Best air down methods?

Ive seen the Boulder Tools kit before. Seems like the best bang for the buck. Obviously theyre not going to be as quick as an ARB or anything else that pulls the core, but might be easier to do all 4 at once.

How long you had them?

 

A few years now. Definitely best bang for your buck, imo. They are a little finicky to setup, but once you get them set up, there's nothing to worry about.

It sounds like there are some newer ones out there (mentioned above) that are quicker, but of course more expensive, too. With those newer ones, when to consider that you're doing all 4 tires at once, they may even be faster than the ARB style, even when you remove the core because you're only doing one at a time..

 

@Shellshock has a good write up on a kit.

that’s what I use

 

That’s also what I use lol

and @tonered and @Tigerian and @St.Germain and @Steelhead Taco

 

@Shellshock 's setup friggin' rocks and has more uses than just dropping air. A friend is building one now after seeing it in action.

 

I used it to steal air from my other trucks tires to fill up a flat when I didn’t have my compressor with me

 

200IQ

 

A local company makes an donor hose for motorcycles:
https://bestrestproducts.com/shop/tire-repair-accy/donor-hose/

They're good folks, but their prices are on the #expedition side. That is about half of what I got into building your kit.

The emergency siphon instructions at the end are precious.

 

I’ll just leave this here....

https://myoffroadradio.com/shop/morrflate-off-road-4-tire-inflation-deflation-kit/

all 4 tires at the same time, equalized...

can also be used to harvest air from other tires... i.e. not needed 5th spare airing back up at the end of the day

 

Thats cool in theory, but way too much kit to carry just for airing down. Classic ARB deflator weights what, 1 lb at most? Also, myself and a lot of others I know run a bit higher pressures in the front to account for more weight up there.

 

I use these.

$18 Lisle 19860 Tire Deflator

https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-19860-...keywords=tire+deflators&qid=1574376051&sr=8-6

 

I completely understand; The price point is also high...

With that said, the air-chucks are unlike anything I've seen before...they're always 'closed' until they're a valve, what does that mean? You can air up (or down) 1 to 4 tires at a time...so running higher pressure in the fronts, you'd simply pull off the back 2 chucks and the air source can still do its job.

 

I can think of a lot of things that it would make more sense to spend $180 on. Currently, it only takes me like a minute or 2 per tire to inflate from 18-35 psi with my 400p. IMO, the cost/benefit just isn't there for a system like this (for me).

The kit does say you can have different front/rear pressures. But overall I agree, this is quite a bit of extra "stuff" to carry around with you all the time.

I can already deflate all my tires at once (stans type), and the time it saves by inflating all 4 at once is likely counteracted by the time it takes to set up and break down this system.

 

Do you guys have Colby Valves?

 

All air chucks I’ve seen are always closed.

 

Yeah, but the Colby's you can install from the outside.

I saw this youtube guy a while ago that found this ancient tool from ~WWII. A big brass conical tube that would push (via air pressure) a conventional valve stem into a rim from the outside. A pretty cool tool for sure, but with the advent of things like the Colby valves, kinda useless now.

 

I carry a pack of those Colby valves just in case. Never had to use one tho

 

Yeah, me either. Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

For some things that are large or heavy and/or expensive, you kinda have to do the mental calculus as to whether it makes sense to carry it. But these things are kind of a no-brainer, IMO.

 

So how do you get the valve in? from the inside, or do you have a magic trick?

 

i've used the colby valves before, they are handy. Hadn't seen that little tool before, that's sweet. I think i'll pick one of those up.