Running a CO2 in tires?

Wow, I know next to nothing about off-roading. But I do know that a lot of guys that are seriously into rock crawling run CO2 set ups. So if they think its okay for there 40-something inch jeep tires, I would say it's okay. I am surprised to see so many people on here say not to.... Also, you can liquify nitrogen as well. Not sure I would shoot that into my tire though....

 

...sure would make seating the bead interesting AF. I'll stick to using the neutered starting fluid we have now.

 

You can. Realistically on a Tacoma there won’t be any I’ll effects you’d see on a bicycle using the air shots to fill. Same with nitrogen - no issues but on a Tacoma there’s really no benefit to it.

so. Can you with no problems? Yea. Should you? I can’t tell you that. I sure as shit wouldn’t do it over an on board air setup but you aren’t me and I don’t make decisions for your truck.

 

In case anyone is curious I work on aerospace sealing applications (carbon seals. And Brush seals but those are a different game entirely, anyway....). Yes helium is getting more hard to come by and more expensive. Yes it’s a pain in the arse. But mostly.... yes it finds leaks. We do a procedure to test for leaks by pulling a vacuum on the seal and spraying it with helium, and then using a mass spec to test how much helium gets through (to boil it down to one sentence).

Similar to my above comment - for the practical applications you sure won’t see me using anything other than compressed air. For the scientific reasons I wouldn’t use helium. Co2 and nitrogen sure, no downsides to either for a normal average joe use Tacoma (same as no upside to nitrogen for an average joe use Tacoma)

 

This thread is a great example of "Be careful of the advice you receive on the internet"

CO2 has been used for a very long time, It's not ideal, but the benefits outweigh any potential downsides.

source: I've used my CO2 setup for years, and powertank has made a business out of it. you can see the top of the tank on the signature picture below.

WOW!

 

Meanwhile real rockcrawlers fill their tires half-way with water

 

I have a power tank setup and LOVE it. Fast as hell, can run air tools, dead quiet and reliable. Can’t recommend it enough. The cons being storing the tank and paying to get it refilled occasional.

 

You can see it just peeking out in the front passenger corner of the bed. Easy access to all 4 tires there with a 30’ hose.

 

I’m always thinking about running water in my front tires on my Samurai for waterfall crawls. Wheelbase is so damn short!

 

Dang I almost thought it was Friday with all the backseat engineering in here.

 

If anyone actually cares about educating themselves on the matter, which like, half this thread should, Powertank has some great resources on their site.

https://powertank.com/apps/help-center

https://powertank.com/pages/nitrogen-truths-and-myths


Here’s even a handy chart of tank size, tire size and PSI jump so you can get an idea of how many fill ups you’ll get out of a tank.

https://powertank.com/pages/tire-air-up-chart

 

I used to use CO2, but it kept freezing up and it was bad for the electronics so I switched to compressed air.

Granted, that's when I played paintball in high school.

 

Power tank claims there tanks will not freeze on you

 

A buddy of mine's got a pretty small one he throws in the back of his Tundra to fill his 35's. Debating getting one myself but I really don't know when I'll be in that much of a hurry to fill my tires. I kind of like the idea of not having to get an air compressor refilled occasionally.

 

Isn’t the CO2 in liquid state in the tank? So I think it’s considerably more dense than air at the same pressure.

 

Can’t do this with an air compressor (or normal valve stems). 1 psi increase per second on a 35” tire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Betb131PEOA

 

Full sized trucks and 33+ tires it takes for freaking ever. I usually just pump up to as close 30psi as I can tolerate. HD trucks I get it to 40psi and have them drive to a gas station.

 

Is it really that bad? Thought it was ~10 minutes or so to do all 4.

 

Depends, I have a strong unit that takes about 5 minutes for 10-15psi on a HD truck tire. Thats from 25 to 40psi. Thats a lot of waiting and hard work for a compressor.

My truck is about 2.5 mins for a 15 psi top up per tire.