So did you power this through a relay?I have a Thor's Lightning Bolt dual air compressor. Once you start shopping you'll realize that there are at least half a dozen competitors all selling the same unit. Even Napa sells effectively the same thing. In retrospect Vevor's is probably the best deal (if it's in stock). Anyway, it's a great unit and will inflate my 34" tires (all four at once) from 20psi to 32psi in ~2:30.
The trade-off is that these units are big, heavy and hard to store. I had mine under the floor of my camper drawer build-out but it wasn't convenient to get to so I never used it. I've been contemplating doing a permanent install for some time and finally got around to it this past week.
I decided to put it between the bed and the body of the truck on the back drivers side. All four corners of the truck have enough room between the body and the bed to hide a dead body in. My plan was to install the air chuck and switch in the cubby where the 12v power is but you'll see that didn't work out. Still, I'm happy overall with the finished result.
First, I had to come up with a mount for the compressor. I thought about using a HF Apache case, and the compressor fit in the medium case, but I ended up deciding not to try it for two reasons. First, the compressor weighs close to 20lbs and I was afraid the plastic case wouldn't last long with all the forest service roads I drive on. Second, I couldn't figure out how to mount the compressor in the case and then get the case mounted to the side of the bed.
In the end my friend Upper Left Adventures had some steel laying around and welded me up a mount. It's solid and should hold up for many years.
I then had to attach the mount to the side of the bed. There's fairly easy access between the fender and the bed by removing the fender support brackets. I used the project as an excuse to buy a right angle drill attachment to help me drill the holes and that worked great. I cut some aluminum bar I had and drilled holes it in to support the bed. It would probably be ok with some fender washers but I'm a little leery of the bed cracking from the weight hanging on it all the time. With the bar spreading the load I'm not worried at all.
I should mention that I decided to mount the compressor upside down. This will allow me to access the dust covers and filters from underneath the truck when they need cleaned (which they will often). It's easy enough to reach up from the bottom and screw the dust covers off.
It was a hassle to mount the compressor but with me underneath the truck and my son reaching in from the top we managed to get it done with minimal cursing. This is definitely a project you need help with though!!!
From here it was easy. I thought. Here was the plan.
This was great until I went to install it! Oops. Lessons were learned.
First, there's a structural support rib on the back side of the bed right where the air chuck and switch would have to go and, more importantly, the wiring loom for the 12 volt USB and whatnot is on the opposite side of the enclosure. You have to angle the enclosure in order to get it in and out of the bed and there is no way to get the enclosure back in it's place in the bed with where I put the chuck and switch.
I really didn't want the switch and chuck on the other side because then it's facing away from you when you're trying to use it. Also, the air line from the compressor wasn't long enough and I didn't want to hassle with trying to replace it. My final solution was to mount the switch on the other side, but mount the air chuck straight out of the bed. It's solid and there are other items sticking out there as well so I'm not too worried about damage, but it's definitely not what I had in mind.
The only other piece is the wiring and that actually was easy. I'm paranoid so I ran 4 gauge wire in a loom to the battery rather than try to tap into power at the back of the truck. 25 feet of wire was perfect.
For the switch I simply spliced into the existing compressor switch wiring.
All in all I'm happy with the outcome. I do wish I could protect the air chuck a bit more but I think it will be fine. I'm not worried about water splashing up on the compressor. It's pretty well protected up where it is. Dust will be an issue though and I may end up coming up with some sort of filter blanket to try and mitigate dust covering the compressor but I'm going to leave it as is for now and worry about it later if it becomes an issue in the future.
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