Viair OBA **UPDATE**

[Dugie]

Well I finally got OBA for the JK, I woke up Christmas morning and there it sat underneath the Christmas tree ;D

It's a Viair Constant Duty system recommended for tires up to 37" all the info on the kit is at www.viaircorp.com/OffRoad/10007.html

I started to take the parts out of the box around 20:30 and finished up the install around 1:00 or so.

I didn't take many pics but here are a few I snapped with the BB.





















The hardest part of the whole install was finding a spot to mount the Compressor and the Tank. I ended up as you can see mounting the compressor under the hood and running the intake and filter through the firewall into the cab of the jeep as it will be less dusty and less wet in there unless I am wheelin with Ray and McSweeny.

The tank was a huge pain in the ass as I wanted to try and mount it so I could have my back seat in if need be. Underneath was not an option as it was too big, I thought about under the seat, on the back door, under the front bumper, you name it I tried it. It was then pointed out to me that in a couple of months the JK would no longer be my daily driver, it is going to just sit in the garage except for wheelin so it didn't really matter if it was in the way or not. It ended up in the trunk, the hoses are neatly tucked under the carpet and that is where it will stay.

I ran my lines, hooked up all my electrical and hit the switch and it ran like a top, I was sooo surprised how quiet the compressor was, I was expecting something much, much louder, it filled the tank to 150psi in a matter of minutes and held it there with no leaks!

Best Christmas Present ever!

[theonlybull]

right on. nice lookin' unit.. someone musta been a good boy lastyear

[itsakeeper]

nothin like having your own supply of air, congrats

[smith]

haha... I was wodering if anyone was installing/fabing on xmas. Nice attention to detail... that makes all the difference.

[The Garagemahal]

Wicked ! I will stay close to you , on all the runs , till I get mine made up

[stroh]

I was thinking the same thing. LOL

[Creepy]

switch panel looks nice and clean.

[Dugie]

Dec 26, 2009 14:18:04 GMT -4 Creepy said:

switch panel looks nice and clean.

Thanks Jan,
I did not have my holesaw kit and was to horney to get it installed to wait so I traced it out and cut it with an exacto knife, as I was cutting it all I kept thinking was....."Don't mess this up"

[Gramps]

Dec 26, 2009 1:43:21 GMT -4 Dugie said:

...

Neat stuff.
How is this plumbed? It looks like its through the back door of your jeep?

[4X4PLAY]

Ok, so what happened today??

[Dugie]

Well.........I aired down at the trail head and aired myself up at the end of the trail with no issues. ;D

While airing up the other bums with no OBA I found that there was a kink in one of my lines restricting the air flow to the tires which was creating a problem, I got that sorted out and then I blew a line off of the compressor because the heat created from the compressor weakened the line causing it to blow off.

Once home I relocated my quick connect from the tail gate to just above my license plate on the drivers side, this would eliminate the kink in the line from the gate opening and closing and was a much easier spot to access then on a swinging gate tucked in beside a 35" tire.

I also swapped out the current line off of the compressor and replaced it with a heavier duty good year line. I ran the compressor for over an hour just dumping air out of the tank and while you couldn't even hold your hand anywhere near the compressor the new line off of it was warm but still in great shape and showed no signs of weakness.

I think I gotter licked, well for now anyways.


Will update again after some further use.

[itsakeeper]

does the compressor require any maintenance ?

[Formally known as General Lee]

Nice unit Doug and great install. Looks good.

[Dugie]

Dec 28, 2009 7:25:44 GMT -4 itsakeeper said:

does the compressor require any maintenance ?

Nope, no maintenance required except to change the air filter.

It is water resistant and dust resistant and is a completely sealed unit, even though it's mounted under the hood it actually draws air in from inside the cab through an air filter.

[Dugie]

Well after running the OBA since Christmas I think I have finally worked all the bugs out of the system.

The hose I was using off the compressor was not strong enough to take the heat load from the compressed air, some of the fittings that came with the setup were not ideal for my application and the biggest thing for me was location. I could not stand having the tank where it was, it was in the way of EVERYTHING, stuff kept sliding and hitting the blow off valve causing it to blow off random (which scares the shit outta ya when your driving) and a few other things that were bugging me.

I got in touch with a former member of the club and decided to run a braided line from the compressor right back to the tank, all one piece with proper ends which will withstand the 150 psi I am putting to it and it would also withstand up to 300 degrees of heat.

I also decided to move the tank location to behind the seat. Since my Jeep will no longer be my daily driver and simply a trail rig I figured I would mount the tank on the box I use for holding my gear down which goes in place of my backseat. I did set it up so all the wires on on quick connects and the hoses are easily removed with out too much trouble if for some reason I needed my back seat in.

Things are working much better now, I have my little trunk back and a few extra inches of cargo room, I can drain the water out of my tank a whole lot easier, the tank is now somewhat hidden and it's a neater way of doing things.

Here is the new set up mounted on the back of my cargo box.


This is the new braided line I used from the compressor.


Here is the extra few inches of cargo room I gained from taking it out of the little trunk area.