ARB Tire Inflator Gauge Old-Guy Mod

May 25, 2017.

I’m not getting any younger, that’s for sure.

It used to be that I could do all kinds of manual labor for 20 hours/day, wake up the next day, and do it all again. I’d hurt myself in some semi-major way and my body would heal itself quickly.

Now, I get a little cut somewhere and it takes a week to heal.

And if I work for 20 hours one day, I want to sleep for 20 hours the next.

With all that in mind, I quickly realized that I needed a better way to fill my tires with air than bending down (or kneeling) and holding an air chuck on each tire for 3 minutes while they air back up. And then testing with a tire gauge, and then filling up again…etc.

Don’t get me wrong — my ARB CKMA12 is one of the best things that’s ever happened from an “enjoyable off-road adventures” perspective — SO NICE to have those tires aired down.

So, I invested in an ARB tire inflator + gauge — you know, the one everyone has:

I used it for one trip and it was OK. It solved one of my problems — I no longer needed to switch between my air chuck and tire gauge. But it didn’t solve my problem of having to bend/kneel and fill up each tire.

But, with a few parts and a simple mod, I was able to solve that problem too. Oh, and so have others. I think this was a guy named @Crom ‘s idea originally and not mine.

Essentially what you’re doing in this mod is you’re elongating the flexible hose from the gauge to the chuck, so you can attach the chuck to the tire and then stand up while it fills with air. To do that, you have to replace the hose, and put a connector on each end — one to connect it to the gauge, and one to connect it to the valve on the tire.

The parts you need are:

With all that in hand, the steps are simple:

1. Using a small crescent wrench, unscrew and then remove the stainless steel hose from the gauge (being careful to keep the rubber eye in tact.
2. Insert the 8mm OD Hose Barb 1/8BSP Brass fitting into the end of your ¼" hose (do NOT install the stainless steel hose clamp yet.
3. Thread the fitting through the rubber eye, wrap it with some Teflon tape and screw it into the gauge.
4. Attach the stainless steel hose clamp over the hose barb now.
5. On the other end of the ¼" hose, install MPT fitting and the lock-on chuck

Now, air-ups are jelly. Pop the air chuck on, lean against the side of the truck, and know this — you might be old, but you’re definitely more comfortable!

Originally published at adventuretaco.com.