How Much Air Do I Need?

[wuykats]

A simple on board system for airing up tires has a lot of options. We are looking for volume of air as opposed to high pressure. Because of this I use the 5.25 cfm Smittybilt. There are many iterations of nearly identical compressors to this, even Harbor Freight now has one. https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-125-psi-high-performance-inflator-59624.html These units can be purchased in the 150 dollar range. I used to have an LJ with a hardmount Viair compressor, an air tank and a pressure switch which cut off the compressor at 85 psi. The air tank was a small medical oxygen tank that I repurposed. The 5.25 cfm compressors will inflate a 12.5 X 17 inch tire from 16 psi to 28-30 psi in about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Several Jeepers in our group have the dual hose or even the quad hose systems, seems like that takes as much time to uncoil, hook up and stow away as a single hose system. I have a JK and a JT, just need one compressor that I move from one to the other depending on which one we are taking that day, so portability is good.

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[Steve@AccuAir]

Portability is a great point in this conversation as well. Those types of compressors definitely come in handy when multiple vehicles are involved you can't get yours close enough to assist or when it comes to swapping between vehicles.