Has your low tire pressure light come on and you wish you just had a source of air right there? Have you ever been off roading and wanted to quickly change the pressure of your tires?
With on-board air you can have that but is it worth the extra money? I find myself using on board air more times than you would think and I definitely think it is a great modification for any off road vehicle. But the cost is high and it may not be used very often, if at all, if you aren’t going off-road.
In this post I will talk about the pros and cons of on-board air, and a couple other options like a CO2 tank. We will also dive into some of the accessories that I have used and like and some drawbacks.
Table of Contents
Why Even Consider On-Board Air?
For the normal person that isn’t going off-road you probably have never even thought about lowering the PSI in your tires. If you have ever been off-roading you know that by lowering the pressure in your tires you are not only making the ride significantly more comfortable, you are also greatly increasing your traction. By having a tire that can conform to the uneven surfaces of the trail you will have a better contact patch, which increases traction.
The nice thing about having some sort of on-board air is when you are done with the trail and ready to get back on the highway you can top those tires off. If you have to drive low tires to the nearest gas station to fill them up, you can run the risk of rolling the tire off the bead. Worst case scenario is if you get to the gas station and the air fill station is out of order. This has happened to me off roading in Moab and it made for a very cautious drive to find another air fill station.
On-board Air Setups
As far as on-board air goes it could be as simple as having that cheap little tire filler that you got at Wally World for $25 in the trunk of your car or truck. Or just like everything else you can get crazy. They have compressors that can be installed in your vehicle permanently (or at least until you uninstall it), and can do a lot more than just fill tires up. These compressors go from small to bigger and ARB even makes one that is two compressors built into one.
Obviously the bigger the compressor the faster you can fill tires up. You can also add air tanks to the system for the ability to run air tools if needed. I personally have the ARB twin with a 1 gallon air tank placed under the hood of my 4Runner. It fills tires incredibly fast for a small compressor. (It will never be able to keep up with a shop system that has a huge reserve tank though).
Another thing that a lot of off-roaders use on-board air for is the use of air lockers in their axles. Axle lockers engage the differential in the axle so that the tires both spin at the same time and speed. If your truck came with a locker from the factory, chances are they are like my 4Runner and are electric. I know my old Jeep JK had front and rear E-lockers, while my 4Runner only has a rear locker.
Way back in the day Jeep did sell a Rubicon for a few years that did have air lockers from the factory. Air lockers seem to be the way a lot of people go if they are upgrading or adding lockers to the vehicles. I don’t have aftermarket lockers and probably never will. With air lockers you will use the on-board air compressor with a small manifold and solenoid to activate/lock the axle locker. If you have a designated rock crawler, or are off-roading every week then chances are you have probably been in some scenarios that call for the need of lockers. In that case you probably have on-board air already.
Alternative to On-board Air
One alternative to having a compressor in your vehicle is a power tank.
A power tank is a big tank basically a 10 lbs bottle of compressed CO2. I had one of these in the Jeep. It worked very well and filled up tires VERY fast. You have the ability to run air tools off of a Power Tank as well. They do advertise that you can activate air lockers with a Power Tank too, but I have never personally seen anyone doing that.
The down side to a CO2 setup such as the Power Tank is that you have to go have it filled up every so often. This costs money obviously. I think the last time I had my Power Tank filled it cost me about $30. The other down side is after so many years the tank needs recertification. You will definitely pay for this service as well. When you are talking about spending $450-550 dollars on a tank that you will need to pay to refill, and every so often pay to have re-certified it can add up pretty quickly.
The upside to a setup such as a Power Tank is that you do not have to depend on your vehicle to have air. It will work no matter what. Turn the valve on and hook up your hose and BOOM you have air.
Drawbacks of On-board Air
A big con of on-board air is the need for your vehicle to have power. If your battery dies or you have no way of powering it you are out of luck. This is where the Power Tank wins. I have heard stories where the air compressors just wear out over time. Let’s be honest, they don’t make them like they used to, am I right? On-board air (no matter which way you choose to go) will set you back a pretty penny.
- Viar– Sells a few different compressors that start around $200
- ARB single-$214. This is just for the compressor. Most likely you will run this one for air lockers and the occasional tire. You’d be out all day trying to refill all 4 tires on this.
- ARB twin-$559 for the compressor alone. This one can do it all. It will air up all 4 tires at once if you want it too.
- Power Tank-10 lbs bottle $681 (this comes with a mount, a cover, and an air up kit.
As you can see it is not a cheap option especially when you could go to the gas station and pump a few quarters in the fill station and top off.
Accessories for On-board Air
My favorite accessory for my on-board air set up is the Indeflate. They sell two different models of the Indeflate: a 2 tire, and a 4 tire. This is a system of air hoses that you run to the tires and can inflate or deflate 2 or 4 tires at once.
The other little fringe benefit to this system is you can use it to equalize the air in all tires. The indeflate has a very nice aluminum pressure gauge and slide release valve in the middle of the whole unit. To inflate just hook up all tires and hook your air source to the bottom of the gauge. With my ARB twin and a 1 gallon tank it will fill all 4 tires from 15 PSI to 36 PSI in about 7 minutes. (don’t quote me on that time, but it is fast).
Another favorite accessory for me is probably the simpilest one of all, I like the blow gun. This is literally just like the blow gun you used in shop class back in the day. I find it incredibly useful for blowing dust out of the cab, or blowing mud and dirt off my mountain bike.
An accessory that could be incredibly useful is a pressure gauge for your tank. I personally don’t have one. I make sure to empty my tank after every use, but if you are using it a lot I could see it being valuable.
Final Thoughts
On-board air is a great thing to have. I would say there are a lot of other things I would upgrade before adding this mod though. If you are off roading all the time, you will get your moneys worth. If you only need to fill or top off a tire every couple months, then this one is not going to be for you. Keep some quarters in the center console or get a cheap tire filler from Wally World instead.