no air compressor

37 chief · Aug 16, 2020

I don't know how Dad managed to get along without a air compressor, but he did. All we had was a hand pump. I think it took 200 strokes to pump up a car tire. I finally cobbled together a refrigeration compressor around 1960, mounted to a small butane tank. it took forever to get pressure, but it sure beat the hand pump. I imagine some of you old timers used the dreaded tire hand pump also. Stan

old · Aug 16, 2020

My pickup has an A/C compressor under the hood with an old water heater tank for the tank and I have had it set up that way for well over a decade and work good and very handy when your buying a dead tractor with flat tires on it

Russ from MN · Aug 16, 2020

When I was young on the farm all we had was a hand pump and a John Deere PTO pump, didn't get an air compressor until about 1964. Now I have 5 and a small 12 volt in each vehicle.

retired farmer · Aug 16, 2020

Not any more than I had to. Most of the time it never worked anyway.

larry Mi · Aug 16, 2020

Back in the fifty's we had a portable air compressor the truck. You took out a spark plug and screwed in an adaptor and turned the motor into a compressor. Dad always keep the adaptor and hose behind the seat of the truck.

Hayfarmer · Aug 16, 2020

We had the hand pump but also an air pump the screwed into a spark plug hole on a motor. It actually worked pretty good but then you could get to spark plugs on the old motors. We had an old jeep with flathead 4 cyl engine we just used as a portable air compressor. Now I would be lost without my air wrench and compressor to blow chaff off equipment

Hobo,NC · Aug 16, 2020

(quoted from post at 22:00:49 08/16/20) We had the hand pump but also an air pump the screwed into a spark plug hole on a motor. It actually worked pretty good but then you could get to spark plugs on the old motors. We had an old jeep with flathead 4 cyl engine we just used as a portable air compressor. Now I would be lost without my air wrench and compressor to blow chaff off equipment

For those that make a set up like that don't forget to add a check valve in the hose... I often wondered how big a boom it would make if you set the tire off...

RCP · Aug 16, 2020

Until 1970, the only way we had to air up tires was a bicycle air pump, if the tire was too big we would take it off and go to the gas station. I took an old refrigeration compressor, mounted it on some 4x4s, added a 110 plug and an air hose. It was slow, but it sure beat a hand pump. I think we bought a small compressor for Dad in the 1990s.

DMartin9N-2N · Aug 16, 2020

Good morning: As I understand the "spark plug compressor", the compression stroke of the engine moved a small piston in the compressor device, the other side of that small piston did the pumping, so no engine fumes were going to the compressed air.

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.

GordoSD · Aug 16, 2020

Now all you need is a set of freight train horns.

fixerupper · Aug 16, 2020

My dad used one of those gadgets that screwed into a spark plug hole. I still have it, the hose is rotted but with a little caressing it might work again. The hose end screwed onto the valve stem. It took awhile to pump up a rear tractor tire.

MARK ROBKE · Aug 16, 2020

We had an old (WWII?) vintage air compressor. It had a gas engine, and the way we started it was by derailing the drive belt and spinning it over with an old washing machine electric motor that was mounted on a board. After it spun for awhile, it would fire up. Then we had to take the belt and put back on the compressor and engine pulleys. The tank on this thing was made of about 1/2" thick steel! And steel wheels. It weighed a ton-or so it seemed! Anyway all it had for air pressure control was a pop off valve; then you just had to kill the motor. In the late '70s Dad bought a modern up right, electric powered compressor. It is still sitting in his garage. Mark.

DoubleO7 · Aug 16, 2020

(quoted from post at 12:35:51 08/16/20) My pickup has an A/C compressor under the hood with an old water heater tank for the tank and I have had it set up that way for well over a decade and work good and very handy when your buying a dead tractor with flat tires on it

So no more than 60/70psi?

37 chief · Aug 16, 2020

We used a WW2 B&S army green motor, and pump, to pump our well water, to our water tank. It had to be started by pulling the flat belt connected to the pump. It was a hard starter also. For some reason it missed all Dad'd scrap iron drives around the place. It still sits covered up. Stan

dpendzic · Aug 16, 2020

i had a freight train horn that bolted on the exhaust pipe of my 1947 dodge pickup--it had a butterfly valve in it so you could blow it when you wanted to

Eldon (WA) · Aug 16, 2020

For years all we had was a little gray belt driven compressor with no tank...but still my dad tried to seat the bead on many tubeless tires with it. Once the pressure got up to 20 psi or so the belt would slip so we had a stick to wedge between the pump and motor to put a little more pressure on the belt. The good old days! I have never been without a good compressor and air tank. Today I mounted 4 dually tires on rims, with only one giving me trouble seating, in an hour.

John in Mich · Aug 17, 2020

Memories for sure. In the mid-50's my father "cobbled together" a refridgerator compressor mounted straddle a 20 gallon water tank with a pressure switch set to about 70 pounds. What a life saver for me.
One of my jobs at home was to keep tires pumped up and do tire repairs.
We had 2 tractors, a Woods Bros. combine, a Woods Bros. corn picker, 2 hay/grain wagons, 2 cars, a truck, and a utility trailer. At that time, most of our tires were still 16" and evolved to 15" on the cars (no new cars).
I still have the tire irons that I used back then BUT...I don't do tires anymore!

no air compressor

37 chief

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old

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Russ from MN

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retired farmer

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larry Mi

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Hayfarmer

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Hobo,NC

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RCP

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DMartin9N-2N

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GordoSD

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fixerupper

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MARK ROBKE

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DoubleO7

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37 chief

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dpendzic

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Eldon (WA)

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John in Mich

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