Locking Air Chuck Recommendations

[bajajoaquin]

I’ve got an ARB dual compressor onboard air compressor and a Viair locking air chuck. It’s got the trigger style valve with the gauge on top. 10” of hose and a lever-locking chuck at the end. I like it because I have six bigish tires to inflate (plus others who are traveling with me) so I don’t want to be stopped over and holding it for that long.

However, it’s becoming finicky about latching on to stems and doesn’t lock on (slips off) or leaks unless I press it in place.

Are there other good quality locking air chucks that are recommended? I need it to read to 85psi.

 

[llamalander]

I just got 4 more of these for a 4-tire inflation rig, after I got one and liked it a few years ago.
I've only tried it up to 60psi, but with 3 latches I'm confident that it will hold well past 80-

 

[bajajoaquin]

Interesting. What fitting attaches it to the inflator?

 

[nwoods]

I use a Lock-n-Flate chuck mated to a Harbor Frieght digital gauge inflator and I really like the set up. The Lock-n-Flate is something that showed up in my Instagram feed a while back and I am super happy with it.

LockNFlate® Air Chuck

Locks on-Stays On-Won't Leak Like no other air chuck on the market, the LockNFlate's six steel jaws lock onto any Schrader valve to create a secure, hands-free connection. The heavy-duty construction is built to last and stand up to everyday use in even the busiest tire shops, service bays, and...

locknlube.com

Digital Tire Inflator

Amazing deals on this Digital Tire Inflator at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[WOODY2]

Interesting. What fitting attaches it to the inflator?

The brass female end.

 

[bajajoaquin]

The brass female end.

Hmm. Mine is a crimped on connection. I’ll have to see if I can manage that.

 

[bajajoaquin]

The brass female end.

Unfortunately the inflator has a crimped connection to the chuck and the other end is smaller than 1/4 NPT so my spare hose won’t work. A shame because I’ve got the parts and also I have a 36” hose which would mean I don’t need to bend down to inflate either.

 

[Alloy]

Milton Ind.

Milton® Industries Inc. | Tire Gauges, Inflators & Pneumatic Accessori

Milton® Industries Inc. | Tire Gauges, Inflators & Pneumatic Accessories

miltonindustries.com

My tires are 80psi to 110psi so I use an inflator with a 5' hose.

Subscribe to the email list and you'll get 50% off notifications.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Not locking, but putting a standard dually-style rigid inflation chuck on a 2’ pipe will cure the bending over. I still have a locking chuck but gave up on it for the same reasons and now just use the dually style or make my kids do it.

 

[llamalander]

Interesting. What fitting attaches it to the inflator?

1/2" NPT female thread, plenty larger than the tire valve it clamps to. I connected all 4 up to a 3/8" i.d. hose, takes about 40 seconds to take all 4 of the valve caps off and clamp these on.

 

[Metcalf]

A piece of Velcro tape over the paddle of the inflator makes it hands off....saves my knees....

 

[greg.potter]

I have used a few different versions of twist on tire inflation air chucks and highly recommend this design over any of the other clamp on styles i have used.

https://a.co/d/1tLHmna

 

[joemama]

I recently went down this same rabbit hole trying to find a solution to the leaking ARB connector (non-removable, I should also add).

In the end, I stumbled across the Power Tanks series of inflators and bit the bullet. So far only one 2-week trip to Utah with it, but what a difference from my 10-year old ARB analog inflator. Good news is, the Power Tank inflator(s) are 100% rebuildable and their customer support is outstanding.

The addage of 'buy once, cry once' applies here.

Ventoso Tire Inflator Gauges

next-gen TIRE INFLATOR GAUGES The new Ventoso Tire Inflators are the next chapter in Power Tank's pursuit of the ultimate tire air up tools. Leading with an all-new design, Ventoso brings many new features you won't find in any other tire inflator on the market like dual-oversized bleed buttons...

powertank.com

 

[bajajoaquin]

I upgraded my tire inflator. I had a spare section of 36” hose with crimped 1/4” NPT connections on each side. That made the installation of the LockNFlate locking air chuck easy. Unfortunately the only fitting on the inflator was smaller. It seemed to be 1/8” but it wasn’t completely clear. But there were no 1/8” male to 1/4” female reducers at the hardware store. Lucky for me, I can buy 8 of them at Amazon!

Some forcing, some Teflon tape, and I have spent $50 to fix a $27 part. I’ve also managed to make it 3’ long so I don’t have to squat.

 

[mog]

MORRFlate had a great display at their booth at the PNW Expo last weekend with their locking collar and 3 others. It had cut-away of the valve stems so you could see how far the valve was depressed (more depressed=more airflow).

The two 'standard lock on collars


barely depressed the valve and even on Day #1 of the show with people looking at them you could see how much the external treads were getting torn-up by the single clip.

The better chuck had 3 clips, and did not have torn-up exterior threads while depressing the valve more than the standard ones.


The MORRFlate chuck (3 clips)


was the same as the above '3-clip' on the exterior threads, no damage, with the MORRFlate depressing the valve even more. With another benefit being they designed the locking ring (green ring in photo) to be smaller, so if you have clearance issues, like using AEV Pintler wheels (and others)



they have more room to fit. Not a selling point they talked about, but I felt (disclaimer- I am not a professional air chuck tester) the MORRFlate had a much smoother lock/unlock that the other 3-clip chuck. They are pretty much the same price as the other 3-clip chuck, so win-win-win.

Full disclosure - No relationship with MORRFlate, but I did buy one of their compressors (great Expo price), and got a couple of their chucks also.