Airing up a trailer?

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Last week I had a welder come over to weld my receiver hitch to my truck chassis since I don't trust the bolts only. After we got to talking, he told me that when he was in California, he used to install air fittings on trailers that had the boxed frames. He also built truck beds on boxed frames where he also installed air fittings. He said they were all rated to 1000PSI, but that most people could not get air much over 250PSI. They now had a built-in compressed air tank to use for airing up tires, etc. Have any of you guys ever done this? I thought it was a great idea worth the little bit of work getting rigged. Bill

I probably should have put this in the talk about whatever catagory - sorry.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

In my case, my compressor shuts down at only 135PSI like many others. I would like to rig this setup. Does anyone have a picture of their rigging?
Yep, any trailer that has the boxed frame that allows water inside is a ticking rust bucket. Just last year, one of my customers had to buy a new trailer for his high dollar boat after his trailer basically rusted from the inside due to its construction - very stupid design! Bill

[dsparis]

I used to build bumpers for off road trucks that were pressurized. We would fill them to 2 or 300 #'s. Many were in accidents and never exploded, just leaked.

[BUIZILLA]

so if you take a tube frame race car and fill the frame rails with helium does that make it lighter?

there are some sneaky small track oval track racers that filled their frame rails with water, and in turns it goes to the outside of the chassis for weight transfer...

[A2VeeDub]

so if you take a tube frame race car and fill the frame rails with helium does that make it lighter?

Technically.... Yes. Helium is about 7 times lighter than air. Although air only weighs about .075 lbs/cu ft at room temperature. So if your frame held 5 cubic feet of air you would save about 1/4 lb for your trouble.

Sorry, my nerdy engineering background is coming out.

[gcarter]

I'd probably fill it w/dry nitrogen rather than some wet air compressor.
And for that matter, you'd probably want to purge the air out whiloe filling w/the nitrogen.

[SilverBack]

so if you take a tube frame race car and fill the frame rails with helium does that make it lighter?

there are some sneaky small track oval track racers that filled their frame rails with water, and in turns it goes to the outside of the chassis for weight transfer...

I have heard of people plumbing their fuel lines to the tube frame to get the extra fuel capacity in race cars.

[firstafence]

I have heard of people plumbing their fuel lines to the tube frame to get the extra fuel capacity in race cars.


:shocking::shocking::shocking::shocking::shocking: :shocking::shocking:

[handfulz28]

Plenty of motorcycles use the frame for oil circulation and storage; not sure if they used it for fuel.

But considering the volume of air at 250psi, I'd think just buying a pony tank would be a lot more reliable and safe. I've got a small nitrogen tank I use as a portable filler/tool supply source. You can use a SCUBA tank too and carry a lot more air volume in a small space.

[BUIZILLA]

I have heard of people plumbing their fuel lines to the tube frame to get the extra fuel capacity in race cars.


:shocking::shocking::shocking::shocking::shocking: :shocking::shocking:
uhhhhh, no

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Plenty of motorcycles use the frame for oil circulation and storage; not sure if they used it for fuel.

But considering the volume of air at 250psi, I'd think just buying a pony tank would be a lot more reliable and safe. I've got a small nitrogen tank I use as a portable filler/tool supply source. You can use a SCUBA tank too and carry a lot more air volume in a small space.

Since you already have the trailer frame, why not use it as an air tank. I was also thinking that it would let you know if their was any water intrusion in the boxed frame. I just calculated that a small 2"x4" rectangular frame only 20' in length will carry 8.3 gallons. A 2"x6" trailer frame with 45' of total length will carry 28 gallons of compressed air. That would be enough to do quite a bit of filling. Bill

[DON N.]

When you pressurize a gas in a tank it makes the tank weigh more .

[Conquistador_del_mar]

When you pressurize a gas in a tank it makes the tank weigh more .

Almost no weight at only 130PSI. If I remember right from when I took my PADI SCUBA in the early 1970s, the 80 cubic foot tanks would weigh 8 lbs more when filled to 3500PSI. Bill

[zelatore]

Plenty of motorcycles use the frame for oil circulation and storage; not sure if they used it for fuel.


Buell anybody?

[gcarter]

Buell anybody?
Also Vincent!

(not that anyone around here would know that from personal experience)