Rack 'Em Up

RON PREPS HIS LC79 WITH A NEW COMPRESSOR AND ROOF RACK.

- Ron Moon

THE CRUISER has been wandering the back blocks of Australia for its annual winter sojourn, including a trip across the Madigan Line from Mt Dare to Birdsville. Before it went on the trip, though, we had it up at Outback 4WD in Bays water for a pretrip inspection, where among its general service requirements we changed the rear brake pads and skimmed the rear discs.

As a prerequisite for the desert trip we fitted an ARB twin compressor, which we shoehorned into one of the under-tray boxes of the Boss canopy. The twin motors of the high-performance compressor incorporate internal thermal protection, while in-line heavy-duty fuses offer protection from extreme current draw. The compressor draws up to 68amp at maximum pressure, so it requires heavy-duty wiring to cope with the current drain. On the plus side it delivers up to 174 litres of air per minute at 0kPa and 131 litres per minute at 200kPa (29psi), which is bloody good. This makes short work of inflating tyres or running some air tools; the latter requiring an air tank for optimum operation. We fitted a four-litre tank into the under-tray box.