All credit for this goes to gregc. I even tried to talk him out of it, but after seeing what it was capable of, I was a believer.
Some history:
Gregc's been running an endless air setup since we built his car. It's awesome and delivers heaps of air.... the problem was getting it into the tyres. Greg used to run a 100psi airlocker pressure switch and no tank, and it was clear from listening to the cycling of the compressor with no tank to "soften" the delivery that nowhere near 6 cfm was making it into the tyres. Our guess was that not much more than 2 cfm was flowing past the valve.
Whilst this might not be a problem with a 215 or if we didn't vary pressure much, but it was annoying airing up 35 13.5's from 4psi to 20psi and listening to a compressor cycle.
Obviously too, it would be nice to air down even faster than the ARB deflator we've all been using allowed.
Greg's just "updated" his system by up-rating to 150psi and adding a 9L tank, so the bottleneck at the valve was going to be even more noticeable.
Greg investigated a bunch of commercially available high-flow valve cores, and discussed using air fittings etc on the rims, and then he came upon these little beauties:
They're a fluid transfer "dry break" coupling, available from enzed/pirtek
Critically, both the male and female couplers have spring loaded seals. That means the male can be fitted to the wheel, without the need for a bulky/complex female coupling.
So, he ordered one up and we did some testing on a scrap wheel/tyre, and it looked the goods, so we've both fitted them.
Here's one installed on my Walker
(We chose the dust cover in the most obnoxious colour on purpose)
And here's the inflator/deflator tool I've made.
It's the female coupler into a Tee, with a 30psi Floyd gauge on one leg, a ball valve on the other, and my choice of air coupling on the other.
The speed of this setup is just STUNNING.
Deflate a 35 13.5 from 20psi to 5 psi: 15 seconds.
Inflate back to 20 psi using my ARB compressor and 20l tank @ 150 psi: 30 seconds
No fiddling with stauns, pulling valve cores - just pull the dust cap, plug in and you're away.
We're both carrying conventional air chucks and flush plugs in the event we have trouble with a fitting or break one off, but they're neither heavy or bulky so it's hardly a chore. Obviously if you ran steel wheels you could use some pipe to protect the fitting tractor style. Greg's running his on steel wheels right up near the well so they are well protected.
I know this isn't for everyone, but if you're running big tyres and low pressures it might be something worth investigating. Re read those inflation/inflation times - they are hard to argue with.
Steve.
you guys are always thinking outside the square.
) on the farm, for tractor and machinery hydraulics.
