on doing anything to fancy for it at the moment. My long term goal is to build a VERY nice cargo area box and build it all into the box, nice and hidden like. Right now though, I don't have the time, or the funds and I haven't really drawn anything up yet. So for now I am just going to get the oba installed so I can use it on some upcoming runs. Maybe towards the end of the summer I will start work on a box and do a nicely detailed tech article then.
 
#33 ·
Are you planning to put the compressor back there too? I'm kind of in the same boat. I started fabbing things up on the drivers' side & may continue with that. The prblem I have is when I bought the XJ it had a bunch of parts with it for the OBA, which is great, but trying to figure out what goes where, etc. has me scratching my head at times.

I'll try to get pictures of mine as well, maybe we can bounce ideas off each other.
 
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