Easy air

I don't always look for the easy way, it's not always the best way and I'm not fucken lazy, however sometimes I like ease-of-use and when I go into the outback or wilderness taking some complexity out of a task is a good thing. With that in mind I bought a system I've been interested in for a while and you read about that buying process here if so inclined.

It's a simple system but there was some confusion as to its use so I said I'd follow up with a post to demonstrate how it works.

---

---

There's many reasons for "airing down" when off-roading which I've spoken about before so I'll not go into and naturally the air has to come back up to on-road pressures when coming off the tracks and back onto paved roads or the tyre will heat up and eventually blow out - my B.F. Goodrich K02 tyres are $550 each so destroying them isn't advisable.

The process is called "airing down" and airing up" or deflation and inflation if you prefer. I have a compressor and air hose already but liked the Morrflate system because it's quick and easy to air up or down on all four tyres at the same time.

Here's how it works in basic terms:

Air down

1. Attach hoses to each tyre valve
2. Connect main to Air Hub
3. Turn on Air Hub and set deflation pressure and open valve
4. Air escapes through hub outlet until set pressure is achieved then stops
5. Pack away and go four-wheeling

Air up

1. Attach compressor to main battery
2. Connect air hose to Morrflate Air Hub
3. Connect each hose to each tyre valve
4. Set desired pressure on the Air Hub
5. Turn on compressor and open air valve (car is started so the alternator feeds power to the battery)
6. Airs up and stops on the set pressure
7. Pack it away and you're done

When airing up the hub is of course connected to the compressor to push air through the hoses and into the tyres and when airing down the hub is not connected to the compressor so the air simply escapes into the atmosphere.

The left and right side air lines have two valve connectors to attach to front and rear tyres and each side connects into the left and right of the Air Hub which has its own power so it can make the calculations required. When reading pressures initially it provides and average of all four tyres and then once the desired pressure is set (up or down) it releases or adds air accordingly cutting off and on in short increments to make sure the pressures are accurate at the end of the process.

The green valve on the Air Hub (you can see me holding it in the collage above) is an open/close valve so when airing up or down the system is sealed until I decide to start the up or down process by opening the valve. Above you'll also see my compressor attached to the start (cranking) battery which provided its source of power.

I check tyre pressures on all my vehicles every Sunday morning and as required in the field and this system makes it really easy to do so.

I also have a TPMS (tyre pressure monitoring system) on my truck which gives me pressure readings as I drive and alerts me to fast deflation events (and temperatures of each tyre) which can very quickly result in a blow out. The Morrflate system, (made in Sacramento, USA), is something I've wanted for a while and now I have it I'm pretty happy with how it operates.

In the field two people can have the vehicle aired down in a few minutes and the same with airing up, one connecting lines to valves and the other setting up the compressor and hub. It's not that I'm ever in that much of a rush to do it but like I said earlier, sometimes making things a little more user-friendly is a good thing.

Questions or comments? Below is the place to ask or make them, I'll respond in kind of course.