[VAC] Re: air lift compressor

["Weimers" <mweimer@xxxxxxxx>]

I've got one of those in my station wagon I use to tow with. Up until a few
months ago I had a dead air conditioner compressor on the engine. I
converted it to an air compressor. It was an old Chrysler pump with two
pistons about 1 and a half in diameter. It worked well. It pumped up tires.
It also had a habit of pumping some of the oil that was lubricant in the
pump. When I changed the engine, the compresor stayed on the old engine. (I
had two of them freeze up on other engines, so I decided to leave it off
before this one froze up too). Like you, I used a pressure relief valve on
it to control the pressure. It blew off at about 80 pounds.
    The air compressor for the air shocks seems to be too wimpy to pump much
volume of air. I never considered it for pumping up tires since it seems to
take inordinately long to pump up the air shocks. I would guess that a
higher volume pump would be necessary for air bags (or lifts) since they
probably hold a lot more air than a shock absorber does.

I purchased a 12 volt air pump for my other car, that is supposed to fill up
tires. It is an AC Delco Nu-tech ...made in the USA. It's rated at 250
pounds and is "fan cooled for 8 hours of continuous operation".  I used it
to pump up the air shocks in my other car. While attempting to fill them to
150 pounds, the pump heated up and the rubber hose deteriorated to the point
that it blew up (exploded). It was due to inferior materials, I didn't think
it got that hot. It takes about 10 minute to fill a tire. It would take
forever to fill a water tank on my trailer.  I. personally, think it's a
piece of garbage.   Does anyone have a suggestion for a brand of 12 volt air
pump that is good and reliable?

MARC WEIMER
Punxsutawney, PA  -  Home of the Groundhog
#15767
1963 Globe Trotter
1971 Globe Trotter
http://users.penn.com/~mweimer