Many of our LR vehicles have air suspension and thus there is an air compressor in the load area. But I have yet come across any one who has tapped into the system to inflate his tires.

I wonder if any one who is experienced in retrofit a LR for overlanding ever considered this option? it sounds to me viable, it would need some simple modification of the system.

Just a thought.

Any one bother to comment? Thanks in advance.

 

While in theory it could work, in practice it may well be a disaster. I had the air suspension pump out of my P38 for a bit as I put some new parts in to make it work again. It was obscenely expensive to buy outright. So I had a similar thought. It was a pathetic compressor to fill anything with; low volume and not very fast at getting to higher pressures. Frankly the tiny ARB compressor I got to simply lock and unlock my rear differential lock in the 97 Defender was head and shoulders better. Besides, the air suspension system works well like it is, but screw with it in any way it could get wonky.

 

In theory that sounds like a great idea. However, seems like it would be opening a can of worms. In exchange for the convenience of being able to inflate or top off tires, any commensurate problems which may affect the air suspension wouldn’t justify the gamble in attempting it. I’m sure with proper engineering and fittings and backflow preventers, and pressure monitoring it could be done, but at what cost and risk. Not to even mention warranty problems.

 

Thanks for your input on this.

I should have googled before I asked, in theory. In reality, I posted my question first, then I realized I could googled. So I did, and I did find a couple of post from, mainly LR forums, that touched on this. Their message was to save the the life of the pump, by not using it for tires, etc. The more of using, the sooner it will need service.

Your point of the pump is not the right type for tires certainly is a good point. It is a HPLV pump with cleaning dry air ( oil, water scrubbed). It is not for tires for sure.

Yep. Getting an expendable tire pump certainly makes sense.

 

You can buy the OEM compressor made especially for the Defender as an accessory for around $1000.00. It works very well and you can set the PSI to inflate or deflate and it will stop when it reaches the desired PSI. I would not mess with the air suspension compressor.
Here is a link for the OEM compressor: https://parts.landroversanjose.com/p...RoC-Q0QAvD_BwE

 

I'm curious whether those who have this option would recommend it. I decided against it as I had read a couple of things about issues with it. I thought I'd buy a standalone ARB or Viair compressor but now I wonder whether installing the OEM compressor would be a better option. Alternative would probably be the ARB compressor under the rear spare using the PowerfulUK bracket

 

I really like the accessory compressor in my cargo area.... FWIW. I use it probably monthly.

 

The accessory compressor works great and saves you time when deflating and inflating tires. I highly recommend it.

 

I'd probably go for Lucky 8's ARB under the hood compressor. Looks like a simple install and is cheaper than the factory unit.

I have the factory compressor which has failed multiple times. Error messages and broken screen -> replaced unit. More error messages -> software update. It doesn't inflating like things which are at 0 psi. I'd like it a lot if it was reliable as it's very easy to use when working properly.

 

Too bad your factory compressor failed so many times. What kind of error messages were you getting when it fails?