Florida Boy taking his 2021 Pro to Colorado/Utah in June/July

Please don’t laugh to hard. Just learning. This thread will be references to resources you folks give me. See my truck. RSG sliders, iKamper Mini, working on basic recovery gear, and camping gear. I grew up in Tennessee and overlanded in Costa Rica some. It will be my 6 year old son and me. No Black Bear pass but maybe Ophir and Imogene, maybe and passes to the south. Some easy Utah like long canyon road, cotton valley road etc.

First question, a good tire inflator. The prices are all over the place.

Thanks 4Runners

 

I’ve had my Viair 300p for two years and it hasn’t let me down. For the price (~$150) I don’t think you can go wrong with Viair. It’s good for up to 33” tires. It’s not as fast as some of the other offerings, but airs up my 265 grabbers from around 15-18 psi to 38 psi in somewhere around 10-15 minutes.

 

2nd the Viair suggestion. You get what you pay for with them.

$150 VIAIR 300P - 30033 Tire Inflator Portable Offroad Air Compressor for Truck & SUV, 12V On/Off Road Tire Pump Air Compressor Portable Heavy Duty 150 PSI

https://www.amazon.com/VIAIR-30033-300P-Portable-Compressor/dp/B000X90YUO

 

Smittybilt 2781 5.65 CFM Universal Air Compressor

$189 SmittyBilt AIR COMPRESSOR 5.65CFM - SB2781

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004K25GMG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_7A73PHAZK1P2ZM55JXBJ

This is what i run, fills up my 33’s at about 2-3 minutes each.

 

I too want to buy a good tire inflator. My old craftsman works but take ages to inflate.

Keep posted when you come. Our gang got a stock TRD Pro too. Will can join on weekends.

 

I 3rd the Viaair! I've had mine for about a year and have used it dozens of times. Very happy with it.

 

I am in Utah and one good easy trail to take is the Skyline drive route full of great views and primitive camping (nothing there you just camp where you want)

 

Another vote for the Viair 300P. I used mine to air up from 18psi to 38psi yesterday. Then helped a friend in our group who had a cheapie compressor. I did 2 of his tires (15psi to 35psi) in the time it took him to air up 1 tire.

 

Thanks for the input. I would absolutely LOVE to meet any of you to do a pass. Solo seems not as fun or as safe.

Next question. When you trail ride as a group do you each use a handheld VHF radio to talk back and forth or what?

Thanks again

 

I led a trail ride yesterday and loaned out 2 of my Midland GRMS handheld radios to the other guys on the ride.
https://www.4runners.com/threads/wh...h-gen-4runner-today.2261/page-474#post-233578

I won a vehicle mounted Midland Micro Mobile GRMS 2 way radio at an overland rally. I quickly plugged it into my 4Runner before the trip yesterday.

Hand held:
https://midlandusa.com/product/t71vp3/
Vehicle mounted:
https://midlandusa.com/product/micromobile-mxttb-two-way-radio/

Shop around for the best price. The handhelds I bought at Best Buy. Been on multiple trail rides and these are pretty much the standard for communication.

 

These are the handhelds I use:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Midland-T31VP-Walkie-Talkies/47832482?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0

Found it's easiest to just have a big pack of AAA batteries and put fresh ones in before a trip / event.

 

Ok. I’m returning the VHF and getting a couple GMTS units. So can these be used to call or hear to/from others coming up shelf roads to know when to start down? I’d hate to be coming down and have to back up a shelf road a long ways. Things that bad dreams are made of.

Thanks folks

 

GMRS questions. Look through this guys informative videos. On a side note. He's local to me though have yet to meet him.

 

Oops...... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLku2B9MS_IISKgeyXjR_mAsIDgYnN1m6x

 

I have good luck with GMRS. I have MXT 275 in my car & Midland T71 handhelds.

(I wanted to get HAM license but was not confident to do the test. GMRS license was easy since there's no test.)

https://youtu.be/GvWXJlJMhEg

 

Thanks Jer.

 

Trail question: Can I camp at Clear Lake? The dead end trail near Silverton, CO.

 

Guess that’s a yes

 

So how long will my OEM mud flaps last riding trails on Colorado and Utah? Should I just go ahead and take them off? Kinda joking but.

 

So I have another question please: when airing down, what’s wrong with using the TPMS to monitor tire pressure during airing down and back up? If we use it 99% of the time when we are not on trails, why not? I understand if you are solo. Thanks.

 

I believe the TPMS requires the vehicle to be rolling to be accurate/get a reading. You'll notice that when you first start the truck, you will have no readings until you get down the street a bit. Not entirely sure of the accuracy of the TPMS in real-time either. Finally, its much easier to have a gauge with you or on the air pump (as my Viaair does) than add air, get up look inside at the gauge, walk back etc. etc.

I also have a 4 hose system (https://www.runnin4tacos.com/collec...ls/products/quickflate-tire-inflator-deflator) that connects to all tires at once, with a gauge, to get equal pressure in all tires when airing down and up. Makes things super easy!

 

The only way to truly calibrate the TPMS (after fill, release) is to get back in it and drive a little. Do you really want to fill, drive, stop (rinse/repeat)?

 

All great points. Thanks for the info. I’ll get a nice deflator. Any suggestions? ARB? I really appreciate you folks sharing your knowledge.

 

I have ARB and Staun. I prefer the Staun for ease of use and speed. They are also adjustable to your preferred psi. By the time I’m done screwing on the last one, the first one is done deflating and ready to be removed, followed shortly by the 2nd, 3rd and then 4th.

 

So you are talking about the automatic individual deflators. Don’t you have to preset a down pressure before using Offroad? And don’t you use different pressures depending on sand, rock, mud that you can’t select on the trail?

 

Are there any tire inflators that aren’t $180 or $50 crap. What’s a good pump at an affordable price?

 

Also a 30’ recovery strap should be how strong 20,000-40,000?? 40k seem over kill. Thought??

 

Yes, that is what I’m referring to. They come preset at 18psi. You can set them lower or fine tune your psi with a tire pressure gauge depending on the terrain you’ll be on.

 

40k is far too much for a 4R. You will want around 17k-20k