On board welder or on board air?

[JohnJohn]

I an saving up for either an on board welder or air system.
I may do both eventually but after a few trips I am starting to think I need a welder more than air?

Thoughts?

 

[sykanr0ng]

Air.

Because airing down tires for trails means airing them back up for the drive home.
That is more common than breaking something that you need to weld to get home, at least if you built it right the first time.

I want both, but the OBA is much higher on the list.

 

[JohnJohn]

I trailer my trail rig Bronco so I don't need to air back up fast.

I have a small 12v air compressor but it's slow.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[ntsqd]

Still go with OBA. Nothing like breaking out tools for a trail fix.

Buy the spool gun for a OBW, and add a second battery.

 

[Pa PITT]

.. So I've got to ask ... What kind of on board welder are you thinking about .
I've posted about welders that we used about 20 years ago .. Old Delco Alternators 120amps units that .. The Builder open fielded the alt.. So as you raise your RPM. THE VOLTAGE raised once it got to 120V. YOU WELDED ... I've got a bunch of those alt. But I don't know what to do with them to open field them. .
... One of those 120 amp alt on my 4BT would really work great.
.. & I guess if you got it to put out 110V then YOU COULD RUN any Brush type motor like an aitr Compressor.

 

[ntsqd]

The problem with over-driving an automotive alternator that hard is that they have a very short duty cycle or they over-heat and die. There's a reason for the size of even a 1kW generator, and it is heat.

 

[welndmn]

You need air on all 4x4's IMO.
It's cheap, a junkyard york is $40, then spend an afternoon making a bracket for it.
The Ford Mavericks had a nice bracket that sat over the power steering pump that I've used in the past.

 

[RPM289]

You need air on all 4x4's IMO.
It's cheap, a junkyard york is $40, then spend an afternoon making a bracket for it.
The Ford Mavericks had a nice bracket that sat over the power steering pump that I've used in the past.

I want to do this but have a couple questions. How do you keep air compressor from burning up or getting oil in air line / tank?

 

[stlo]

I vote air...... I like ARB or power tank

 

[welndmn]

I want to do this but have a couple questions. How do you keep air compressor from burning up or getting oil in air line / tank?

A york uses a separate oil reservoir, where newer stuff uses the oil in the freaon to lubricate the york does not.
BUT some oil does get into the air lines, it's no big deal.
I tend to add oil back to mine every few years

 

[Pa PITT]

289 I'm going to say oil in your air is almost a good thing. But really If you can find one of the York.. aluminum or Tecumseh cast iron. Most old Ford ran these 2 .. Lighter equipment yorks & HD equipment the old Cast irons.
... I'll go out on a limb & Say both of these will interchange on their mountings.
... It's been a long time since I sold them ... BUT AS I RECALL I found this on the Tecumseh had at least 3 different CFM. LIKE 7.5... 9... 11.5...
... EASY too use .. Don't over think these. Just mount the compressor where it would have been If you'd had AC.. STEAL a hose from some ac unit that'll mount onto the compressors .Output side. Either plumb it to your air hose or to an air tank.
.. Just put a toggle switch inside the cab. & run a 12v wire out to the compressor clutch .. Wire it in place. When you flip the toggle on .. the old AC Clutch kicks & It starts pumping air. .. I've had old Tecumseh last for 5 years.
... When I was about 17 I built my 1st home compressor .. It was a water well pressure tank . AN OLD York compressor & I welded the clutch in 3 places & Put on about a horse & half 110 motor . & I painted & ran some air tools off it & the guys I sold it too 10 years later used it in his garage for another 20 years.

 

[NC-Fordguy]

http://readywelder.com

 

[jw0747]

This item was developed by Pat Gremillion an early EB guy from Carbondale, CO who had the first narrowed EB I ever saw at an event. He also designed the Pull Pal. Maybe he either sold the rights or moved to Calif.

http://www.premierpowerwelder.com/

For on-board air install a 12 volt Viair compressor + an inline tank and don't worry about mounting brackets and pulleys and belts. A little slower than a York or an Oasis but still gets the job done.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Another vote for on board air. I've become a fan of a CO2 tank for big needs (filling tires, running air tools). Add a small compressor if going ARB.

There are so many uses for air. Mostly airing up to drive home. Running an impact wrench for the tire change. Add an air nozzle for cleaning, drying ignition parts as well.

Trail welder. There just isn't much demand for it. It is fairly rare to have a failure that can be welded to get you home. You are not going to fix a busted U-joint with a welder. Clogged carb passage, not a welder but compressed air can work wonders on that. Track bar torn off? I've seen a couple of ratchet straps used to keep the axle located enough to get off the trail. Not to say there isn't any demand for it, there have been some trail repair done with welders. And typically they are scab jobs just to get off the trail.

 

[ntsqd]

http://readywelder.com

^^^This. Unless you're a stick-arc guy and then all you need is two batteries (or 3), some dry 7014 rod, and a couple sets of jumper cables. Oh, and a Huntsman 860P welding hood.

If I'm going to spend money on an other than stock alternator-regulator set-up it's going to be to get true, 4 Stage battery charging instead of the "battery assassin" that the stupid OEM regulator is.
Like one of these:
http://www.sterling-power-usa.com/sterlingpoweradvancedalternatorregulators.aspx
or one of these:
http://www.balmar.net/?page_id=15559

 

[sykanr0ng]

This item was developed by Pat Gremillion an early EB guy from Carbondale, CO who had the first narrowed EB I ever saw at an event. He also designed the Pull Pal. Maybe he either sold the rights or moved to Calif.

http://www.premierpowerwelder.com/

For on-board air install a 12 volt Viair compressor + an inline tank and don't worry about mounting brackets and pulleys and belts. A little slower than a York or an Oasis but still gets the job done.

That says it's a woman owned business, and the owner's phone number is a Colorado area code.