ARB On Board Air Compressor Install in bed w/ molle panel

[Sauce]

I finally got around to installing my ARB twin compressor onboard air setup this weekend. Wound up mounting it to my @American Adventure LAb bulkhead molle panel in the bed, towards the drivers side, which kept the wiring run relatively straightforward and avoided unnecessary length and complexity. Had to drill some new holes in the molle panel, and used a metal backing plate from Glue Factory Offroad. If AAL comes up with a purpose built mount I'd buy it in a sec, but I think its harder than expected since the holes don't align with the panel (probably needs to be a stand off type mount).

The ARB harness is not long enough so I got a 9’ extension harness from SDHQ. The run goes from the oem arb harness (fused) in the engine bay then connects with the extension harness somewhere under the truck in the drivers seat area. The SDHQ harness runs from there, and then between the cab and bed, and out through the oval bulkhead passthrough in the bed corner near where the compressor is mounted. The SDHQ harness includes wiring for the switch trigger, but I only used the power wires. It also includes a secondary body ground, but I didn’t use it because there wasn’t a good ground anywhere near my install location (I grounded to the battery and just taped up the secondary ground). Running the wiring was the worst part of the install by far - made particularly painful because the underbody of my truck is coated in rust prevention oil. The harnesses are really chunky and fishing them through to the bed was a real pain. The oval hole that I ran them through has some sort of felt sound deadening material behind it and it kept catching on everything. I followed the oem harness for the most part but there are also some body mounts that I couldn’t get around and had to get a little creative with my run. I ran the sdhq harness without the terminating plug to make it easier to get through the tight spots and then terminated it when the run was finished in the bed. While I used the 9’ extension harness from sdhq I could have gotten away with about 7’. Note that there is an opening in the upper corner of the bed that might have made the run a bit easier, so if you undertake this install you might consider that option instead of the oval hole.

I considered using the same sdhq harness for the switch and running the switch wire to my Garmin Powerswitch under the hood, and while this would have been easier (single power and switch run), I ruled this option out because the power wouldn’t be ignition triggered and I didn’t want to accidentally power the compressor while the truck was off and drain my battery. Instead I bought the sdhq switchpros trigger wire (I don’t have a switch pro setup but this harness is simple and works) and ran that from the compressor, out the same oval hole in the bulkhead, through the bed wall and to the power plug on the rear drivers side of the bed. I installed a rocker switch onto that plastic panel and powered it from the outlet power wires (which are ignition triggered) using positaps. The switch draws almost no power, so this setup should be fine.

Everything works perfectly. The install could have been a little cleaner, but I’m happy with it. I might tweak positioning a little bit, but it’s good to go.

For now the air chuck is temporary. I’m going to run the air in a hose behind bedside molle panels to a hard mounted chuck but I don’t have them yet.

The air part was a deeeep rabbit hole for me. The compressor outlet is 1/4 npt but most of the ARB elbows, hoses and fittings are JIC. Then there’s the question of running 1/4 ID vs 3/8 ID hose and whether to use push connect or threaded fittings. Ultimately I’m going to do 1/4 NPT to JIC adapter at the compressor then run a short braided ARB leader hose to bleed some heat off the compressor and connect that to a custom 1/4 ID rubber hose with 1/4 JIC fittings. The ARB chuck will thread directly onto that hose at my outlet. I decided against 3/8 ID hose because I already had a 1/4 braided leader line which would create a bottleneck and the 3/8 hose wouldn’t be as supple for the run. Seems like for tire inflation it should do great but the 3/8 ID setup would work better for any air tools or air gun (which isn’t the purpose of this setup and would probably require an air tank anyways). I tried an air gun with my setup and it works great for 10-15 seconds and then needs to “recharge”. None of the air stuff is shown in the photos since I’m still putting all of this together, but the hard part is out of the way.

I’m a total novice with this stuff (and it shows) but i learned a lot with this install.

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[GreyGhost]

Looks great! Best onboard air compressor on the market in my opinion. I retro fit mine in a Milwaukee Packout box and mounted that on my bed slide. I used an Anderson plug where you put your switch. I just plug it in when needed and never have to open box as I ran all fitting to the exterior of box.

 

[Sauce]

Looks great! Best onboard air compressor on the market in my opinion. I retro fit mine in a Milwaukee Packout box and mounted that on my bed slide. I used an Anderson plug where you put your switch. I just plug it in when needed and never have to open box as I ran all fitting to the exterior of box.

Thats a really slick setup! I was going to ask if you had any heat issues but then I noticed the fans. Well done.

 

[GreyGhost]

I haven’t yet and I’ve used it quite a bit. Though I did use computer fans I wish I would have and may still find some type of waterproof fans for when I spray out bed. But I usually just remove all the boxes anyway. So, probably won’t until they fail.

 

[Unit 91]

I just installed my ARB twin this weekend. In my case I used the SDHQ bed mount that puts the compressor behind the left rear tire in the cavity between the bedsides. Pain in the butt in some spots, but worked out well. I also relocated the air intakes to behind the left tail light.

OP, any reason you decided to put the compressor in the bed instead?

 

[Sauce]

I just installed my ARB twin this weekend. In my case I used the SDHQ bed mount that puts the compressor behind the left rear tire in the cavity between the bedsides. Pain in the butt in some spots, but worked out well. I also relocated the air intakes to behind the left tail light.

OP, any reason you decided to put the compressor in the bed instead?

I actually have an ausmotion bracket to mount it in the bed wall on the passenger side but after poking around to figure it all out I decided it was going to make everything much harder and I decided against it. For that bracket I would have had to drill holes in the bed. I didn’t like how exposed that location is to the elements. I also thought it would be much harder to service it there if anything went wrong. Figured the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.

 

[Unit 91]

I actually have an ausmotion bracket to mount it in the bed wall on the passenger side but after poking around to figure it all out I decided it was going to make everything much harder and I decided against it. For that bracket I would have had to drill holes in the bed. I didn’t like how exposed that location is to the elements. I also thought it would be much harder to service it there if anything went wrong. Figured the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.

Gotcha. The SDHQ one doesn't require a hole to be drilled anywhere. Used all stock mounting points, and has a protective shield. It was a pain, and I don't want to have to take it out, but it isn't too awful.

I did put the switch in the same spot you did. But not having the 12v allowed me to put the chuck in that spot. All pretty tidy.

 

[Sauce]

Gotcha. The SDHQ one doesn't require a hole to be drilled anywhere. Used all stock mounting points, and has a protective shield. It was a pain, and I don't want to have to take it out, but it isn't too awful.

I did put the switch in the same spot you did. But not having the 12v allowed me to put the chuck in that spot. All pretty tidy.

I left room above the rocker switch and may put the chuck there. Running air through the bedside to that spot is the easy part.

did you use some sort of backing plate or anything to stabilize the chuck, or is it just supported by the plastic? Would be curious to see the details of how you did it since im considering it too.

 

[Unit 91]

I basically did the same thing as this guy - CLICK

Used the same Home Depot washer. I actually have an extra I'd be happy to send you for no money. I will never need it. WASHER

Considering replacing the ARB switch with a marine rated one since I don't have a cover or anything on my bed.

Happy to shoot a quick video if that is helpful.

 

[rwolfcastle]

I actually have an ausmotion bracket to mount it in the bed wall on the passenger side but after poking around to figure it all out I decided it was going to make everything much harder and I decided against it. For that bracket I would have had to drill holes in the bed. I didn’t like how exposed that location is to the elements. I also thought it would be much harder to service it there if anything went wrong. Figured the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.

I installed the ausmotion bracket mount to mine. I figured that Ford custom built the mount location with ARB, it should be the best place to mount it. It was easy enough to install if you have a second person with long arms to hold it up while you attach the compressor. I love the location because it's completely invisible and high enough out of the way to be clear of rain and snow.

 

[Sauce]

I installed the ausmotion bracket mount to mine. I figured that Ford custom built the mount location with ARB, it should be the best place to mount it. It was easy enough to install if you have a second person with long arms to hold it up while you attach the compressor. I love the location because it's completely invisible and high enough out of the way to be clear of rain and snow.

I agree it’s a slick location, but they literally couldn’t have chosen a spot with a more complicated wire run on the truck. In fact, I started looking around for an extension harness that long and was told by a few people that running the oem wire spec in a run that long was not safe, so I would have had to build an entirely new harness rather than an extension. Probably overly conservative but it’s a lot of power and I didn’t want to mess around. Drivers side SDHQ mount makes the wire run simpler.

my truck is in a highly corrosive environment on an island and things rust overnight. I wasn’t excited about drilling any holes in the bed and prepping, painting and tending to them made me nervous as far as corrosion.

if anyone wants the ausmotion bracket let me know. They aren’t easy to get in the US.

 

[25PlatTrem350]

ARB's twin compressor was impressive and their newer brushless twin is very impressive. I bought their new portable twin brushless setup about a year ago. The portable one allows me to swap it from Jeep to truck to SxS or wherever I need it so I went that route instead of a hard mount. I have 37's on my Wrangler and that thing can take all four from 10 to 35lbs as fast if not faster then the air compressor I have in my shop.

 

[kickingaz]

@Sauce, I just got the same AAL paned and intended to mount my ARB Dual Compressor in the exact same location. My issue was trying to get the bolts out where the AAL panel mounts to. As careful as I was, the Torx bolt stripped on one of the bolts. I have another that is about to strip and is taking a lot of force to turn. On a third bolt, it was the same force to turn, and the bolt snapped leaving half the bolt still in the truck. Now I will have to drill that bolt out and retap the hole. Did you have any issues like this when you installed you molle panel?

 

[Sauce]

@Sauce, I just got the same AAL paned and intended to mount my ARB Dual Compressor in the exact same location. My issue was trying to get the bolts out where the AAL panel mounts to. As careful as I was, the Torx bolt stripped on one of the bolts. I have another that is about to strip and is taking a lot of force to turn. On a third bolt, it was the same force to turn, and the bolt snapped leaving half the bolt still in the truck. Now I will have to drill that bolt out and retap the hole. Did you have any issues like this when you installed you molle panel?

Those bolts suck. There is a TON of red loctite on them and even once you start getting them to move, they are stubborn until the very end. Three of the four came out with a struggle, but the bolts were not stripped and were reusable. The fourth gave me drama. The bolt bent, and the torx stripped. I had to use a saw to cut the bolt head so that it had a flat side, then I backed it out with a wrench.

Sounds like yours are all toast, but after I got the bolts out once and the loctite broke down, they are much easier after that. My threads were all fine.

A heat gun will help to loosen up the loctite.

Once you get it sorted, you will still have to drill some holes in the panel since the holes dont align with the compressor bracket. I also used a back plate on the other side of the panel since only three of the four mounting holes are anchored into the panel. @American Adventure LAb mentioned that they were considering creating a purpose built bracket for the compressor, which would be really nice.

 

[Unit 91]

On the subject of the bolts... they are NOT regular Torx. They are Torx PLUS. It makes a difference. You really need to make sure you clear out any bed liner material from them, too. Ensure your bit is seated all the way. Go slow.

Replacements are cheap from Ford at least. I bought four of them and replaced ones I felt a bit dodgy about. Figured all this out after I stripped one and had to use a bolt remover tool.

I've got the BuiltRight molle panels on the left and right sides.

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