Air tank size

[fifty]

I am going to get an air tank for my truck and debating sizes. I am going to run Arb's front and rear, air lines for 37 inch tire filling and potential air tools front and rear.
The truck is a f350 cclb so I have tons of space.

Do I go 9 gal? 12 gal? As big as I can stuff in the spot I am going to fit it in?

Any reason bigger is not better on this one?

[TheAlmightySam]

What compressor will you be running? That will tell us a lot. Some of the smaller compressors don't have the duty cycle to fill a massive tank. On the other end of the spectrum, if you're running something like a York that makes an unbelievable amount of air, there's almost no reason at all to run a tank, or at least not a very big one.

[fifty]

I think it's going to end up being one of the extreme air magnums.

[fifty]

I would love to go engine driven, but that alone doubles the cost. Well, maybe...close...

[TheAlmightySam]

With a compressor like that, which puts out a "medium" amount of air, tank size will depend on what air tools you intend to run, and for how long.

For example, your projected tires are somewhere around 5.75 - 6 cubic feet, meaning that compressor should be able to fill them from zero to drive pressure in something like two minutes. That's pretty fast, and were you just doing that with the compressor, I wouldn't even bother with the complication of a tank.

An air impact, for example, uses a lot of air, but only in very short bursts. In this case, to just remove a tire, I can't imagine you needing more than a couple three gallons of air - probably less. Throw a 5 gallon on and call it good. Obviously more capacity doesn't hurt anything, but it's more expensive, difficult to package, and if you never use that capacity, it's a waste.

[bjohnston115]

i run a york 209 and a 3 gallon tank. At idle (750 rpm) the tank pressure will drop to 70ish (from 120) when filling my tires. When i lock the hand throttle at 1200 rpm the tank never goes below 100 psi.

[fifty]

Ordered a magnum and their 4.5 gal tank...Figured its best this way. Plus 100% duty cycle...so no slowing down...and its more or less idiot driving proof. Less worry about mud and water...