I use this model for my truck. Had big tires that take a lot of air. I also tow a dual axle trailer so the 100% duty cycle is a huge plus. Some of the cheap models with a low duty cycle won't even inflate one tire 15psi without shutting it off periodically. Not necessary if you are only worried about smaller tires or only one tire.

Many many years ago I had a fairly expensive hand pump for blowing up bike tires, wheel barrows, basketballs etc. One day, with no other option, I used it to inflate a car tire. It took for-ev-er and it killed the pump. It never worked for crap after that, it must have overheated and melted it's innards.

Viair or the Harbor Freight pump ($60) with battery clips, not cigarette lighter adapter.

I've been known to throw a scuba tank in the trunk for inflating tires. Nothing like 3000-4000 PSI to inflate a tire. Helps that I have a few laying around.

Giant control tower and a Giant control tank from your bike shop.

Pump control tank to 160 psi for quick inflation.

I use this combination to seat the bead on a tubeless bicycle tire that I run at 120 psi.

This will run you about $100.00 total for both units.

Not sure if this would even be a worthwhile option. For motorcycles and bicycles they make kits that use a CO2 bottle for inflation. I had a kit when I had a motorcycle and rode but luckily never had to use it. Now how many of those little bottles it would take I have no idea. It is an option but I'm not sure how well it work for an auto tire. Unless there is a larger bottle made.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
I've been known to throw a scuba tank in the trunk for inflating tires. Nothing like 3000-4000 PSI to inflate a tire. Helps that I have a few laying around.

Add a nice PCP air rifle and you've got dual use out of that tank.

My co-driver does quite a bit of off roading. He has a small nitrogen tank he carries. Claims it'll pop a big ass tire back on the bead if you know what your doing.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
I've been known to throw a scuba tank in the trunk for inflating tires. Nothing like 3000-4000 PSI to inflate a tire. Helps that I have a few laying around.

Add a nice PCP air rifle and you've got dual use out of that tank.

My co-driver does quite a bit of off roading. He has a small nitrogen tank he carries. Claims it'll pop a big ass tire back on the bead if you know what your doing.

Here's an idea. The link below is to a different forum ant this guy used a Paintball air tank for his emergency air. Not a bad thought.

Paintball Tank Discussion

Might have to get one of these just for the coolness of it. Fills a 35" tire in 5 minutes they say.

Armor Air M240

Hopefully by now you have realized that option A, a bicycle pump, is RIDICULOUS. There are decent 12V pumps. Sit in the car with the air/heat on while it pumps up instead of sweating your ass off outside for 30 minutes. You would only use such a pump one time, then you would come home, throw it away, and buy a 12V pump.

Your 100% duty cycle is impressive. I'm trying to figure out which Viair model I need to go from 100% flat to 30 psi for an 18 inch LT tire in about 5 minutes. I'm figuring that I pull the nail or screw, plug it with the plug kit, connect the pump to the battery terminals, and take about 5 minutes or so to fill the tire completely to 30 psi. Done, I'm back on the road. That's the scenario I have in mind. I will need to call them to ask them which one could do that. So 5 minutes of pump time is my ballpark decision point for which model to get. I figure 5 minutes of pump time is enough at the side of a busy highway or a questionable part of town. Any more than 5 mins I might get a bigger model.

I called Viair. They said I could pump up my SUV tire from flat to full in 5 mins with the 88P or better, so that's the one I ordered from amazon. We'll see how it goes.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
If it were me, I'd work on having a better jack and tools to change to a spare them go to a tire shop for the repair and air. And remember to check the spare tire pressure when you check the other four. Having a flat and discovering the spare is flat or really low is discouraging too.

That's what I was thinking...just put on a spare tire and continue down the road.

I have a couple of scuba tanks that are waiting for conversion to utility air tanks but I have a spare tire so...they're still waiting.

The other night my Ram 1500 had low pressure in the rear tire.

I used my standard Lezyne bike pump added 10 PSI quickly and with no problem.

Just doing a quick search Lezyne makes some high volume pumps as well.

I would have no qualms recommending this one for high volume.

http://www.lezyne.com/product-...ive.php#.WctH3FtSypo

quote:

Originally posted by cruiser68:
I use this model for my truck. Had big tires that take a lot of air. I also tow a dual axle trailer so the 100% duty cycle is a huge plus. Some of the cheap models with a low duty cycle won't even inflate one tire 15psi without shutting it off periodically. Not necessary if you are only worried about smaller tires or only one tire.

What model?

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:

What model?

The post immediately prior to his, but on the previous page is about the Viair 450P.

I debated between the 450P and 400P. The 400P has a 33% duty cycle which, according to the manual, is 20 minutes on then 40 minutes off. The 400P puts out more CFM, 35% more at 70psi, so it is faster in that 20 minutes. I use it to top off the 4 110psi tires on my trailer, two 65psi tires fronts on the truck and take the rears from 65psi to 80psi when towing or carrying a load. This equates to under 10 minutes of run time. It will fill any one of my tires in about 10,minutes and will air up 4 35x12 tires from 15psi to 30psi in under 15 minutes. It does it all 30% to 40% faster. That being said, if I get three pluggable flats in less than an hour, the 450P would have been the better choice.

I have the tools to change tires, but when I had a travel trailer the process was fairly involved and time consuming. Plugging a tire and filling would be easier and much faster. Once at the campground I could take the plugged tire in for a proper patch at my leisure. Even with our 5th wheel the process involes unhitching. The 5th wheel has hydraulic jacks though, so getting the tire off the ground is easy. Even so, plugging and filling would be faster.

Just as a point of reference, using my bike floor pump it takes 8 strokes /lb to top off an SUV tire.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
I called Viair. They said I could pump up my SUV tire from flat to full in 5 mins with the 88P or better, so that's the one I ordered from amazon. We'll see how it goes.

Well I got the Viair 88P and used it to top off the air on all four of my F150. Works great, the quality appears off the charts for the price. I don't know if these guys are made in China, but whoever is making them, seems to be doing a good job. It took me a about a minute per tire to add four pounds of air to each tire. I don't know how long I can run it before turning it off though, I'll need to call them again.

I've been doing the off road thing for the last 40 years (yes, I got my first jeep in the late summer of 1977). The best compressors I've seen are the Thomas brand as sold by Currie Ent. They're expensive but work. You see them all the time in convenience stores, the ones you must deposit a quarter or two. They're as fast as a low power compressor can be. They used to come in .20, .25 and .33 horsepower models. I bought the large one and it still took several minutes on each tire. More on the last than the first. A lot depends on ambient temp, how low the tires are, and how high you want to go. Its also important to note I've had it for 20 years or so, and for the last 5 to 7 its been in a pile of junk in the corner of the garage.

There's a brand of CO2 tanks called Powr Tank. Its a high price for a spun aluminum tank with pretty paint. But its the same tank as used on most home beer taps. We needed ours filled before going to Moab last spring. Drove up to the refill place and the guy filled it as we waited. Kind of expensive at maybe $20. It was raining outside. I paid and walked outside, put it down to open the rear of the jeep. As I was doing that it was freezing itself to the pavement. So I yelled to my wife and she came out. She couldn't break it loose either.

So with her pulling to the sided I gave it my best soccer kick and the ice ring gave away. Just interesting. Unlike compressors that build pretty much heat, often to the point where they sieze up, the CO2 will freeze itself to the ground.

The OP mentioned physics of it. Depending on the tire size, the heat can get excessive. The labor of filling just one jeep tire to highway pressure requires a lot of effort.

Oh, and the CO2 tank could be a pretty good fire extinguisher forever long you can hold it. Pretty soon you won't be able to drop it because it can freeze to your hands.

I found my 2nd tank at a flea market. Along with a steel tank that I gave to my son. Its too heavy to bother taking anywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by Xer0:
If you demand a manual pump, look up "Foot operated air pump" on amazon. Lot's of them there. It will still take forever to pump, but your leg takes a lot longer to wear out than your arms when pumping..

Land Rover used to sell one, on even ground it was ok but slightly uneven or dirt.....no chance.

I use a Vair built for RV and 35" tires.....it works

quote:

I don't know how long I can run it before turning it off though, I'll need to call them again.

The manual says 25 minutes at 30psi at 72 degrees. The FAQs on the website says duty cycle is how long in can be run per hour, so 25 minutes running then 35 minutes of rest.