We learned something about our air compressor while we were in Moab. It's
onboard the Bounder. We've always known it was there. It drives the air
suspension and the air brakes (and the air horn). It has a fitting for an
auxiliary hose. You can use the air for anything else you want, we just
haven't tried that part yet.
Jim, the guy who was doing the car shuttle for us, stopped by our campsite
for a visit. He had a little boat trailer (for kayaks, so it really was
little) and one of the tires for the trailer needed some air. He asked if
we had a bicycle pump. We didn't, but I explained to him what we did have,
an onboard air compressor hose I'd never used. I got out the air hose and
popped on the quick connect fitting. The hose is long and coiled. It will
reach any tire on the motorhome from where it connects in the front.
So I connected the hose to the compressor and fired up the engine. He gave
the tire some air. He pressed it with his thumb and it was still a little
soft, so he hit it with some more air..... for just a little too long. The
compressor on the Bounder will deliver about a hundred twenty pounds of
pressure. As I think about it now, I realize that not only does it have to
deliver high pressure, it probably should deliver high volume too, given
what it has to do while we're driving down the road. My ears only rang for
a little while after the kayak trailer wheel explosion. Jim's ears rang
longer, his head was closer to the wheel when it went.
Happily, no one was hurt, although the entire trailer wheel was destroyed.
I felt bad about the loss. Guess a diesel powered air compressor was a
little more than he needed.
Since we already had the compressor hooked up, I went on, carefully, to top
off the air in our bicycle tires and even our little kayak wheels. With
some finesse, and the right expectations, it can be done. I think we should
buy a bicycle tire pump.
