Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I had a pi$$off rattle from the engine bay at a certian rev range , and I've located the culprit- a loose blue Thomas compressor mounted on the wheel arch. So once I work out how to get it out (WTF are the mounting bolts-Torx??? ) I firgure I should give it a bit of love to keep it running happily. I'll redo all the terminals involved in connecting it to power as they are rooted , but is there anything within the compressor that should be attended to/cleaned/lubed/replaced. I don't know its history, but it works still, it was on the truck when I purchased it, to run a rear locker.
The other thing, the white locker hose has a small leak at the t junction just out of the compressor. How do those standard fittings work, the ones that are used on the white locker air hose. I've not seen them before, and how do I 'tighten' them up.
Hope this hasn't been covered before, I couldn't find anything. Cheers.

Not too sure if this is the fitting your talking about... if it is, just press the 'orange' section till it meets the 'orange' section closest to the brass, holding that, and pull the hose out. trim the end of the hose square then push the hose back into the fitting till it bottoms out. it will 'self lock/seal'.

HOPE THIS HELPS...

mine is definately older than that, its got nothing that looks as flash as that. The hose is white/clear and the hose just goes into the t-piece with no lock rings or anyhting like that... Looks like push-fit, but its a little beyond my comprehension (limited at best)

Also , Thomas 405ADC36 compressor- supposedly maintenence free- I don't believe them.... Does anyone know where to start with 'the treatment'? Or are they genuinely maintenence free? The Thomas site offers no help..

Thanks for any/all assistance.

after more investigation and cleaning, it would appear that the fittings are an older generation of the orange presslock type, just in black and a bit different. So thats that solved.

As I'm moving the location of the compressor, I'll need to recut the lines. Is there any tricks to redoing air locker lines to ensure they are a good seal other than a good square cut? No need to heat them or anything silly? I've never played with this stuff, so I guess it pays to ask, JIC.

thanks.

They are just a press fit, no special treatment. If you find you need to lengthen the nylon hose there is an adapter (nipple) fitting. We run these fittings on the pnuematic safety shutdown circuits on underground vehicles.

like you said, just a nice square cut

ash_on_mtb wrote:Thomas 405ADC36 compressor.

We chose the 405ADC38/24 for a product in my last job. It was definitely serviceable - kits were available to replace the brushes, and the flapper valves in the head.

I wasn't there long enough to wear one out, but you can't keep them running forever - the factory claims each set of brushes will wear faster than the previous. But they're supposed to be good for thousands of hours - I can't imagine that happening under your bonnet.

Other than the screw heads, they were very conventional designs, easy to disassemble and reassemble. Before you remount it, strip it down for an inspection - you never know what you may find. We found they were good at trapping condensation in the head, so mounting orientation was important. Get it wrong, and corrosion quickly started.

Good luck,

Scott

ash_on_mtb wrote:after more investigation and cleaning, it would appear that the fittings are an older generation of the orange presslock type, just in black and a bit different. So thats that solved.

Not necessarily older. Many companies make this style of "one touch" fitting, and they all use different colours. Even one company will use different colours for different "product lines." Like any product, some are good, some are not. Use them too often, or leave a jagged end on the hose, and you can bugger the seal inside. Any pneumatic supplier should be able to sell you replacements.

Cheers,

Scott