Newtybar

I currently have a small onboard air pump (Viair), however I'm possibly going to sell it to buy something more useful for everyday life (fogs).

How often do those of you who do not have air have issues when this situation arises:

You hit the trail, nearest gas station is 20 miles away (mostly hwy), you only go with 1 or 2 Jeeps and they don't have air either. What then? Drive to the gas station on 14 psi?

ericstac

Don't air down. Of course I've never wheeled air down so I don't know the difference but I always have a blast wheeling and never bothered with the air pressure.

Newtybar

eric - airing down makes a huge difference on the rocks.

Red

When I started out I had no onboard air. I would air down and stop at the filling station as close to the trail head to air back up.

w squared

I started off by airing down to 20 psi. Then I dropped it to 15 psi. All of this was before I had a compressor.

Either way, I drove slowly and cautiously back to the nearest gas station and refilled there.

OffTopic

Newtybar - you're local and we wheel the same trails - do you really want to be limited to trails that have a gas station nearby? We hit some trails where the nearest gas station could be 40+ miles...and I would not want to drive that distance on aired down tires all the time. It's just not good for them.

If you're going to wheel on a regular basis on these trails, IMO having at least a $50 Costco compressor is a necessity. Personally I'd consider it more important than fog lights, but that depends on how much wheeling you do.

RubiJK

I completely agree! Personally, I think I have only wheeled WITHOUT airing down only a couple of times... and that was when I was younger, without a Jeep, and doing less challenging trails. The FIRST thing I got for my Jeep was a CO2 tank. I already had a decent air compressor before that. Airing down is essential! Sure it gives you more traction on challenging trails, but even on "easy" trails, I air down for the comfort. It really is an amazing difference. I wheel at least 3-4 trails per month, with hundreds of different friends... EVERYBODY airs down. In fact, we were running a fairly easy trail, that had some mediocre obstacles. One guy in his TJ, just never aired down. He was getting hung up on every climb and rock. Finally, we MADE him air down to at least 14 and he thanked us over and over and over... To me it isnt a question. Fog lights? Hmm, I can live without them way more than without air. I would suggest you air down to 12-14 lbs next time you go out no matter what the trail... see what it is like. Encourage your friends to also. I think you will then realize the benefits and would rank a compressor MUCH higher than fog lights...

PoorDad

I just got the 59 dollar one from Smittybuilt today. I have been off roading for a long time, but not until I got my JK, had I aired down. Mostly because I had done most of my off roading at work and that was the way I was trained and what I was used to. We did not have the equipment to air down, either. Plus, we were on and off road all day, so it was not practical (not to mention none of the wheeling was too heavy duty.)

To avoid having to drive on underpressured tires on the freeway, I decided that an air compressor was going to be my next purchase.

The little Smitty has a one year warranty, so hopefully, it is made sturdy enough.

JerseyJK07

Another option is get a Warn Power Plant Winch IMPO

OffTopic

Guys, I think if he's debating selling his compressor to get fog lights, a Power Plant isn't in his plans.