Stealth Air Compressor Install

[SierraBronco]

With the ARB drawer installed the hidden compartments are completely useless. I decided to make use of the big guy by putting a compressor in there. I saw a very slick design by DV8 that replaces the stock box with a bigger unit designed to carry a twin compressor-bolt holes already drilled and everything. But dang. It’s expensive. Decided to simply get the compressor and see how tight it really is with my drawer having extra clearance. Pulling the drawer it looked like I had about 1.5” of clearance, and if I held my eye in the right spot compared to the measuring tape that would be tight, but just might work. It was necessary to pull the pins from the power harnesses for each individual pump then rerouting them to prevent the wires from being pinched. It is in there tight! Not being completely straight I still strapped it in, but I feel confident that sucker isn’t moving.

Details-ran 4G wire through a primary fuse from the battery to a distribution block in the back. Thought this would be nice in the event I wanted to power additional accessories in the future. Might need a blender or something. From there I was able to shorten the factory wires of questionable gauge as much as possible and put their fuses in an easily reached location. Worked out very well.

With how tight everything was, the intakes were right next to the edge of the box. Not ideal as the fan blows all the hot air right towards the intakes anyway, so I used some 1/2” tubing to go through the wall. I didn’t want them fighting dust and heat, so they were tee’d together, then ran back inside the cab and behind each panel. They’re above the heat-shield for the muffler, sooooo I’m hoping they don’t get too hot. And of course drawing in from the cab maybe that will help too. We’ll see!

We ended up needing to cut some of the shroud away in order to clear one of the drawers braces, but not a big deal.

This toolbox has two bolts up front that cannot be reached without taking the drawer out, and then removing the side panels. Certainly a pain in the ass. So we threaded the provided spacers and bolted them into place permanently. Six bolts are holding the box in place now but…should be fine.

And finally, a 2.8 gallon tank was supposed to have been delivered this week but it looks like it won’t be here until Monday. I believe it’s five inches in diameter so the plan is to mount it to the back of the box. If it won’t fit there it will go onto the passenger side frame rail. Or at least that’s what I’m envisioning.

Now enjoy some pictures to put it all together.

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[Neps]

Nice work!

Any issue with the ARB compressor overheating?

 

[SierraBronco]

Nice work!

Any issue with the ARB overheating?

Thanks!

Haven’t had a chance to fully test it yet. Will get the tank installed then play around. The box isn’t flush against the floor and has about 1.5” of breathing room around the entire thing with exception of the mounting brackets. Between that and the cooler intake I’m hoping that’s plenty for it. With that DV8 box people are leaving the covers on, though I suppose they could just be opening it for operation if they didn’t run a remote hose connection. So…that tells us nothing

And this is the knockoff compressor. After spending two grand on the box I didn’t feel bad giving the highly rated copycat a try

 

[thetxpopulist]

Looks great! I also seized the opportunity to put in a distribution block in the rear and ran 0g wire back there. already paying dividends as my compulsive modding continues spiraling out of control. Most recently I completed my on board air setup with a four gallon air tank under the rear cargo area, and the Conductor’s Special 544 nightmare edition train horns.

Have you decided on a tank yet?

 

[seananigans]

Great idea. I have one in my engine bay but broke due to mud water damage. The thing gets extremely hot when using it so hopefully that won’t damage the plastic or the storage. Let us know how it goes!

 

[SierraBronco]

Looks great! I also seized the opportunity to put in a distribution block in the rear and ran 0g wire back there. already paying dividends as my compulsive modding continues spiraling out of control. Most recently I completed my on board air setup with a four gallon air tank under the rear cargo area, and the Conductor’s Special 544 nightmare edition train horns.

Have you decided on a tank yet?

Very nice! I like the common ground too!

I have a 2.8 gallon aluminum tank coming. Was supposed to have been delivered a week ago but it should be here tomorrow. Nothing fancy but I’m thinking about running a line to a pressure gauge just to see how well it holds pressure over time. Couple of these press-in connections seem to be just barely leaking a tad.

You went under the cargo area? Any pictures of that?

 

[SierraBronco]

Great idea. I have one in my engine bay but broke due to mud water damage. The thing gets extremely hot when using it so hopefully that won’t damage the plastic or the storage. Let us know how it goes!

I am a little curious about that myself, I’ll be doing some rudimentary testing on heat buildup after I install the tank. There’s a lot of ventilation and it’s easy to simply open the drawer and sliding deck to really open it up, but I’ve been looking at small 12V fans as well. We’ll see what happens

 

[contented]

OP, kudos on a nice neat install, but if yours gets as hot as my engine bay mounted twin does, I think you’re a fire waiting to happen. The reason I bought the ARB twin is the 100% duty cycle. It gets really hot by the end of airing up the second vehicle in a row on an 80 degree day.

In the pic below at Sand Hollow, the fasterflate chucks would burn one’s hands by the time the jeep was aired up.

Please be very careful. Take care.

contented

 

[SierraBronco]

OP, kudos on a nice neat install, but if yours gets as hot as my engine bay mounted twin does, I think you’re a fire waiting to happen. The reason I bought the ARB twin is the 100% duty cycle. It gets really hot by the end of airing up the second vehicle in a row on an 80 degree day.

In the pic below at Sand Hollow, the fasterflate chucks would burn one’s hands by the time the jeep was aired up.

Please be very careful. Take care.

contented

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be doing some testing on the compressor after the 2.8 gallon tank is installed to see what I’m getting on temperatures. Both with the drawer/slider closed and open as open provides a whole bunch of cabin air. Also looking at auxiliary fans for pushing and pulling out of the enclosure. I’ll post updates when completed

 

[thetxpopulist]

Very nice! I like the common ground too!

I have a 2.8 gallon aluminum tank coming. Was supposed to have been delivered a week ago but it should be here tomorrow. Nothing fancy but I’m thinking about running a line to a pressure gauge just to see how well it holds pressure over time. Couple of these press-in connections seem to be just barely leaking a tad.

You went under the cargo area? Any pictures of that?

Thanks!

Yep I was kinda shocked when I looked around for others that had done anything outside the truck, so I ended up solutioning from scratch. I am not an exhaust guy personally (nothing on my super duty, fully built Camaro SS, or my RZR, or any vehicle I've ever owned), but this solution is predicated on eliminating the absolutely shameful behemoth of a muffler from the Bronco. I slapped a Borla muffler on the stock system (~$250 on Amazon) using a reducer to tie it in to the stock pipe.

I reclaimed this air system from my Super Duty, but unfortunately the 5 gallon air tank was a bit too tall. So I went with the 4 gallon pancake tank from horn blasters. The tank extends ~1/4" below the bumper, but notably, the Borla exhaust and the tank still sit higher up than the ridiculous stock muffler. So clearance is actually less of a concern in that regard.

I mounted the Viair compressor under the hood using an ARB under hood mount (small USA business but 1/4 of the overpriced alternatives I've seen, and was delivered in 3 days vs 2 weeks).

Tank:

Apex CRS:

 

[SierraBronco]

Thanks!

Yep I was kinda shocked when I looked around for others that had done anything outside the truck, so I ended up solutioning from scratch. I am not an exhaust guy personally (nothing on my super duty, fully built Camaro SS, or my RZR, or any vehicle I've ever owned), but this solution is predicated on eliminating the absolutely shameful behemoth of a muffler from the Bronco. I slapped a Borla muffler on the stock system (~$250 on Amazon) using a reducer to tie it in to the stock pipe.

I reclaimed this air system from my Super Duty, but unfortunately the 5 gallon air tank was a bit too tall. So I went with the 4 gallon pancake tank from horn blasters. The tank extends ~1/4" below the bumper, but notably, the Borla exhaust and the tank still sit higher up than the ridiculous stock muffler. So clearance is actually less of a concern in that regard.

I mounted the Viair compressor under the hood using an ARB under hood mount (small USA business but 1/4 of the overpriced alternatives I've seen, and was delivered in 3 days vs 2 weeks).

Tank:

Apex CRS:

Very awesome man. That reel is slick too! I’d like to get rid of that muffler as well but dang do I not want it to be any louder.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

With the ARB drawer installed the hidden compartments are completely useless. I decided to make use of the big guy by putting a compressor in there. I saw a very slick design by DV8 that replaces the stock box with a bigger unit designed to carry a twin compressor-bolt holes already drilled and everything. But dang. It’s expensive. Decided to simply get the compressor and see how tight it really is with my drawer having extra clearance. Pulling the drawer it looked like I had about 1.5” of clearance, and if I held my eye in the right spot compared to the measuring tape that would be tight, but just might work. It was necessary to pull the pins from the power harnesses for each individual pump then rerouting them to prevent the wires from being pinched. It is in there tight! Not being completely straight I still strapped it in, but I feel confident that sucker isn’t moving.

Details-ran 4G wire through a primary fuse from the battery to a distribution block in the back. Thought this would be nice in the event I wanted to power additional accessories in the future. Might need a blender or something. From there I was able to shorten the factory wires of questionable gauge as much as possible and put their fuses in an easily reached location. Worked out very well.

With how tight everything was, the intakes were right next to the edge of the box. Not ideal as the fan blows all the hot air right towards the intakes anyway, so I used some 1/2” tubing to go through the wall. I didn’t want them fighting dust and heat, so they were tee’d together, then ran back inside the cab and behind each panel. They’re above the heat-shield for the muffler, sooooo I’m hoping they don’t get too hot. And of course drawing in from the cab maybe that will help too. We’ll see!

We ended up needing to cut some of the shroud away in order to clear one of the drawers braces, but not a big deal.

This toolbox has two bolts up front that cannot be reached without taking the drawer out, and then removing the side panels. Certainly a pain in the ass. So we threaded the provided spacers and bolted them into place permanently. Six bolts are holding the box in place now but…should be fine.

And finally, a 2.8 gallon tank was supposed to have been delivered this week but it looks like it won’t be here until Monday. I believe it’s five inches in diameter so the plan is to mount it to the back of the box. If it won’t fit there it will go onto the passenger side frame rail. Or at least that’s what I’m envisioning.

Now enjoy some pictures to put it all together.

Nice. The only downside is you cannot access the air compressor now if you need to service it/fix something.

We actually mounted the air compressor inside the side storage box. Attached it right to the side of the box vertically so it takes up little room. I don't have photos showing the install but here is the final result

 

[Johnny Mo]

Mine is mounted in the DV8 enclosure - I have a 2 gallon tank mounted where a muffler would have been, remote air chuck attached to my tow hitch and my Hadley horns are mounted just forward of the rear axle un the underside of the cargo floor. Power distribution then allowed me to add an amp and upgrade my subwoofer. The relays are are setup to allow Aux switch to power down ARB and swap horn relay from air to factory - with a single throw.

Rest of the photos here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JK9DzkcMWQaB368UA

 

[SierraBronco]

Nice. The only downside is you cannot access the air compressor now if you need to service it/fix something.

We actually mounted the air compressor inside the side storage box. Attached it right to the side of the box vertically so it takes up little room. I don't have photos showing the install but here is the final result

If you read the full install you’ll see we made it easy (well, easier) to remove the box. Wont have to pull the front fascia or the drawer for removal now.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

If you read the full install you’ll see we made it easy (well, easier) to remove the box. Wont have to pull the front fascia or the drawer for removal now.

Ya know I bet the bolts holding the box in are not even needed. At first im like "Ohh man we need to make sure this box is bolted down" but as you installed it I'm sure you'll agree. the box aint going NOWHERE with or without bolts. It's a bit box that FITS and can't move. The only thing that the bolts do is prevent it from being a flying object I guess if an overturn crash

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