Hi,
May be some one might be interested in my latest crusade.
I wanted to get an extension hose for my compressor. Went to ARB and they ordered one.
While there I noticed the ARB compressor nozzle (not sure if the right name but it is the bit that you connect to the valve).
The ARB nozzle looked a lot better and easier to use than the one I had for the Max Air. The ARB one has a clip on similar to what you see at some service stations .
I tested it out and found that the ARB nozzle would fit the Max Air hose.
Great I thought.
The problem is that the Max Air II has a male connector on the compressor and the Max Air hose consists of a female connector at one end and the nozzle wired in at the other end.
The extension hose I got had a female connector at one end and a male at the other. The female end is connected the compressor and the male end connects to the old air hose.
So this did not help if I wanted to get an ARB nozzle.
I thought it would be easy to get a couple of connectors eg female to feamle so I could connect the ARB nozzle .
Well this task proved impossible. Apparently both ARB and Bushranger use non-standard size connectors ( I was told ) and so I could not get what i wanted.
I could cut the existing hose and change over to more standard ones but was a bit reluctant to do that - just in case there was a problem.
During my travels I noticed that the Bushranger Auto Max, I think it is called, compressor has a different set up. The hose provided has a female connector at both ends. you plug one end to the compressor and then a nozzle in the other.
This was what I wanted. . I could now also get an ARB nozzle and connect it to the the hose from the Auto Max. I could also use the extension hose as
well (I got this for my van) when required.
This does mean my old Max Air II hose and nozzle is now redundant - I call it a backup just in case some one in the family asks.
My final set up is now
Max Air II compressor, Auto Max hose with a female connector at both ends an extension hose with a male connector at one end and a female one at the other and a ARB nozzle. I have tried it all out and it seems to work OK.
I also have a backup hose and nozzle :)
So - was it worth it - probably not financially but when you get a bee in your bonnet about something it is hard to stop even when you know it does not make sense. When I started this saga I thought it would have been a very cheap option.
My only justification on the financial side is that the cost of the hoses I bought was similar to buying a good quality connector around $20-25. The ARB nozzle in my opinion is much easier to use so I am happy. I could have done it cheaper by just cutting the existing hose and replacing the end piece - ie if you could find a female connector that would fit an ARB nozzle but I could not find one and I was not sure it would all work.
Richard