ARB's new air compressor in a '97 Sport

[ES_97Sport]

Thought someone might like to see this. My old QuickAir I finally died after 15 years or so. I needed a replacement to run the ARB air lockers in my big Sport and Sun Performance is out of business so no chance of just getting a new QuickAir.

ARB came out with a new compressor that's roughly the same dimensions as the old QuickAir I. A little taller and a little shorter but very close. The only thing I don't like so far is the completely retarded mounting method. Unless you have 8" of space all the way around the base its almost impossible to bolt the compressor to a mount. You can not mount the base plate and then drop the compressor in. You MUST have access to both sides at the base and at least 6-8". It makes mounting this in an engine bay or other tight location either difficult or just impossible. The worst part is that this could have been a non-issue. Had they made the heat sink a two piece setup, everything would be fine. Sigh. Yet another '95% perfect' ARB design. :rolleyes:

The blue hoses coming out of the compressor heading to the left are exhaust lines. The air supply lines to the locking differentials come out on the right further down the compressor. The vent lines are to prevent differential oil vapor from being exhausted into the engine bay. Usually they're used to allow mounting the compressor inside the cab.

Note the vintage 2002, 13 year old solenoids. Design has changed somewhat since then.





Anyone notice anything peculiar about the wiring coming out of the solenoids?

Edward

[moingr]

5v to 12v?

[ES_97Sport]

May 8, 2015 13:43:27 GMT -5 moingr said:

5v to 12v?

12v. Rumor is they make a 24v, too, but mine is 12v.

Edward

[moingr]

on the solenoid it is marked 5V and 12V i meant
but activation with one switch only both together!
i prefer to choose wether both or only back

[ES_97Sport]

May 20, 2015 11:28:34 GMT -5 moingr said:

on the solenoid it is marked 5V and 12V i meant
but activation with one switch only both together!
i prefer to choose wether both or only back

The ARB solenoids are 12v. Pos & neg. But, there's no step-down of the voltage.

You are correct. I have both wired together so that the locker switch inside locks both front and rear at the same time. I originally installed everything before the SAS when I had a single locker in the stock Mitsu rear axle. Haven't built a new harness to turn each on independently - mostly because in the few instances I need to lock the axles, I need both locked. Lots of articulation and really sticky tires negates a lot of the need for locking differentials. Most of the time I use the lockers, its to cut down on wheel spin to cut down on tire wear and to keep from tearing up the trail.

If you need a diagram for the harness let me know. There are also lots of diagrams on Pirate. I'm not real fond of the factory ARB harness. It used to refuse to allow you to engage the front locker unless the rear was already engaged. Stupid. Think its still that way.

Edward

[moingr]

With the rest of guys here we found a way to use Arb's harness with the ability to lock indipendedly the front from the rear (ok that cost my friand both front drive shafts)

Alex

[ES_97Sport]

May 20, 2015 16:31:47 GMT -5 moingr said:

With the rest of guys here we found a way to use Arb's harness with the ability to lock indipendedly the front from the rear (ok that cost my friand both front drive shafts)

Alex

Yea, it's not hard. I have the wiring diagram from ARB for their harness so I know how to do that. Just don't particularly like their harness. Its not really laid out for where my different pieces sit.

Ouch!! That would suck. How'd that happen?

Edward