Hard wire or portable air compressor?

[KleetusVanDamme]

Wifey went on a little jaunt with some of her Jeep girl friends and came back all spun up about a compressor one lady had under her passenger seat (a Kracken air compressor is what the wife called it) after they had aired their tires back up.

But, oh the last outing that I was on with her, another Jeeper has a little hand portable, rechargeable battery powered air pump that did just fine.

Is one pump better or more reliable than the other?

Opinions / recommendations?

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[AcesandEights]

Viair portable is bomb.

Portable is more convenient with same performance.

 

[Bobby Hank]

Viair portable is bomb.

Portable is more convenient with same performance.

I can affirm this, took longer to let the air our (measured) than to refill.

 

[Opus]

For me it would depend on usage. If you air down and up a lot, then an onboard hard-wired system makes sense. Otherwise, for the occasional wheeler, the portable would be the way to go.

 

[OrneryBear]

Wifey went on a little jaunt with some of her Jeep girl friends and came back all spun up about a compressor one lady had under her passenger seat (a Kracken air compressor is what the wife called it) after they had aired their tires back up.

But, oh the last outing that I was on with her, another Jeeper has a little hand portable, rechargeable battery powered air pump that did just fine.

Is one pump better or more reliable than the other?

Opinions / recommendations?

The Kraken system is made by Epic Adventure Outfitters. It is a fancy addon that you mount your ARB twin compressor to under the passenger seat and it gives you inflation ports at both doors to connect your hoses to, to fill all 4 tires at the same time.

It is about $300, so add that to the arb twin, and you are looking at a little over $900 all in. Pretty spendy.

https://epic-4wd.com/en-us/products/epic-kraken-tire-inflation-system-for-jeep-jl-jt

I love the idea of built in on board air, but I also like the idea of a portable I can grab and throw in my truck when I need it.

 

[JesseT]

Wifey went on a little jaunt with some of her Jeep girl friends and came back all spun up about a compressor one lady had under her passenger seat (a Kracken air compressor is what the wife called it) after they had aired their tires back up.

But, oh the last outing that I was on with her, another Jeeper has a little hand portable, rechargeable battery powered air pump that did just fine.

Is one pump better or more reliable than the other?

Opinions / recommendations?

The Kraken is just a tube routing system designed for use with an ARB twin compressor. The compressor mounts underseat and has hose connections on either side of the vehicle.

Pros:
-Stores out of the way under the seat instead of having to use up trunk space for your compressor
-You don't have to get under your hood each time you want to use it
-The ARB dual compressor is a beast with a 100% duty cycle so you can air up yourself and a bunch of friends without having to cool down in between

Cons:
-Beaucoup bucks
-The friend you're airing up needs to be parked close to your vehicle
-Extra fittings=extra places to get a leak
-You lose the under seat storage space if there's anything else you want to put down there (radio, extinguisher, whatever)

 

[OrneryBear]

The Kraken is just a tube routing system designed for use with an ARB twin compressor. The compressor mounts underseat and has hose connections on either side of the vehicle.

Pros:
-Stores out of the way under the seat instead of having to use up trunk space for your compressor
-You don't have to get under your hood each time you want to use it
-The ARB dual compressor is a beast with a 100% duty cycle so you can air up yourself and a bunch of friends without having to cool down in between

Cons:
-Beaucoup bucks
-The friend you're airing up needs to be parked close to your vehicle
-Extra fittings=extra places to get a leak
-You lose the under seat storage space if there's anything else you want to put down there (radio, extinguisher, whatever)

Another Con would be interior noise.

Cold or raining out and you and/or spouse want to hide in the jeep while it airs up? Enjoy the compressor noise!

 

[Punknhed]

have mine under my seat, and a hose long enough to wrap all the way around the jeep. have used it to help others, is it noisy inside, yea but for the few minutes its running not a big deal. besides, when i air up i do mine one at a time so im outside the jeep anyway. as others have said ARB twin for the win.

 

[Terrymo]

ARB Twin with the ARB under seat mount on the passenger side. I added a T fitting and a short length of braided hose to the drivers side. Used a piece of flat aluminum stock to make a cheap mount on the drivers side.

Passenger side with switch

Drivers side

 

[kah.mun.rah]

I had a portable Viair, and then a portable ARB and now have an on-board ARB (under the seat). The portable was nice if my son wanted to borrow it. The disadvantage was the space it takes up in the back, trying to keep it from melting things in the back when driving home from the trail, worrying about it getting stolen if off-roading with the top off, and having to pop the hood to connect it to the battery. My onboard is concealed out of the elements and I just have to press an AUX button to turn it on and connect my air hose to the front bumper for air. The older I get the more I lean toward convenience. One word of advice is that you get what you pay for. If you have large tires and air down to 15 psi, a cheap one is going to overheat before you get to the 4th tire and take a lot of time to fill them up.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...e-my-air-compressor-more-than-a-winch.114681/

 

[AZ Hella]

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/portable-air-compressors.43538/
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/onboard-air-mounts.81417/
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/mounting-arb-air-compressor.10776/

 

[Rubi6mt]

I go offroad around 6-10 times a year so decided on a portable setup.

Went with Morflates twin compressor and their quad hose setup.

Works great for me when I air down and up my tires. really fast too

 

[JesseT]

I go offroad around 6-10 times a year so decided on a portable setup.

Went with Morflates twin compressor and their quad hose setup.

Works great for me when I air down and up my tires. really fast too

How long have you had the Morrflate compressor? How has it held up?

 

[Rubi6mt]

How long have you had the Morrflate compressor? How has it held up?

Only 6 months so not enough data but so far so good

 

[dstevens]

I have an onboard ARB twin. Comparing with other Jeepers I can air up 4 tires before they can do two. More if you count the time it takes them to drag out the portable compressor, open the hood, connect to the battery and fire it up. Whereas I hit the aux switch and connect the hose to the bumper. The downside is that I average 10 tires each time we air up - people park next to me because they know I will finish first.

The Morrflate portable on paper looks good, with high cfm and a low price, but I have never seen one in action.

ARB single 2.34 cfm @ 29 psi & 100% duty
ARB twin 4.68 cfm @ 29 psi & 100% duty
viair 1.68 cfm @ 30 psi & 50% duty
moreflate single ~ 3 cfm at 30 psi & 50% duty
moreflate twin 6.5 cfm at 30 psi & 50% duty

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