I have been messing around with different ways to inflate the mains through the wheel pants for years and have never really been satisfied. I was just about ready to concede that perhaps the best way was just to pull off the front half of the wheel pant.
But then I was inspired by Jerry Farek's (Falcon) rig that he sells because it was similar to something I had, but what I really wanted was to be able to poke the inflator throught the hole, find the shrader valve, and inflate and adjust pressure all in one motion. So I had seen the kind of tire inflators with a gauge that some garages use and I thought I would try WalMart out to see what I could find. I bought a Campbell Hausfeld M6000 for $15 that looked promising. Went out to the hangar today and tinkered around with it and came up with the following:
I found a piece of 3/8" o.d. tubing in my junk-tubing bin that was threaded on both ends. I then removed the 1/4" flexible hose from the CH inflator, screwed in the piece of tubing and added a couple of other fittings and the chuck at the other end. Just junk I had lying around. Here's a picture of the original packaging and the finished product.
So I tried it out on my SUV and it worked great. Next, came the RV test and lo and behold, it worked great! The inflator also has a brass button on the side to release air if you overshoot. I don't know if this is the ultimate tire inflator I have been coveting, but it comes close!
The other tools I use are a couple of tongue depressors sharpened at one end to remove the "wilkie button" covering on my 3/4" hole, and then a nut driver to remove the shrader valve cap. Here's a photo that illustrates the complete operation.
I'm kind of hoping Jerry Farek will take it from here and provide the straight inflator that will just screw into this Campbell Hausfeld rig. It will look a lot more professional for sure! Anyway I thought I would share this in the interest of perhaps making this chore a little easier for some.
But then I was inspired by Jerry Farek's (Falcon) rig that he sells because it was similar to something I had, but what I really wanted was to be able to poke the inflator throught the hole, find the shrader valve, and inflate and adjust pressure all in one motion. So I had seen the kind of tire inflators with a gauge that some garages use and I thought I would try WalMart out to see what I could find. I bought a Campbell Hausfeld M6000 for $15 that looked promising. Went out to the hangar today and tinkered around with it and came up with the following:
I found a piece of 3/8" o.d. tubing in my junk-tubing bin that was threaded on both ends. I then removed the 1/4" flexible hose from the CH inflator, screwed in the piece of tubing and added a couple of other fittings and the chuck at the other end. Just junk I had lying around. Here's a picture of the original packaging and the finished product.
So I tried it out on my SUV and it worked great. Next, came the RV test and lo and behold, it worked great! The inflator also has a brass button on the side to release air if you overshoot. I don't know if this is the ultimate tire inflator I have been coveting, but it comes close!
The other tools I use are a couple of tongue depressors sharpened at one end to remove the "wilkie button" covering on my 3/4" hole, and then a nut driver to remove the shrader valve cap. Here's a photo that illustrates the complete operation.
I'm kind of hoping Jerry Farek will take it from here and provide the straight inflator that will just screw into this Campbell Hausfeld rig. It will look a lot more professional for sure! Anyway I thought I would share this in the interest of perhaps making this chore a little easier for some.