Viair Ultra Duty System - Jeep YJ Installation
From Gold Hills Posse 4x4 Club
This article will show the installation of the Viair Ultra Duty system in a Jeep YJ.
The compressor and tank will be mounted on a steel plate which can be unbolted and removed. Quick disconnects will be used which will allow the hard mount parts to remain in the Jeep. My ARB lockers will run off of this system as well.
The location I chose was the right fender well area where the stock jack used to be mounted. After removing the ARB compressor and cleaning all of the grease this is probably the cleanest I've seen this area since leaving the dealership 17 years ago. Since there is no A/C in my YJ I chose to use the mount point where the A/C pump would be located.
To mount in this location I needed a custom mounting plate. With some help from my friend Rob and his nice cutting tools he made a first cut (left) using a template I created out of cardboard. After test fitting everything he helped again with the final cuts (center). We used 1/4" steel plate. The third image shows the 1/8" pieces that will be used for mounting the quick disconnects.
Here are two images showing the test fitting.
The fuse block mount point (left) will be used to secure the quick disconnect mount. The center and right images show the mount installed.
Here are the pressure switch and ARB solenoids with pressure regulator assembled with push-to-lock quick disconnects.
And here are all of the quick disconnects mounted. Left are the ARB solenoids with pressure regulator, center is the pressure switch, and right is for the cabin pressure gauge. I used rubber clamps to hold them in place but I may change this in the future and use a piece of angle iron and bulkhead fittings to secure everything in place.
I installed the pressure gauge next to the ARB on/off switches. The empty space to the right of the gauge is where the on/off switch would be but I decided to reuse the ARB compressor switch. When installing I used the right side screw and hole used for the ARB switch mount to mount the left side of the pressure gauge. When lining up to mark a hole for the right side hole of the pressure gauge there was already a hole there that aligned perfectly (freaky 1!).
Here's a shot of the pressure test before securing everything in place. There were a few small leaks but a quick tightening with the wrench took care of them.
The compressor and tank mounted before installation.
I now needed to determine the type and size bolts I would need to secure it to the A/C pump location. I thought I would need to head over to Ace Hardware with the Jeep and try a bunch of different bolts to find the right one. Before doing that I thought I would check my spare screws/bolts/washers/etc. bin. As I look over to my bin I noticed a screw sitting on my work bench so I thought I would give it a try. It fits! And as I later found out it's metric! I don't remember where it came from or why it was just sitting there but I'm not complaining. (freaky 2!)
I got the metric bolts. The bolts had to go in at a slight angle so I drilled the holes larger but this created some play. I wanted to find something that would work like a bushing and remove the play. I had some left over rubber fuel line hose and the bolts fit in perfectly in the hose and the hose fit perfectly into the holes I drilled into the plate (freaky 3!). I cut four small pieces and used them when mounting. On the fender well side I used some rubber molding on the underside of the mount plate to help prevent wear and tear. I loosened and moved the support bar that runs from the back of the engine bay to the front grill to make installation easier.
Here are the finished results.
UPDATE: I ordered some bulkhead fittings and reworked the quick disconnects. I accidentally cut one of my ARB air lines while doing the rework. D'oh! Time to splice. Watch those lines! Here are the results.
All additional fittings were ordered from http://www.mcmaster.com