Innovative JK Products Tire Air Up System Review
DISCLAIMER: I was not sponsored or given any of these products for free! I bought the ARB Dual Air Compressor from OK4WD and the air up system directly from the Innovative JK Products website.
I chose to go with the ARB Dual Air Compressor and the Innovative JK Products Tire Air Up System mount. I wanted to be able to air up my tires quickly and have the compressor concealed. I wanted to minimize the amount of gear I had to take with me and one less bag or heavy bag or box with an air compressor was what I was looking for.
The ways to air down and air up your tires on the trail or at home are endless. There are countless varieties: the simple “pencil” style pressure gauge with deflator end, tire deflator that you preset to a certain PSI, analog or digital gauges, ones with LED lights that are readable at night or in low light, and many more. Over the years I have used all of these, we all start as Rookies and work our way up to Pro’s. Some people benefit from trial and error and some want to skip the error altogether by reading all the reviews and fast-tracking to the big leagues.
When I am hit the trails I have two ways to to air down. First I have my well-working Staun Tyre Deflators from Australian (hence “Tyre” in lieu of “Tire”). How do they work? You have to manually “set” them to a certain PSI and you tighten down a ring to lock in that PSI. I use my spare tire and deflate the tire to 17PSI, and set the ring to stop air from escaping as that should be around 17 PSI. I then inflate the tire to about 25-20 PSI with the Staun deflator on the tire and have it deflate. The valve inside the deflator is using pressure and I want to make sure it freely does and I have found at the lower pressures it sticks, so starting at a higher pressure to test it is the best way. I do this process for all 4 deflators. It takes about an hour to do. I have these Staun deflators set to about 17-18 PSI and I fine-tune the PSI to 15 PSI. I have decided to this so I do not under deflate my tires and then have to get out the air compressor.
When you’re ready to deflate your tires, you simply put these on the valve stems and the tire deflates. Simple process. When they all stop I fine-tune the PSI to 15 PSI. For reference, my street PSI is about 28 PSI cold compared to when I am running rock trails, like those in Moab or the Rubicon Trail, I run my tires at 15 PSI, and for fire roads or washboard roads I run about 20 PSI.
My other way to air down is to use my Innovative JK Products air system. This is a closed loop system for all four tires. You have to install the four air hoses to each tire. Once you open the valve on the pressure gauge, the pressure in all four tires will level out and then deflate at the same rate, so when the gauge shows 15 PSI all four tires are at 15 PSI. This process take far less time than using the Staun Tyre deflators. Using the Innovative JK Products Tire Air Up System, I was able to get my tires from about 30 PSI to 15 PSI in about 5 minutes.
Now for the process to air up the tires. This process has fewer ways to actually accomplish, but many different type of air compressors. For those who don’t want to carry an air compressor you can either drive to a gas/service station that has air, or use a friend’s. I had to wait for a friend to be done once when my “Little Red Air Compressor” died at the Jeep Jamboree Gateway to the Cumberlands in 2016. That was not fun and took a considerable amount of time – I had to wait for him to finish then I had to do the passenger side tires first and then move the Jeep around to do the driver’s side as his air compressor was mounted in the engine bay of his Jeep.
Another option is to buy your own air compressor. Below I will have a link to the Expedition Portals review on air compressors. My only advice: do NOT put an air compressor that uses the cigarette lighter in the vehicle. You will not get enough amps and will burn out the compressor as you will be using it for a long time to air up your tires. These compressors are designed for street tires and for off-road larger tires, and they are designed for airing up one tire not four. Having an air compressor that has alligator clips that goes directly to the battery terminal is the way to go, as you will get the most amount of power to the compressor.
Now, using the Innovative JK Products Tire Air Up System to air up my tires is the same process as deflating, you attach the four hoses to the tires and turn on the compressor. This process took about 7-10 minutes to go from 18 PSI to 28 PSI. All four tires were the same pressure and the pressure gauge on the hose was the same when I independently checked the tire pressure in each tire with my Joe’s Racing Pressure Gauge.
Pro Tip: If you want to be able to run different air hoses or attachments, other than the Innovative JK Air Up Air Down system, contact them to get a universal attachment.
Overall, I am very happy with the setup. Customer support from Innovative JK Products was OUTSTANDING regarding questions and modifications from the shipped parts to fit universal air hoses. All the material he uses is high quality. Follow his instructions as he has done the hard work for you. Use Teflon tape on all the hose threads. I did find that ARB wiring harness is confusing and has a lot of extra wires that you have to deal with if you’re just using it for airing up tires. This compressor and wiring harness is designed to be used as a tire air up system and air lockers. You will just have to look very closely and follow the wiring diagrams carefully. Getting the large gauge wires through the fire wall is not easy. I already had wires going through and did not know about the fender issues, I wish I had drilled out the hole first.
I highly recommend this complete setup for my future Jeep and yours! See you in the big leagues!
Expedition Team Overland 