harbor freight on board air compressor

Looking at the specs of this Harbor Freight compressor, its pretty weak. But for $60.... you get what you pay for. Probably wouldn't be worth having if your tires are over 31". If it takes too long to fill the tires, the duty cycle will be exceeded and the thermal overload switch (assuming this one has one) will probably trip. So then are you going to wait about an hour (or longer?) for it to cool down before you can resume filling your tires?

I also would be skeptical about it being able to re-seat a bead, but it also depends on tire size vs wheel width and even how soft the tire is. I could not re-seat the bead on a 35" TrXus MT onto a 15x8 wheel with my Viair 400C compressor with a 2.5 gallon tank. And... I even used a strap around it. As I tightened the strap, eventually the tire just folded on itself instead of pushing the beads out any more toward the rim. I had to result to the starter fluid which did the trick! ;)
 
waxer said:
Easiest and most dangerous. I would not give that advice to anyone, especially advice that can get someone hurt or killed.
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What's so dangerous about it? It's not like a little starting fluid is going to blow a tire to pieces...I've done this on hundreds of tractor, bobcat, trailer, and even my own jeep's tires and have yet to have a problem. It's the easiest and quickest way I've found to seat a bead. If you don't feel comfortable doing it then don't do it.
 
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EricsXJ said:
Looking at the specs of this Harbor Freight compressor, its pretty weak. But for $60.... you get what you pay for. Probably wouldn't be worth having if your tires are over 31". If it takes too long to fill the tires, the duty cycle will be exceeded and the thermal overload switch (assuming this one has one) will probably trip. So then are you going to wait about an hour (or longer?) for it to cool down before you can resume filling your tires?

I also would be skeptical about it being able to re-seat a bead, but it also depends on tire size vs wheel width and even how soft the tire is. I could not re-seat the bead on a 35" TrXus MT onto a 15x8 wheel with my Viair 400C compressor with a 2.5 gallon tank. And... I even used a strap around it. As I tightened the strap, eventually the tire just folded on itself instead of pushing the beads out any more toward the rim. I had to result to the starter fluid which did the trick! ;)
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You're right, Eric. The H.F. doesn't quite match up to the 400P--it's the 300P that it most closely matches. At 40 p.s.i. the H.F. is 1.35 c.f.m. and the 300P is at 1.48. At 70 p.s.i. the H.F. is at 1.14 and the 300P is at 1.13. At 90 p.s.i. the H.F. is at 1.05 and the 300P is at .92. Considering that the 300P costs ~$165 and the H.F. is $60, that's still an amazing deal.
 
MogifiedXJ said:
What's so dangerous about it? It's not like a little starting fluid is going to blow a tire to pieces...I've done this on hundreds of tractor, bobcat, trailer, and even my own jeep's tires and have yet to have a problem. It's the easiest and quickest way I've found to seat a bead. If you don't feel comfortable doing it then don't do it.
Click to expand...


I had a friend killed doing this on his tractor--trailer. Something about a ring on the bead of the tire flew off and hit him in the head.I would think just as long as you arent standing in front of it when you touch it off you should be ok, but I for one will not do it.
 
y'all folks need to seat some tires in your shop there? use one of these babies:

yhst-16680116002318_1906_762296026


might also be good to get that fireplace goin in a jiffy!
 
MogifiedXJ said:
What's so dangerous about it? It's not like a little starting fluid is going to blow a tire to pieces....
Click to expand...

Littlewhitexj said:
I had a friend killed doing this on his tractor--trailer. Something about a ring on the bead of the tire flew off and hit him in the head
Click to expand...

Need I say more?

It'd be real nice if you're wheeling with your kids and you pop a bead, oh no problem son watch this trick I know how to do. You thinking its 100% safe go ahead with it and bam, your son gets hurt or worse yet, gets killed like Littlewhitexj's friend.

No thanks...
 
I just have a ARB compresser with no tank, just the tiny one mounted on top of it. I have seatted the bead on my 33inch bfg's with 10 inch wheels probably 5 times by hand, it can be done. The only tools I used were the compressor and my hands.
 
waxer said:
Need I say more?

It'd be real nice if you're wheeling with your kids and you pop a bead, oh no problem son watch this trick I know how to do. You thinking its 100% safe go ahead with it and bam, your son gets hurt or worse yet, gets killed like Littlewhitexj's friend.

No thanks...
Click to expand...

Yeah and a winch cable could break, or your rig could fall off your high jack, you could roll your jeep down a hill, a tie rod could break going to the trails etc...etc...etc...all of these could result in injury. My point is we all do things that could kill us, but we don't have to be an idiot about it. I know I'm not the only one on this board that seats a tire with a little bit of starting fluid.

yhst-16680116002318_1906_762296026


I gaurantee you this thing would create more pressure in the tire than starting fluid will, and who the hell is going to carry that thing on the trail anyway??? Get pissed off. I've done enough tires and the amount of starting fluid I use is barely enough to seat the bead let alone blow the tire apart.
 
True, a lot of things "could" kill us. But the difference is there are procedures in doing something in a safe manner to minimize the risk.

Using a winch, safely put a blanket in the middle and do not stand in the path of destruction. Hi-lifting your rig, do not sit underneath it!!

Describe to me the safe way to inflate a tire with Ether.


You stated in your original post.
MogifiedXJ said:
The easiest way to reset your bead is to carry a can of starting fluid or something else aresol that is flamable...just squirt it in your tire and lite it...just don't use to much.
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Now say some kid that doesn't know squat sees that post, buys a can and after popping a bead he remembers your advice. He doesn't know what "Just squirt it in your tire and lite it....just don't use to much" means exactly and he sprays WAY TOO MUCH, and ends up killing himself. Now is that responsible advice to give?

I'm sure with your experience you know just how much to spray to be "safe" in your mind. That still isn't something you can describe on here to keep all safe. That was my point.
 
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meatplow5150 said:
This is the one I put in my rig... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180015400486&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=170006965120&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget
...has a higher CFM than most of the other 12v compressors, definately more than any that are similarly priced AND it has a 100% duty cycle. It'll air up my 33x12.5's from 10-27psi in about six minutes and will run air tools for short periods. I got mine from the Buzzard Gulch website, but it appears to be down and now I can only find them on Ebay.
Click to expand...

That seems like a decent unit for the money.
 
Well,the verdict is in....I went to h.f today and picked one up.I think it's well worth the money,i.m.o filled up my mountain bike tires in 10 seconds.Now I need to find a place to hard mount it in my jeep...any ideas?The only thing I can complain about so far is that the inline gauge is off by about 3-5 psi,no big deal.

I'll be getting a 5 gal tank soon to see if I can reseat beads and run air tools with it(limited use of course)

About the starting fluid bead seat.I watched two hillbillies seat a bead with GASOLINE on the trail last weekend!!!Scary as hell and I moved my jeep way back before they did it....the one guy actually lit it with his bic lighter while standing over top of the tire!!!Woof,and the bead was back on the rim.I thought he was going to get fragged!!
 
I picked up one of these: http://gearinstalls.com/pepboys.htm for my G/F's kid and was so impressed with it that I got one for me, too. It fits behind the seat of my Toyota p/u (std cab) and now days, I find myself leaving my bigger compressor at home. It's pretty fast for as little as I paid for it....$40 (when Zuk did his writeup they were cheaper) 4WPW was selling that same compressor for $80 for awhile.--------Hans
 
The first time we tried to "blow" a tire onto the bead with flame we used gas. (We didn't know any better). We poured it around the bead and lit it. The first time nothing happened, so we did it again. This time, 5 of us stood around the tire kicking it. One of the guys had an extinguisher to be safe. The tire made this funny noise, and the flame sucked into the tire, then popped the tire out onto the bead. When it did, the extra gas on the top of the bead flew into the air flaming. Everyone jumped back and got a good laugh about it... then we noticed that the guy with the extinguisher was on fire. The gas splattered on his shirt. We patted it out but that was pretty ironic.... and good for a few more laughs.

I like the H/F compressor. My friend has one now. Good case, good hose, and it's pretty quiet.
 
I've had the H.F. unit for several months now. For a while I was using it 2x a week to fill the slow leak in 265/75/16. It would fill from @15 psi to 40 psi in 2 1/2 minutes. The pressure guage reads accurately if you turn the pump off for a moment, not while it's running. I did have to tighten all the screws. I'm happy with it, but haven't had to fill any large tires yet.
 
Oatmeal said:
I picked up one of these: http://gearinstalls.com/pepboys.htm for my G/F's kid and was so impressed with it that I got one for me, too. It fits behind the seat of my Toyota p/u (std cab) and now days, I find myself leaving my bigger compressor at home. It's pretty fast for as little as I paid for it....$40 (when Zuk did his writeup they were cheaper) 4WPW was selling that same compressor for $80 for awhile.--------Hans
Click to expand...

I have one of those too - got it at my local Pep Boys (though I paid $70, I still think it's well worth it). I can air up my 30s from 20-35 in a little shy of a minute each. Great little unit - now I can air up without feeding quarters to the pump at the gas station (never wanted to use my older cigarette-lighter powered compressor for air-up). The gauge isn't real accurate, but if you use it as a relative measurement, you can at least get to a consistent pressure on multiple tires.

I've been thinking about doing up the tank system I read about at http://www.4x4wire.com/tech/portable_oba/, but haven't decided for sure yet.

Rob
 
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