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Airing up tires after off roading?

McGilli

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I don t intend to take on anything more than a moderate trail
I'm only coming up to 2 months off-roading so take my opinion as you will...

I haven't aired down once since I'm not rock crawling. Still at 37psi.

It doesn't mean I'm not hitting some really intense, rocky uphills at 20% and 3 miles long etc... The kind if I had no seat belt I'd have brain damage and fly out the passenger window... But instead of just airing down from the start when I bought the jeep - I decided to see what I can do as it is.

There are definitely a few instances lower pressure would have helped - but still didn't need it.

I would say some of the climbs I've done are more than moderate... Terrain just plays a huge part...

Regardless I did buy a Viair 300 and some auto deflators - which I do not take with me and haven't used yet... I'm sure I will one day. My rides are bumpy and jittery as hell!

Good luck!
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Hawknz8

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CO2 or ARB compressor? I have asked myself this a hundred times. I currently use a CO2 tank that I lease and fill from the local welding supply store. I have a 15 lbs tank and I have filled my tires from 18 psi to 40 psi 12-15 times, the tank is still about 1/3 full. I have heard a lot of people get their tanks filled at the local paintball shops, but they want way too much for that, the welding supply shop is charging about $1/pound, so $15 for me to refil the tank. I may buy a tank in the future but wanted to play with this approach before I sank the money into my own tank. The biggest draw back that I see of the CO2 is the size of the tank and keeping it in the Jeep. It is quick and easy to fill tires, I didn’t have to wire anything into the jeep and it is very quiet. Downside, if I don’t have enough for the trip I would have to use my pump and it is not an ARB and is really slow. A nice side benifit is that I have brought the tank inside the house now and then to let the wife use it to dust items with the spray nosel.

Lowering tire pressur is so neccessary, the rubicon LT tires will beat you to death if you don’t lower the pressure, and once you do it feels like a cadalac out on the trail.
 

txj2go

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CO2 or ARB compressor? I have asked myself this a hundred times. I currently use a CO2 tank that I lease and fill from the local welding supply store. I have a 15 lbs tank and I have filled my tires from 18 psi to 40 psi 12-15 times...

so $15 for me to refil the tank.
At $1 per fill this sounds like a good deal to me. Plus the tank is likely a lot less cost than a good pump, and probably would last longer. I'm suspicious of even how long a good pump might last considering the bad luck I've had with the cheap ones. The Smittybilt is $150- or more, the ARB units are at least double that. I seem to remember Viair closer in price to Smitty but I had not heard of them before so I picked Smitty.
How big is your 15 pound tank? A good compressor is not small. The Smittybilt may not look big in the photos but in its bag it is about 12"x12"x16" (I haven't actually measured it.) I wonder if the CO2 might be a little faster too. On my small tires the compressor takes about 2 minutes per tire. How long does the CO2 take?
 

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Hawknz8

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At $1 per fill this sounds like a good deal to me. Plus the tank is likely a lot less cost than a good pump, and probably would last longer. I'm suspicious of even how long a good pump might last considering the bad luck I've had with the cheap ones. The Smittybilt is $150- or more, the ARB units are at least double that. I seem to remember Viair closer in price to Smitty but I had not heard of them before so I picked Smitty.
How big is your 15 pound tank? A good compressor is not small. The Smittybilt may not look big in the photos but in its bag it is about 12"x12"x16" (I haven't actually measured it.) I wonder if the CO2 might be a little faster too. On my small tires the compressor takes about 2 minutes per tire. How long does the CO2 take?
My tank is 9x9x28 it has to sit upright so I have it attached to the back of the rear seats. I think I paid $60 for a little regulator on Amazon and 15 for a airhose kit.
 

_olllllllo_

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Wish I knew about these compact portable units sooner. I've already chipped my front teeth on the tire valves.
I do like that you went with the gold grillz to cover that mistake up.
 

jeepdriver99

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I'm only coming up to 2 months off-roading so take my opinion as you will...

I haven't aired down once since I'm not rock crawling. Still at 37psi.

It doesn't mean I'm not hitting some really intense, rocky uphills at 20% and 3 miles long etc... The kind if I had no seat belt I'd have brain damage and fly out the passenger window... But instead of just airing down from the start when I bought the jeep - I decided to see what I can do as it is.

There are definitely a few instances lower pressure would have helped - but still didn't need it.

I would say some of the climbs I've done are more than moderate... Terrain just plays a huge part...

Regardless I did buy a Viair 300 and some auto deflators - which I do not take with me and haven't used yet... I'm sure I will one day. My rides are bumpy and jittery as hell!

Good luck!
I went off roading in the Rockies last year and the gravel trails were spine hurting until I went down to 16 PSI. made the trip much more comfortable. I have a Smittybuilt comressor and it aired my tires and my friends tires up to 32 in less than 10 minutes for each vehicle.
 

McGilli

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I went off roading in the Rockies last year and the gravel trails were spine hurting until I went down to 16 PSI. made the trip much more comfortable. I have a Smittybuilt comressor and it aired my tires and my friends tires up to 32 in less than 10 minutes for each vehicle.
Funny enough - because of this thread I went down and actually aired down and then aired back up (in my parking space) with my compressor just to try try it - and it's so much faster than I thought it would be...

The comfort aspect is very appealing :) While I've done well without it... I might just try it this weekend...
 

gnome

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I went with a 12 volt dc portable compressor....... it clips to the battery like jumper cables, so there is no install involved, and it only goes in the jeep when I plan on a trip...... It will air up a dead flat in less than a minute..... the brand name is Puma..... I think it came from aircompressorsdirect.com https://www.aircompressorsdirect.com/Puma-PD1012A-Air-Compressor/p82520.html

it seem expensive, but if you save yourself the price of the two POS crappy compressors you buy before getting a good one, it is cheap in the long run....

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Headbarcode

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ARB twin for this guy. Found out about and got the 4 tire Speedflate system after already having ARBs inflator, deflator, and 2x 20ft air lines. So now I've got backups.
Jeep Wrangler JL Airing up tires after off roading? 20201117_112108
Jeep Wrangler JL Airing up tires after off roading? 20201117_112048
 

Jaym

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I plan on installing an ARB onboard air in my jeep now--but for those saying the portable ones often lack reliability and durability, I'll have you know I bought a Master Flow MF-1050 in September of 2015 for $59 and that bad boy still works. It sits in a crate in the back of my jeep for over 5 years now and never failed me. It will be my backup compressor going forward.
 

Col_Sanders

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There are definitely a few instances lower pressure would have helped - but still didn't need it.
Airing down drastically enhances the ride. Even when I'm just doing easy trails, I air down.

CO2 is WAY faster than using an air compressor. You can build your own setup from Poly Performance for way less than a Powertank. That may be a better route anyway since some places do not fill those tanks, they only swap them out with a full one. I went the compressor route because there are times that I will run trails 2-3 days in a row (with a lot of highway miles in between) and did not want to worry about finding time or a place to get my bottle filled.

My current compressor is a Viar 400P. It does very well on my 33s and 35s, but I hope to buy one of the dual ARBs and a fixed mount when I go up to 37s. More for convenience than anything...Should be faster and I wont have to remember to pack it.
 

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I use the Milwaukee m12 inflator. It works for 33" tires and 2 batteries. Portable and easy to use. Set the required psi, and push start.
 

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Jeep Wrangler JL Airing up tires after off roading? BCE0FDED-7CA7-4D48-BCE2-B31CEBA11FCF
@Speedflate and CO2 tank is the easiest, most versatile and fastest setup I’ve had. 2 minutes 20 seconds to fill 35s from 12 to 32 psi. I love this setup! I find I air down more often because it’s so fast to air up.

I also carry a shittybilt portable as a backup.
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