jumper

When I drop the trailer at camp I also drop the truck's tire pressures from 80 to 50 or so and let air out of the air bags to improve the ride, particularly off-road as we're touring around.

What's a decent 12v compressor that has both the pressure capability and duty cycle to air up four 33" load range E tires (285-70/17) from say 50 to 80 psi when we get ready to leave?

Most of the 12V compressor discussions center around the jeep crowd that doesn't have the challenge both of large volume tires and 80 PSI. We have a much higher "bar" for a compressor to reach than do the jeepers...

saggonwaggon91

If you are at camp, why not get a small pancake compressor on 110v and either run off the shore power, genset, or power inverter..

BarryG

I used a compressor from extreme outback, their extremeaire unit, which is a 100% duty cycle unit. I bought it about 12 or 13 years ago and it is still working fine and am going to be putting it on my new truck here shortly. I used a 2.5 gallon tank. A larger tank would be better but as you know the size of the tires they take a lot of air particularly if airing up to 80 psi so in reality a larger tank is not really going to make much difference. The 12 volt comps are not going to air up fast like a good home/shop type compressor.

The 110v pancake type compressors are probably going to be better but don't expect a 1 minute job to air up all the tires from 50 to 80 on them either. The pistons in either are going to be small and can only produce so much air. I opted for 12volt so that I could do it anytime anywhere for my tires, trailer tires, air horn, my fishing toon or whatever else might come up though the pancake type are certainly less expensive you just give up the ability to do it when and where you want and you cant really mount them under the truck some where out of the way.

There are others out there that are 100% duty cycle like Viar and surely others.

There is also another option and that is the engine driven compressors like Kilby Enterprises sells though they are expensive at least for me. There is also Oasis which is a pretty powerful 12v but it is also expensive and takes a fair amount of juice to run like upwards of 100-150 amps at pressure. For me I was willing to spend a bit more time holding the air chuck than I was willing to part with an extra $1k +

In the end it depends on what your needs are and how much you are willing to spend.

https://www.extremeoutback.com/produ...mpressors.html

https://www.cuoffroad.com/product-li...-airboss-kits/

Item # XD4000-12, XD4000 Continuous-Duty Air Compressors On Oasis Manufacturing

Busboy

In the shop I have a 220volt 20 gallon compressor that turns off at 110psi, it was always a pain airing up trailer tires to 80psi as the cut in point is 60 psi. A couple of years ago I bought 3 air nailers from Home Depot the air nailers are great but for that day only they each came with a Porter Cable pancake 2.6CFM at 90psi and 165 psi cut off. They are 20% quieter than the previous model and are amazing for inflating tires to 80psi, I keep one full time in the RV for emergencies and for general cleaning, I keep another in the shop for tires and no more dragging around air hose, I use a 5-6ft hose on the compressor and take the compressor to the tires. I used to have a 12volt Pac Brake compressor and while it was good, this set up is in a different league. I haven't used the shop air for tires since I got these Porter Cables.

jumper

Thanks guys. I'll take a look at the porter cable and pancakes in general, but I'm leaning toward a smaller package that doesn't require my firing up the generator when we're dry camping (which is most of the time), and one that would work if I didn't happen to have the trailer or generator along. The extreme outbacks look like very nice units. I've got an 80 gallon 240V compressor in the shop and a 10 or maybe 15 gallon oil-less in the garage, so I'm leaning away from another one needing AC power.

Mexstan

For many years now I have used the Viair 10009 E'treme duty onboard air system. This comes with two Viair 350C continuous duty compressors. The kit includes a 2 gallon tank. This system has been trouble free, but that small tank was not adequate for airing up my large 315 tires, so I added a Viair 5 gallon tank in series with the 2 gallon tank. Both tanks are under the truck. The 5 gallon tank is a squeeze to fit in but does work well.

With the 7 gallon reservoir I had no trouble filling the long travel air bags that I used to have on the back of the truck. I eliminated those and now have the Kelderman air bags front and back and can deflate all four and fill them up with no problem and no waiting for the tanks to fill.

For other air use I have standard air hose quick disconnect mounted between the rear seat and the door. It is very useful.

Here is a photo of the two compressors and the valves for the airbags. Everything is mounted on a floating board in the box in the bed of the truck.