Roof Rack Idea and question

OXX1973 · Oct 30, 2014

I would like to make a roof rack that doubles as an air reserve. To elaborate I want connect an air pump to to the roof rack and store the compressed in the the bars of the roof rack. that way I can connect an air hose to inflate the tires after wheeling and or attach tools when needed on the trail.

How hard would this be to accomplish. What are the possible dangers if this is done.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

tonydiv · Oct 30, 2014

I had an air tank bumper on my Scout. It was made of 4 x 6 1/4" wall square tube. At 150 psi it was enough to maybe air up a tire. I would think that the amount of volume that you could store in a roof rack would be nearly useless.

Yudaman · Oct 30, 2014

You would have to build your rack out of pretty large tubing to make the air storage even remotely usable. Minimum 1 1/2"od .095 tubing. Even then, the storage would not be enough to air up a tire let alone give enough air to use an impact gun to remove a flat.
If you had a large enough on board pump, you may be able to get away with using the small amount of storage from the rack.

A small to medium sized nitrogen tank (available at all welding supply stores) would be more useful under most situations.

OXX1973 · Oct 30, 2014

Its starting to sound like a bad idea, but Im not viving up just yet.

I am not great at conversions so please correct me if Im wrong. I used an online conversation tool and found out the an 8gallon tank is roughly 1700 cubic inches of volume. I was thinking that a 2inch by 60inch pipe for the sides and a 2inch by 36inch pipe for the front and rear would give me 602 cubic inches. I can double stack the pipes to create 4inch tall rack given me roughly 1200 cubic inches.

If that volume is correct and if I attach a compressor to it. Would that be enough to inflate tires and/or power an impact wrench?

FYI, I am just brainstorming right now. Please feel free to stop my headache if I am not going in the right direction.

metaldrgn · Nov 1, 2014

Part of the problem is pressurized containers are tested and required to exceed the working pressure by a certain amount for safety. You could get pipe(s) rated to x PSI, but riding on your vehicle would put more stress on the components not to mention exposure to the elements which could cause it to deteriorate. A removable setup may be better. It would be fairly pointless unless you brought a compressor with you so you could have limitless air running of your battery. They could run to the pipes so you could use more tools. You could also just take a tank with you in the back if you really wanted like this:
eagle-portable-air-tank-ihct10-10-gal-150-psi

Bedrck47 · Nov 1, 2014

check e-bay for

120PSI 12 VOLT AIR COMPRESSOR & TANK

Roof Rack Idea and question

OXX1973

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tonydiv

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Yudaman

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OXX1973

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Bedrck47

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