Larger air tank for a Deuce

[dieselfuelonly]

My Deuce has a small pinhole leak in one of the air tanks and I'd like to replace them.

First of all, does anyone know off hand what the stock air tank capacity is?

Has anyone tried mounting a larger air tank, like this one, Firestone Air Tank, 20 Gallon - (6) 1/2 NPT Ports, (1) 1/4 NPT Port Firestone Accessories and Parts F9277, on their Deuce?

I'd like to be able to run an impact wrench for changing tires if I were to have a flat, and figure a larger tank would let me do that with less stopping and starting.

 

[maddawg308]

I was toying with the idea of fitting a larger air tank like a scuba tank or a oxygen tank from a welding kit in place for a larger air capacity. Down side is it would take forever to pressurize, and airing down at the end of the day would take a long time as well. Good news is that running a 3/4 impact would be okay for long periods of use.

 

[Kohburn]

I see no purpose in airing the tanks all the way down. only airing down enough to remove the settled condensate (ie drain the liquid) from the tanks.

 

[bigkaiser]

Hey,
How about a remote port where a guy could pressurize a large volume tank from say, his shop compressor on startup so it does not take absolutely forever to have brakes and/or control valves so you can isolate the large tank and only introduce its volume to the system when needed??? Hmmm.......might have to play with this idea a bit.......

 

[052]

Would you need to replace both tanks or just one to run your air tools off of?

 

[AceHigh]

How about a remote port where a guy could pressurize a large volume tank from say, his shop compressor on startup so it does not take absolutely forever to have brakes and/or control valves so you can isolate the large tank and only introduce its volume to the system when needed???

That is done at fire departments! Since you have a glad hand it is already plumbed up for a remote compressor.

Just have to remember to disconnect before taking off.

 

[bratpackdad]

I was toying with the idea of fitting a larger air tank like a scuba tank or a oxygen tank from a welding kit in place for a larger air capacity. Down side is it would take forever to pressurize, and airing down at the end of the day would take a long time as well. Good news is that running a 3/4 impact would be okay for long periods of use.

Scuba tank? I like that idea. How would that work??

 

[nofearnohope]

I'm definately interested and I thought I remembered a thread where someone upgraded the 2 tanks and added an additional 2 tanks to run the air horn off a freight train.

 

[jasonjc]

I was toying with the idea of fitting a larger air tank like a scuba tank or a oxygen tank from a welding kit in place for a larger air capacity. Down side is it would take forever to pressurize, and airing down at the end of the day would take a long time as well. Good news is that running a 3/4 impact would be okay for long periods of use.

That would be a big wast of time. A steel scuba tank is rated for 2216psi,the air on the deuce is only 120psi at most. You would have a big hevy tank that would not hold much air , plus only one port. Same for a welding tank.

 

[Kohburn]

what size are the stock tanks?

 

[FireFighterHill]

I know if I build a shop I plan to have shore power and air hooked up to the deuce when its parked to maintain the batteries and keep the air tanks full. The remote air will be run through a dryer before going into the truck. Fire departments do the same things with there trucks. No waiting for the truck to air up and no problem going out to find dead batteries.

 

[juddspaintballs]

That is done at fire departments! Since you have a glad hand it is already plumbed up for a remote compressor.

Just have to remember to disconnect before taking off.

Rarely done at fire departments. NFPA 1901 (I believe) Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus says that the compressor must be large enough to fill up the tanks from 0 psi to the point at which you can release the parking brake (between 20 and 40 psi) and drive in under 60 seconds. The only reason you'd keep an shore air line hooked up to a parked fire apparatus is if it's leaking and in need of service. I've only seen one piece of apparatus ever hooked up to a shore air line in my career, and it was a tiller truck that was leaking and going to the shop the next day. Even so, the compressor could overcome the leak and meet the NFPA requirements for being in service, but the crew didn't want to wait 60 seconds to make it out the door. Also, it technically failed the DOT/COMAR brake test because it leaked more than 4 PSI in 60 seconds with the engine off, so it really should have been OOS.

 

[FireFighterHill]

We kept all our rigs hooked up, they had auto disconnect plugs that popped out when your turned on the ignition. The ONLY fire department I have worked for that we didnt have that was in Iraq, but we didnt have a modern station either. NFPA is a minimum guide line. Waiting 60 seconds for your air tank to fill is 60 seconds added to your run time. And when every second counts that 60 seconds to many. I also just remember that I have driven engines with onboard electric air to keep the air tanks topped off. no shore air needed only shore power. I remember we knew we had a leak cause the truck would cycle on just about every 15 minutes until it was fixed. It was annoying as the truck was parked right next to the day room and we could hear it all day.

The same stations that dont use shore power and air are probably the same stations that DONT follow OSHA guideline for vehicle exhaust while running in the bay before pulling out of the station.

Also here in Florida most new rigs have A/C that will run off of shore power so you dont get in the rescue and its 110 degrees.

 

[juddspaintballs]

Waiting 60 seconds is a long time, yes. But if your truck doesn't leak, you don't have to wait. If it does leak, then your driver should know about it ASAP. Leaking air is a maintenance and safety issue. Unless your rig doesn't turn a wheel for days, it shouldn't have to air up at all when you're ready to go.

Like I said, I've never worked at a station that used shore air. Maybe there's a few out there that do it as standard practice, but I've been to stations in several states and worked at more than 30 different stations so far and have yet to see an air line plugged in. Every single one I've been in has always used shore power, even on reserve pieces parked outside. Every station I've worked at as well has Plymovents or something similar to deal with the exhaust.




But anyways, hooking up a deuce to your shop air to keep the larger tanks aired up more quickly is not a bad idea as long as you remember to disconnect before driving away. If I were to do that, I would use a short section of DOT plastic brake tubing and push fittings right at the end so that if I forgot and drove away, either the plastic line or the push fittings would let go and not brake a nice air hose or leave me with something dragging down the road.

 

[FireFighterHill]

In a perfect world you would be correct. But depending on your department and resources sometimes you have to live with the small problems because the apparatus is critical and can not afford to be taken out of service. Departments differ all over the country. From how they run day to day to the trucks they buy and the equipment they carry. Im just telling you how they do it in my neck of the woods.

Back to the original thought of this thread. Another idea would be a secondary tank that can be filled via the Deuce mechanical compressor, an add on electrical compressor, or an outside air source. You could then also use this tank to back feed the original tanks when needed. Or if you really wanted to take to the extreme you could add valves to isolate each tank in case of failure. This would give you a very robust redundant setup. Though it would most like be somewhat expensive and require alot of plumbing.

 

[Kohburn]

for reasons I won't go into - I wanted to add a third tank thhat would be at 200psi - it would be fed by an electric pump and have an air regulator for it to feed 60 psi to the stock tanks, if the mechanical compressor was working then once the stock tanks hit 60 the regulator would shut off flow and the electric compressor would be purely for the 200 psi tank.

 

[hoop]

You can add all the tanks you want to, but if you do not have a line sized for the volume sufficient enough for the demand of the end use item. Then you have just added tanks and can not use item.
Pressure is one thing, but Pressure with Volume is the key.

 

[Stonewall]

extra tanks or larger tanks are fine. the only issue is filling the tanks to 60 psi in a timely fashion and also not putting undue wear andtear on the compressor. If the goal is to have a large tanks so that you can use an impact wrench, you will find that the tank itself will not be large enough without the compressor kicking in. think about a 50 gallon shop compressor that is filled to 150 psi. if you were to turn off the compressor, how long can you realistically use a 3/4 impact before the pressure has dropped below 90 psi and is pretty much useless?

 

[Boatcarpenter]

This is how I added more volume at truck pressure to my Deuce.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce-...4283-double-your-air-double-your-impacts.html
BC

 

[Recovry4x4]

You can always use a remote air pig to run your bigger air tools. I have one and it works great. I use the 3/8 line to feed the tank and have a 10' piece of 1/2" hose to run the 1" gun. Works dang good!