Tire Inflation Advice Needed

[Trackerjack]

hello, folks. deflating and inflating seems to be one of the basic things you need to do when driving off road. I have a 2019 Ram 3500 that I just put 35" tires on and inflating them up just 25psi takes forever. about 15-20 minutes a tire. multiply that by 4 and that's too long for me.

right now I use the Viair 40047 400p-RV air compressor....a great set up....just not great for me. does anyone have any advice on what direction I should go? whether I should go with something like an ARB CKMTA12 twin on board air compressor or maybe try Co2? or if I'm using what I got wrong in any way, please let me know.

any help would be appreciate. thanks!

 

[K12]

hello, folks. deflating and inflating seems to be one of the basic things you need to do when driving off road. I have a 2019 Ram 3500 that I just put 35" tires on and inflating them up just 25psi takes forever. about 15-20 minutes a tire. multiply that by 4 and that's too long for me.

right now I use the Viair 40047 400p-RV air compressor....a great set up....just not great for me. doe anyone have any advice on what direction I should go. whether I should go with something like an ARB CKMTA12 twin on board air compressor or maybe try Co2? or if I'm using what I got wrong in any way, please let me know.

any help would be appreciate. thanks!

I have the ARB Twin mounted in my Ram 2500. Takes a little over 2 minutes to go from 50 to 75.

 

[Deleted member 82267]

hello, folks. deflating and inflating seems to be one of the basic things you need to do when driving off road. I have a 2019 Ram 3500 that I just put 35" tires on and inflating them up just 25psi takes forever. about 15-20 minutes a tire. multiply that by 4 and that's too long for me.

right now I use the Viair 40047 400p-RV air compressor....a great set up....just not great for me. doe anyone have any advice on what direction I should go. whether I should go with something like an ARB CKMTA12 twin on board air compressor or maybe try Co2? or if I'm using what I got wrong in any way, please let me know.

any help would be appreciate. thanks!

I switched to a high pressure bottle after moving up to a 35 inch tire. I have a 1500lb nitrogen bottle on a regulator, just as fast as my shop air compressor. Looks like a scuba diving tank. If you don't have a storage tank you could install a tank for your compressor so that you have some stored volume. I don't need air for lockers so the portable tank works for me.

 

[Mustang03]

I'm using a Viair 88p on my stock Ram 3500 tires. Takes some time, maybe 20 min to do all 4 from 40 psi back up to 65 or so. I'm rarely in such a hurry that this seems like "too long". I just use the time to enjoy the view.

 

[Trackerjack]

I have the ARB Twin mounted in my Ram 2500. Takes a little over 2 minutes to go from 50 to 75.

as I'm looking more into this, the ARB twin seems to be the direction I'm going to go. thanks for the input!

 

[Trackerjack]

I switched to a high pressure bottle after moving up to a 35 inch tire. I have a 1500lb nitrogen bottle on a regulator, just as fast as my shop air compressor. Looks like a scuba diving tank. If you don't have a storage tank you could install a tank for your compressor so that you have some stored volume. I don't need air for lockers so the portable tank works for me.

I never considered nitrogen. wether it's CO2 or this, what concerns me is the storage space the tank would eat up in the bed of my truck. are the nitrogen fill up speeds similar to CO2?

 

[Xdtitan]

hello, folks. deflating and inflating seems to be one of the basic things you need to do when driving off road. I have a 2019 Ram 3500 that I just put 35" tires on and inflating them up just 25psi takes forever. about 15-20 minutes a tire. multiply that by 4 and that's too long for me.

right now I use the Viair 40047 400p-RV air compressor....a great set up....just not great for me. does anyone have any advice on what direction I should go? whether I should go with something like an ARB CKMTA12 twin on board air compressor or maybe try Co2? or if I'm using what I got wrong in any way, please let me know.

any help would be appreciate. thanks!

I have a viair 88p that I've had and used for 15yrs it's been abused only thing wrong with it is it could use a new power cord due to very cold weather use. I have a ARB twin compressor first summer of use one of the motors shorted been trying to source a new motor for a yr now. Since it sat in my garage for a yr before I was able to install it so no warranty. If I was to do it again I would go with a dual viair 480p compressors and a frame mounted tank same price as the ARB but rated for a 100% duty cycle. I have not been happy with the ARB products I have. Seems to be cheap Chinese stuff sold at a premium.

 

[Trackerjack]

I'm using a Viair 88p on my stock Ram 3500 tires. Takes some time, maybe 20 min to do all 4 from 40 psi back up to 65 or so. I'm rarely in such a hurry that this seems like "too long". I just use the time to enjoy the view.

5 minutes to go up 25 psi?

that's far more powerful than my Viair. for me to do the same, that's roughly 15-17 minutes a tire.

also, your unit seems to limit itself to 33"s.

thanks for the advice!

 

[Trackerjack]

I have a viair 88p that I've had and used for 15yrs it's been abused only thing wrong with it is it could use a new power cord due to very cold weather use. I have a ARB twin compressor first summer of use one of the motors shorted been trying to source a new motor for a yr now. Since it sat in my garage for a yr before I was able to install it so no warranty. If I was to do it again I would go with a dual viair 480p compressors and a frame mounted tank same price as the ARB but rated for a 100% duty cycle. I have not been happy with the ARB products I have. Seems to be cheap Chinese stuff sold at a premium.

that's really disappointing to. hear. as I've been doing my research, while I hear mostly positive things from the ARB twin, every once in awhile I come across a story like yours.

often enough that it does concern me. I'll check out the Viair dual.

thanks for the warning.

 

[Smileyshaun]

I have a harbor freight compressor that doesn’t take that long to get up to 28psi from 10 on 35s . Maybe something wrong with the compressor? Are you leaving the truck running when airing up ? I know it’s a dramatic difference in how the compressor runs

 

[Trackerjack]

I have a harbor freight compressor that doesn’t take that long to get up to 28psi from 10 on 35s . Maybe something wrong with the compressor? Are you leaving the truck running when airing up ? I know it’s a dramatic difference in how the compressor runs

as my compressor is drawing power from the battery, I do leave the truck running.

as for all else reading this thread, I have to admit...as I was doing more research on this, I 've learned that part of my compressor's poor performance is due to my own stupidity. there's two different type of connection hoses that are meant to connect directly to your valve stem. I was using the long wand type that I've seen used in many YouTube videos. the other one , which is more of a hose, would've been the better one to use. it has a end that screws on to the valve stem ensuring a better delivery of air. I was probably losing air with the other one as I was trying to fill it up. it's also far more comfortable to use as well.

so doing it this way has got be roughly 12 psi in 2 minutes. so I'm guessing I could go from 10 psi to 50 psi somewhere between 6-7 minutes a tire.

in the next couple days I'll have the time to do a proper test and let you all know if that's the case.

sigh...I can't believe I was so stupid as to not try the other hose. either way, I'm still going to want to inflate at a faster rate. I may still go for those other options. I can just wait a little longer to do that now.

 

[TheDirtLife]

I’m running a viair 400p compressor with a speedflate 4x. Plug it in and it will air 35” tires from 30psi to 55 psi in about 10 minutes or so.

 

[Red_Leaf_Overland]

as my compressor is drawing power from the battery, I do leave the truck running.

as for all else reading this thread, I have to admit...as I was doing more research on this, I 've learned that part of my compressor's poor performance is due to my own stupidity. there's two different type of connection hoses that are meant to connect directly to your valve stem. I was using the long wand type that I've seen used in many YouTube videos. the other one , which is more of a hose, would've been the better one to use. it has a end that screws on to the valve stem ensuring a better delivery of air. I was probably losing air with the other one as I was trying to fill it up. it's also far more comfortable to use as well.

so doing it this way has got be roughly 12 psi in 2 minutes. so I'm guessing I could go from 10 psi to 50 psi somewhere between 6-7 minutes a tire.

in the next couple days I'll have the time to do a proper test and let you all know if that's the case.

sigh...I can't believe I was so stupid as to not try the other hose. either way, I'm still going to want to inflate at a faster rate. I may still go for those other options. I can just wait a little longer to do that now.

Lol reading through this I was wondering why it was taking so long. I ran a Smittybilt 5.6 cfm compressor for about 8 years and it filled up 35s on my TJ in about 5 min and 37s in about 8 min.
I made the switch to CO2 but since I moved out of the city I am having issues finding somewhere to fill it.
If you have room to add a tank it will definitely things along too.

 

[MidOH]

I never considered nitrogen. wether it's CO2 or this, what concerns me is the storage space the tank would eat up in the bed of my truck. are the nitrogen fill up speeds similar to CO2?

Nitrogen is faster. But way less capacity, since it's a gas and co2 compresses to a liquid.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Nitrogen is faster. But way less capacity, since it's a gas and co2 compresses to a liquid.

This might sound crass but I mean no offense...
Nitrogen is not at all worth the extra cost, and provides no more real world benefit unless you are driving in NASCAR or driving on the surface of the moon.

 

[Desert Runner]

This might sound crass but I mean no offense...
Nitrogen is not at all worth the extra cost, and provides no more real world benefit unless you are driving in NASCAR or driving on the surface of the moon.

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While I would agree on the moon buggy, The benefits NASCAR sees can be applied to those vehicles that travel at high Interstate speeds in the hotter climates due to less PSI loss due to larger molecules vs oxygen, and most important a more stable PSI (road temps) as your tires will stay closer to their cold initial pressure. When running trailers, this becomes a factor due to how many trailer tires seem to fail for a myriad of reasons.

I also agree that it would be bad practice to pay and waste the expense/benefits of nitrogen for tires you would be using off road and thus airing down and then back up. It also works as a benefit for those who do not check their tires pressure as they should regularly.

 

[KAIONE]

I have the ARB Twin mounted in my Ram 2500. Takes a little over 2 minutes to go from 50 to 75.

as I'm looking more into this, the ARB twin seems to be the direction I'm going to go. thanks for the input!

One caution about the tank vs the ARB twin, and only cause it just happened to us while on the trail, the ARB twin gets VERY hot when pushing this much air and the hose melted and popped because it was too close to the heat fins. Had to use two other viaairs to finish the job. Both jeeps, f250 and f150 35-39” on tanks had no issues. $.02 nothing more

 

[Red_Leaf_Overland]

One caution about the tank vs the ARB twin, and only cause it just happened to us while on the trail, the ARB twin gets VERY hot when pushing this much air and the hose melted and popped because it was too close to the heat fins. Had to use two other viaairs to finish the job. Both jeeps, f250 and f150 35-39” on tanks had no issues. $.02 nothing more

had the same thing happen with a hose on a Smittybilt compressor. it want cut down a few times and fixed on the trail because it blew holes in the line lol.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

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While I would agree on the moon buggy, The benefits NASCAR sees can be applied to those vehicles that travel at high Interstate speeds in the hotter climates due to less PSI loss due to larger molecules vs oxygen, and most important a more stable PSI (road temps) as your tires will stay closer to their cold initial pressure. When running trailers, this becomes a factor due to how many trailer tires seem to fail for a myriad of reasons.

I also agree that it would be bad practice to pay and waste the expense/benefits of nitrogen for tires you would be using off road and thus airing down and then back up. It also works as a benefit for those who do not check their tires pressure as they should regularly.

"Both air and nitrogen respond similarly to The Ideal Gas Law, which says temperature and pressure are directly related. For tires, this means every 10-degree change in ambient temperature will result in approximately 1 psi [of] change in tire inflation pressure. This change is the same for nitrogen-inflated tires and tires inflated with air."

- Keith Willcome
Consumer Tire Engineer
Bridgestone America

Barring track racing, there is no consumer operating temperature, speed, or tire life expectancy on earth where the variables would ever come into play. It does not get cold enough on this planet, and you do not reach NASCAR speeds and conditions long enough on any highway. Especially given the fact that with Nitrogen, you must fill and purge several times in order to rid the tire of all oxygen and water vapor. The expense is not worth the fact that you ultimately see no return on investment except at Moonbase Alpha or at Brickyard Road.

Just check your tire pressure weekly. Or daily if you want to be fastidious. Even the person who barely checks psi would see almost no benefit

 

[MidOH]

This might sound crass but I mean no offense...
Nitrogen is not at all worth the extra cost, and provides no more real world benefit unless you are driving in NASCAR or driving on the surface of the moon.

Agreed. But nitrogen (plain olde air) can get filled to 3500psi for $20 at any dive shop. And it doesn't ice up.

You're out of luck with Co2 most of the time. Paintball stores maybe. AGA is kinda setup for pro's, not walk in customers with expired tanks.

I wouldn't bother with either, get a good compressor permanently mounted under your truck.