Feeler: ARB/ViAir mount under passenger seat (3rd/2nd Gen)

Very cool idea but I think I would stick to the under the hood mounting. I feel like most wouldn't want to raise the seat much.

 

First, can you get by with only raising the rear of the seat 1"? I only ask because @olecoot seat risers have made my seats comfortable. I don't know if putting the geometry back to stock raising the front would set it back to uncomfortable.

Second, I really dig the idea as underhood real estate is at a premium for me as well, but the exhaust heats up this spot from under the truck and a dual compressor in the summer with little to zero air flow filling 37s may get nasty. If you can get by with only raising the rear 1" then I would be a GO for driver side.

 

This is a neat idea. The reasons it's not for me are: Those things get super hot, seat is already too high for people over 5'10", passenger now has to get out of the cab if they don't want their teeth rattled, and now you have to keep a door open when it's pouring rain. More points lost when you combine all of those points: tall, overheated princess passenger won't be happy when they have to exit the cab in the rain.

 

I'll try to address most the concerns but admittedly this is not for everyone. This mount is geared towards the folks that are airing down on a regular basis or who want/have ARB lockers. And those that are tired of digging out a canvas bag and popping there hood to connect a compressor to there battery.


Heat from compressor
We are still running tests on our setup to confirm the max temp that each compressor will reach when airing up several 37" tires in row. Testing will be done with and without a heat shield over the compressor.

Heat from exhaust
We will check the heat from the exhaust, especially on a hot day with 4low engaged for long stretches (We live in Southern Utah and Las Vegas so it will be getting hot soon).

Noise/vibration
The compressor will only be on when it is being used to air up tires or to engage lockers. Once the lockers are engaged, it wont cycle on unless there is a leak. Many many JK/JL owners are running similar solutions to include my brother in law. I've sat shotgun when he airs up tires and engages his lockers, its not quite but its really not bad and it vibrates a lot less than any Harley I've ever ridden.

Passenger only
Due to the seat frame design on the driver side, the twin compressor will not fit.

Seat Height
Seat comfort is very subjective, to say the factory seats are too high for people over 5'-10" is your personal opinion. I'm 6'-1" and cant stand that factory seat height and I've sold Seat Jackers to people that range in height from 5' to 6'-4". So as The Dude says....


Other Compressors
We are testing ViAir, a Twin ARB and a Single ARB. I might pick up a Smittybuilt to test as well but I suspect there is plenty of room but you might have rotate the compressor rates and drill your own mounting holes in the plate.


These are for offroad use, if you are worried about your passenger getting wet when the door is open then you might want to leave them behind.

With that being said, I'll take all the input or comments you have.

Thanks,
Steve

 

Just out of curiosity, have you tried mounting this with the section of carpet removed? I know between the carpet and the padding under it, there is a fair amount of space to be made up. Looks like thats how Cabe does the tundra under seat compressors.

With the carpet removed, you could use a thinner spacer, like .5 inch instead of 1.25 inch.

 

The twin compressor will not fit without lifting the front of the seat. Because of the offset bolt spacing required on the front seat jackers, 1-1/4" is the shortest block we can provide. In reality its closer to 1-3/16" lift.

You could lift the rear by more 1-1/2" if you were looking to get the rake back.

Because of the offset bolt spacing required on the front seat jackers, 1-1/4" is the shortest block we can provide. In reality its closer to 1-3/16" lift.

The carpet works as a heat shield for the transmission/transfercase/exhaust. Plus I think it would be hard to convince folks to cut out large swaths of carpet. We try to design all of our products so they can be reversed when it comes time to sell.

 

Have you seen the posts people make about bumpers? They are chopping bumpers up, cutting bed sides down, hacking and welding up the frame to clear tires. If they are the type of person to drop $400+ on a air compressor, they are not worried about the carpet.

I actually think its a harder sell with the spacers than it would be to have to cut the carpet out.

I think in general, passenger side seat spacers are a bad idea. Passengers change, drivers are usually the same person. If you have a short person in the seat one day, then your 6.5 foot friend rides with you the next, they may hit their head and not be comfortable.

I would say the the top places to mount these compressors are as follows:
Front behind grill
Engine bay passenger side by firewall
Rear driver cubby in bed
Behind rear seats

Behind the rear seats I would say being the best location, its out of the way, its protected from the elements. Its warm in winter and cooler in summer time.


(BTW, no I dont have a compressor because Im crippled right now, but will have one soon)

But these are just my opinions, everyone has a opinion. I Offer mine up incase its something that you use, then I will have a person to buy something that I really want.

 

Perhaps above all you may want to address why this has advantages over the hood-mounted compressor brackets to outweigh all of the critiques you're getting. Maybe there's something we're not seeing as far as advantages go that will outweigh the things you're needing to address. The marketing so far has been (and I mean no offense I'm just trying to help you): "Look I made a thing that does something different. There's disadvantages but you should still buy it because it's different." The marketing would go much further if we could differentiate your project from something that borders on DIWhy using a list of benefits you provide. Attack your competition -- tell us why having things under the hood is shitty and outdated.

What is your proposed all-inclusive price point? It seems like you will need to purchase seat jackers first, which from what I've read are not cheap. From there you then have to purchase the bracket which I hope is significantly cheaper than something like Slee. If combined cost isn't cheaper or comparable to the hood mounts, and you haven't provided much information on why we would choose under-seat over under-hood, then that should be at the top of your things to think about before furthering R & D. But.. ya know.. that's just like.. my opinion, man.

 

@kmorgan3 all fair points. A failure on my part no doubt. I got lost in how hyped I've been about this solution and I assumed others would be as well.

Price: We are trying to keep the total solution under $200 but until we get a final prototype we wont know. This solution will include all hardware, air lines, and fittings as pictured above.

Advantage over under hood or bed mount:

1. It takes an unused space and makes it usable.
2. Because this will be mounted inside, you wont have to worry about the engine bay heat or outside elements corroding fittings/wiring.
3. This will open up the engine bay for dual batteries, snorkel, and bluesea fuse boxes.
4. In the case of the bed mount solutions, you can use that bed cubby for storing other items.
5. I havent seen any rear seat mounts yet but i'll do some digging.
6. There will be a molle pattern on the side for storing pressure gaugues, tire deflators, small flashlight, etc
7. You would be able to mount our MMP to the front for additional mounting space for fire extinguishers, knives, 2way radios, etc

@5nahalf Good point on the cutting carpet and the audience that would be interested in this mod. Something to consider for sure.

I think a lot of people would be surprised on how much more comfortable the Seat Jackers make the seats but like I said, seating comfort is subjective.


Thank you all for the feedback, we're just two guys trying to come up with useful products for the Tacoma community, they cant all be winners but thats not going to stop us from trying to create something new.

 

I would love to see you make something for us to put a compressor in the cab, keep brainstorming. Im going to be in the market for a solution in about 5 months.

Something thats a little more extreme, but Ive seen people cut holes in the floor pan to put a box that just pushes the floor down 1-2 inches. Using bolts and seals it can be done without leaks.

 

Putting something that gets hotter than hell into an already confined space creates it's own concerns, but if it proves feasible, I'd cut carpet at the drop of a hat to reduce or eliminate the spacers.

 

I think having something that gets that hot into a hot engine bay right next to a exhaust manifold is probably worse. Ideal mounting locations would be in front of the radiator behind the grill, or in the bed cubby (with the door off). If you want it hidden, its going to be part covered. I would use the dead space under the seat 100% over some of the other options.

 

I hear you, but the dead space doesn't exist without the spacers I really don't want. Catch 22...

 

Yeah, Im hoping they can come up with something without the spacers too. Im all over it without the spacers.

 

I'm actually not opposed to cutting the carpet, as long as the solution looks clean.

 

The JKs and JLs run them under the seat because there isn’t any other reasonable place to put it. Some put it above the rear wheel well. It won’t fit in the engine bay so it’s gotta go somewhere in the cab..

The Tacoma has a significant amount of room in the engine bay that support the compressors and unlike Jeeps there are also bed compartments. The rear bed cubby is one of the most popular places that’s easily accessible. The engine mount is also very easy to access, most of us run the air chuck to the front bumper.

Under the seat is clever but for me it’s a last resort considering how many better places there are to put it.

 

This will be great for those that need to put it there because they have all that other stuff hogging up the engine bay. Mine is in the upper left engine bay. I doubt it would be a top seller but it prob sell.. My first concern was heat from the unit itself and it just overheating all the time. Sounds like you are testing that. So if it passes that I could see it being a useful product.. I myself like the additional seat hight.

 

OP I live in Vegas too. I see dust being a problem for bed mounted options although thats the solution I keep looking at. I know the air filter is user cleanable and imagine that it will need to be cleaned often out in the bed. I am not worried about heat control and sound control from removing carpet because you can use something like Lizard Skin Ceramic thermal paint and sound deadening paint to combat that. I am intrigued by your idea because another problem I see is heat in the engine bay, if I have a second battery in there exposing it to more heat will just slowly kill the cells down the road.

I would also like an option behind the back seat but am usually wheeling around with my kids so under the seat seems like a viable option to me.


-M

 

What is your concern with the heat, are you worried about the compressor overheating, the seat being to hot to sit on, or a part of the seat getting melted?

Some of those are more valid than others and there are ways around each of them. But yeah just understanding what the biggest heat concern is would be helpful.

We are discussing solutions that won't require raising the seat but I can promise that regardless of whether you cut the carpet or not, a Twin ARB will not fit without spacers.

We'll take a look behind the rear seat to see whats possible. Dust is a concern for sure. With it being mounted inside the truck, you wouldn't have to worry about the air compressor filters.


The good thing is we are still at the prototyping stage so we can go a different direction. We are going to look into at least 2 different versions...

• Single Compressor (Single ARB, ViAir, Smittybilt) without lifting the seat. Still unclear if this will or wont require cutting the carpet. The good thing about this solution is the cost would be more than half of what the solution with Seat Jackers would be.
• Twin ARB to include the Seat Jackers and not cutting the carpet.

 

Zero concerns with the seat getting too hot to sit on. By the time that happened there would likely be greater concerns. lol
My only concern, and it may be unfounded, would be the compressor overheating in the confined space. IE the proposed heat shield pushing the heat right back at the compressor it's trying to leave.