best 12volt air compressor for reliability

Bought an ARB portable one about 1996ish and it is still going strong. Cost about $350 I think.

bought a blue tongue in 2002 for $375 and it died in 2006 with quite little use, sent back to repairer in sydney and have i heard back? no. I was told it would outlive me and was repairable. yeah whatever. bought a tjm unit a few months ago in despair, this time half the price.

G'day, the comp boys use these, swear by them. Good price too.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BOSS-Air-Compressor-Toyota-Landcruiser-70-75-79-80-100_W0QQitemZ200205318132QQihZ010QQcategoryZ30862QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My ARB has worked perfectly for 2 years. It can pump 4 tyres from 20-40psi well. It does get hot (you would expect that) but hasn't failed. They can be taken apart and repaired if needed, and ARB has an excellent record when it comes to honouring their warranties. I do recommend them.

From the stories I have heard it is a matter of going for quality and ignoring everything else.

Barnesy

HI GN,

My truck had a Thomas Dynavac fitted to it when I got it. It looks to be yonks old but still works well.
I just looked up Dynavac on the net - they specialise in many engineering products including automative and agricultural. They still list the 12v compressor on their web page (under automotive) but not sure if its available in regular shops. But they also sell a lot of agricultural machinery using compressors (seeders etc) so their compressor technology should be pretty good. Anyway if you want to check them out their head office is in Seven Hills according to their web page.
Cheers,
Glen

GN, from the ebay page, "The biggest customer base is the sports cars with active air suspension and the Grande BOSS works all of the time, stopping and starting maybe 200 times a day. The 4WD guys would not do that in 6 months, so there is no doubt that this unit is well beyond the call of duty in off road applications." Seems to be reliable, lol

i've got a bushranger maxair II compressor, on several occassions we have pumped up more then one vehicle in a row with it and not had a problem. up the cape at pennefeather river we reinflated 3 fourbies tyres in a row, so thats obviously 12 tyres back up to road pressures from soft sand driving pressures one vehicle after the other without a break to let it cool down. on another occasion have reinflated 2 fourbies both towing caravans tyres back up to road pressures after sand driving on fraser, so that's 12 tyres again without stopping to let it cool down. don't know how much they sell for these days but i got mine for $175 at a caravan show in brisbane, think they retailed for nearly $400 though.

Hi GN
I purchased an ARB compressor some 5 years ago, still going strong. I think it might be a bit slower than some other brands, but it had no trouble pumping up 12 tyres without a break in 46 deg C temps up in the north of W.A. These compressors can also be fully rebuilt if needed. Apparently a good rule to go by when buying a compressor is - short battery leads, long air hose. As the longer the battery leads the more voltage drop you get.
Howard.

Truck air best cheapy on the market will go foerever
My blue tongue (second hand) crapped itself so i pulled out the backup TA I bought in 2001 and was my frontline till 05and has done nothing for 4 years it fired into life and worked better than ever (slow) while i stripped and repaired the bluetongue

The old ARB compressors were solid reliable units. Not neccessarily the fastest, but they did the job. The new just released ARB compressor has been totally redesigned. They are simply brilliant. I just used a friends and couldnt believe how much faster it was compared to my old one. They are made in australia and very good quality. I hope my old one fails soon, so I can buy a new one. :-)

Probably not the answer you are seeking, but I bought one (a cheapie <$20.00) from Big W about 30 yrs ago. Still going strong - never missed a beat. Goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money - just have a little bit of luck.

Thanks for all the input.
Sound like most are pretty reliable.
I do like the sound of the "dynavac" possibly???
Kind Regards
GN

There is an ARB older style under the bonnet of Moses and it was great to have it directly wired in. The next one I have with Kath will plug into an Anderson plug front and rear.

The High Output ARB had a good rap in one of the 4by mags a couple of months ago and I have my eye on one of those but the bigger Bushranger looks the goods too, also under the name of Viair 440 in the US.

Have the original thomas,the brass coloured one not painted and use it on average 12 times a year and it must be close to 15 years old now.Wired under the bonet of 3 4 wheel drives and still pumps from 14 psi to 35 psi in 2 mins 40 secs.Have your comp wired to the starter battery so at night with all your lights on etc you can be sure its running off the alternator.

regards Graeme.

TJM now have a 5 year Oz-wide warranty on their Ox compressor (have just had one fitted), so they must be pretty confident about its longevity, and even if it stuffs up then you should be able to get it repaired by them. Of course that's not much use if you're stuck with soft tyres and its not working, but that's what a spare compressor is for...

Cheers,

Chris