I was sitting around having a cool one and was looking at my new bumper and had a odd thought. The ranch hand has this 4in pipe that is 3/8in thick if not thicker. Could i turn this in to a air tank? I know the steal will hold the presure even if i had a wreck. This will be my air thank for the Horn and bags. I will also put an air chuck on there so i can fill my tires and even run a impact gun. Am I nuts or is the just pure redneck engineering.

 

I've seen guys do it to the rear bumpers. Genuis, sheer genuis...

 

check all the welds. when i had mine somehow water got in there and rusted on the inside of the pipe and it would drip out and run down the inside of the bumper, and hit the wind... getting all over the bumper and the truck. i took a 1/2 drill bit to each end (on the inside) to let water out. if its not water tight is not going to be air tight. just something to think about

 

DO it just like a tire fill it with air and spray soapy water on both end caps. If you dont see any leaks leave it for a while and check your pressure. Thats a good idea you already bought the bumper why fork out the extra for a tank.

 

Yep.


Lots of guys have done it, like mentioned above, check the welds and for leaks. They never intended for it to be an air tank, so always better to check it out anyway.

If the bumper doesnt pan out, there is room for a 5-10 gallon air tank under the bed, either inside or outside the framerail, see where you have more room.

 

I assume you are talking about the rear bumper. Is it a 4" OD or 4-1/2" OD pipe? They probably made it out of schedule 40 pipe. Is it a continuous pipe or is there a portion taken out of the middle for the hitch? Regardless of that. At best with a 4" schedule 40 pipe (4-1/2" OD x 0.237" wall) you might have around 4 gallons of air capacity. With a 3-1/2" schedule 40 pipe (4" OD x 0.226" wall) you might have 3 gallons of air capacity. The capacity depends on the length of the pipe and if any part is taken out for the hitch in the middle.

I had a rear bumper on another truck made from 5x7 rect tubing. It could hold around 8 gallons of air and always put 130 - 140 psi in it. I could fill a tire from flat up to 40 psi, or run an impact for a very short time.

 

I am going to do this with the front bumper. I have to find a tap biggenuff for the job and so for i have had no luck, I just wanted to test to see if the bumper was air tight or if it had so many leaks that it would not be worth my time to patch them all.

 

it absolutely will not work. it looks welded solid but its not. after drilling and tapping a1/2 npt hole in the front bumper and trying to fill it it leaks under the plate that is welded to the tube.
it sucked cuz i was usin it for air horns and then had to mt 2 dryer tanks offa a semi under it instead.

trust me on this it wont hold air. my shop compressor wouldnt even begin to keep up with the leaks