Emergency Tire Pump: Manual Options

RecurveSteve

New member
Hi all. First post on Ex Portal. I want to know what options (besides an onboard air compressor) are available for inflating tires on a camping/overlanding vehicle. I've researched hand pumps and foot pumps but haven't really seen any items that look rugged enough to last and work for inflating a truck versus bicycle tire. Any ideas for this type of equipment?

Steve
 

Joe917

Explorer
Forget manual pumps. The volume of an vehicle's tires is magnitudes beyond a bicycle tire. For emergencies a cheap pump that plugs into the lighter socket will do but this is a poor option. The most effective option in self extraction(IMHO) is to drop tire pressure, and drop it a lot. Re-inflation requires a large volume of air that will quickly overwhelm a cheap lighter socket compressor. Bite the bullet and buy the best compressor you can.
 

Happy Joe

Apprentice Geezer
Personally the most manual that I ever used was a "Chuffer" engine compression driven pump; haven't seen one for decades/since before the turn of the century.... for some decades after that I used a Coleman cigarette lighter compressor (still works, 'though slowly).
Most folks that I know use either onboard air (bolted in 12 volt compressor, or a converted air conditioner compressor; somewhat inexpensive).
I have seen a few carbon dioxide tanks, for tire inflation, though it seems like they would be more problem than they are worth.
I recently bought a Masterflow MF-1050 for occasional tire inflation (although many folks' experience with these and the similar Harbor Freight item is less than stellar; I intend to rework it a bit for improved reliability).
On the prepped 4wd vehicles, I typically just use the mid level ARB, air locker, compressor and mostly don't bother with dropping the air pressure for moderate trails.

Enjoy!
 
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Lucky j

Explorer
If you really want to go manual, a stand up bike pump would do fine. Those are made to pump past 100 lbs. They can last for a life time if kept clean. You can find fairly high volume pump.

They will not be that good to reset a beed, cause you need more cfm, but to re-inflate a down tire, it will do. Just a little longer. But it will always work.

Is it efficient and fast, nope, not at all. Is it reliable, yes for sure. And they are light. For a regular size tire, at 45 psi, probably 10 minutes.

Btw, I go with a viar OB and a 2 gallin air tank.
 

pluton

Adventurer
On a 31x10.5x15 BFG AT/KO tire, it took about 10 minutes of pumping with a normal $40 bike floor pump to go from 20PSI to 30PSI in the tire. Make sure the chuck on the bike pump can work with your valve stems and rims.
 

Anak

Stranger
I spent a good portion of my youth inflating automotive tires with a bike pump. My father never was one to spend money on a good tool, especially not when he had children who he could task with the job.

It works. It just takes time.
 

Kerensky97

Xterra101
Liquid CO2 tanks are probably the fastest and don't require you to have power. It's amazing how long they last too (Last time I filled my tank was half a decade ago).

The only difficulty is securing them. You need very secure hold-downs in case of an accident. And don't skimp on the manifold and hoses, the decompressing liquid will freeze cheap gear pretty bad.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Do you have a cylinder PSI gauge? It and an air hose with a QD can solve your problem. Or create exciting new ones.

9090029_acn_cp7827_pri_larg.jpg


/Your engine has multiple ~150psi air sources.
 

Happy Joe

Apprentice Geezer
By the time a person is done messing around with this kind of "make-do" expedient on a modern engine (often with deeply buried spark plugs and strip prone aluminum heads); even a cheep electric compressor will have inflated all 4 tires (except for the all plastic compressors, which could fail before the first is inflated)... Not sure about bicycle pump times but even a single 31 inch tire will provide more exercise, than I am willing to take time for (I typically run 10-12 psi when aired down for difficult off road terrain; cheapest traction enhancement ever invented, IMO))....
I don't think that I would mess around with fuel+ air in a tire, but the things like Engo-flators probably worked great/easily with flathead 4 cylinder engines...

Enjoy!
 
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