Help me repair my ARB Compressor

[velo47]

On my Continental Divide trip, my ARB compressor gave up the ghost. Well, I hope not completely.
Before I get under the van and remove it and start randomly unscrewing parts, I thought I'd ask the brain trust here if anyone has any experience repairing these?

It's an ARB single CKMA12. The motor still runs and sounds fine. The problem is it just isn't pumping any air anymore. It slowly got worse every time I used it on this trip until the last day when it just won't put out any air.

Anyone have any advice?
Thanks.
Matt

 

[K12]

On my Continental Divide trip, my ARB compressor gave up the ghost. Well, I hope not completely.
Before I get under the van and remove it and start randomly unscrewing parts, I thought I'd ask the brain trust here if anyone has any experience repairing these?

It's an ARB single CKMA12. The motor still runs and sounds fine. The problem is it just isn't pumping any air anymore. It slowly got worse every time I used it on this trip until the last day when it just won't put out any air.

Anyone have any advise?
Thanks.
Matt

may have to get under there and clean the filters. I havent gotten any degraded performance out of mine, but its in the bed of the truck. Having it under the van could mean a lot of dust build up and would make sense (to me) why air flow degraded over time.

K12

 

[Road]

On my Continental Divide trip, my ARB compressor gave up the ghost. Well, I hope not completely.
Before I get under the van and remove it and start randomly unscrewing parts, I thought I'd ask the brain trust here if anyone has any experience repairing these?

It's an ARB single CKMA12. The motor still runs and sounds fine. The problem is it just isn't pumping any air anymore. It slowly got worse every time I used it on this trip until the last day when it just won't put out any air.

Anyone have any advise?
Thanks.
Matt

.
Well, 1st thing I'd do (and just did) is to search "arb ckma12 not working," which resulted in this list of results:

arb ckma12 not working - Google Search

... which includes one guy simply replacing the pressure switch, and another, @Lifestyle Overland (an early contributor here) on how he rebuilt his twin. Much of what you'll find on the 12 OR 24 applies to the other as well.

There are also scads of sites with downloadable manuals and installation guides that may be of some help in troubleshooting your particular problem.

I've had my 12 for over 4 yrs with no problems, though it's mounted in my nose box, not exposed to road dirt or weather.

Good luck, let us know what you find.

 

[velo47]

may have to get under there and clean the filters. I havent gotten any degraded performance out of mine, but its in the bed of the truck. Having it under the van could mean a lot of dust build up and would make sense (to me) why air flow degraded over time.

K12

Thanks, I forgot to mention that I cleaned out the filters when the compressor first started acting up. Sorry.

 

[velo47]

.
Well, 1st thing I'd do (and just did) is to search "arb ckma12 not working," which resulted in this list of results:

arb ckma12 not working - Google Search

... which includes one guy simply replacing the pressure switch, and another, @Lifestyle Overland (an early contributor here) on how he rebuilt his twin. Much of what you'll find on the 12 OR 24 applies to the other as well.

There are also scads of sites with downloadable manuals and installation guides that may be of some help in troubleshooting your particular problem.

I've had my 12 for over 4 yrs with no problems, though it's mounted in my nose box, not exposed to road dirt or weather.

Good luck, let us know what you find.

Thanks, I'll take a look.
I've already got an underhood mount and an ARB double which I will put in the van. I don't think where Sportsmobile put the compressor under the van was the best choice. It gets really dirty under there.
When I pull the single, I'm hoping to fix it and then put it in my truck, which doesn't need as much compressor power as the van.

 

[velo47]

I should have included this in the original post, but I forgot. The compressor would start up and seemingly run fine, except for no, or very little air output. Then, at some point it would start pumping air. It seemed to happen randomly, but took longer and longer to start pumping air as the trip went along. Finally, the motor would just run, but it never started pumping. So, it doesn't seem like a blocked intake or blocked output line to me. But I'm obviously no expert!

 

[Road]

Thanks, I'll take a look.
I've already got an underhood mount and an ARB double which I will put in the van. I don't think where Sportsmobile put the compressor under the van was the best choice. It gets really dirty under there.
When I pull the single, I'm hoping to fix it and then put it in my truck, which doesn't need as much compressor power as the van.

.
If it's a sportsmobile installation, there are no doubt other sportsmobile owners with ARB 12s or 24s with similar problems. Check the sportsmobile forums, too, I would.
.

 

[velo47]

That's worth a try too. I figured there'd be more people here, so more compressors...

 

[velo47]

I will pull the compressor and disassemble when I get back from Phoenix in a couple weeks. I will update then.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Valve?

There, I said it.

 

[velo47]

Say more.
Please

 

[velo47]

The only valve I see on the schematic is the overpressure valve, which opens at 180 PSI. I don't think this is open because I couldn't hear any obvious leaking of air. The valves at the 2 hose quick-connects appear to be working as expected. If you're thinking of something else, please elaborate!
Thanks!

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Intake valve, pump pressure valve, or a gasket. If the motor is running these are the first 3 things to look at

 

[velo47]

Thanks!

 

[M Rose]

When you say the compressor motor is working, how do you know the piston is actually making compression? I would pull the head off and inspect the cylinder wall and the piston.

 

[velo47]

Thanks Mike. I just meant that the electric motor runs, I don't think it's making much if any compression. I'll check those items when I pull the compressor.

 

[ZRex]

I'm not familiar with the ARB compressor, but if it's anything like a compressor I got a few years ago for free you may want to check the rod to crank connection. The compressor I got used a hefty shoulder bolt as the crank pin and it had backed out so the motor would run but the piston never moved.

 

[velo47]

Thanks! That sounds like it could be a possibility. I’ll check it too.