tellersv@hotmail.com

I have a 2009 2wd F150 LX Single Cab, Long bed with a 5.4L 6 speed. This is my daily driver of 60 miles a day to and from work. I live in in Tampa Florida and my Family loves to Kayak almost daily after work. I am often having to deal with sugar sand surfaces. The truck does fine driving through it, but I park and try and leave I am always having to gun it out of that spot. I do have very aggressive tread, but they are tall (80's) and not very wide. I can't let the air out to drop the pressure, as I said I do this almost daily and don't have the time to let the air out and then inflate them before I have to go to work. Has anyone installed an "E" locker on a 2wd that has made a difference to supplement the cost? Or do I just need to buy the widest tires that will fit on the back and add a little weight over the rear axle? Thanks

marshallr

Every single time I go to Florida in areas where they allow driving on the beach I end up using my 4X4 to drag 4X2's back to pavement. Most of the time it isn't far. I believe adding an E-locker will just get you stuck twice as bad. Having the front wheels pulling and staying on top of the sand instead of being pushed through it is the key. I wouldn't be driving a 4X2 in sand.

Mastercraft1981SnS

What size tires do you have?
Are they narrow and tall?
When I lived in FL I had my 07 2wd and it had wider tires on it and it did fine in the sand.
I'm not sure if the E locker would help or not.

ZSK

You don't have time to air down and air back up, but do you have time to sit stuck while having to dig out your truck or wait for someone to pull you out?

Air down, mount up some wider all terrain tires 285 or so in width, and make some simple traction boards and you'll go most anywhere that you want to. Once your moving try to keep your momentum up. The majority of the time on the beach I run in 2wd and roughly 15 psi of pressure and seldom need 4wd.

tellersv@hotmail.com

Your right, I'm just going to have to air down. Do you have any suggestions for a good onboard compressor that can air back up quickly. Thanks

ZSK

Superflow MV50 and MV90 were recommended quite often.


Good options from Viar and Puma also.

I would avoid the compressors/inflators with cheap plastic case like this one. They are very slow and really only good for topping off a tire for a couple of pounds of pressure or pumping up a bike or atv tire.

http://www.harborfreight.com/12V-150...ator-4077.html

Look for a compressor with a higher cfm rating for a faster fill rate. The maximum pressure isn't really crucial in your decision. Consider adding an air tank for storage. You can wire the compressor with an in cab switch and pressure switch so that you'll fill the tank while driving around and then have some capacity when it's time to air back up.

jp360cj

How much do you want to spend? The ARB twin is about as fast as it gets for electric compressors, but's its over $500.

Viair has nice options too. If you want something portable, check out their 88P or 400P. They advertise the 88 to fill up a 33x12.50 from 15psi to 30 psi in just under 3 minutes and they are under $50 on Amazon right now. The 400P is more expensive, but fills that same 33x12.50 in just over 2 min. If you use it almost everyday, then they have a 400H that is the same compressor as the 400P, but designed to be mounted in the truck and hard wired. I think this would be much more convenient (and faster for everyday use). If you want to go all out on an inboard system, Their "C" models (like a 400C) are designed to work with a tank. I'm sure there are other companies who make similar/equivalent compressors, but this is the company I had looked in to when doing OBA on my Jeep.

A CO2 kit (like a Powertank) will fill much faster, but would get expensive filling it if it's being used every day.

Also, you will be surprised how much time it takes to air DOWN your tires, especially if doing it 1 by holding the valve stem. There are many different air down tools also. Personally, I use Jantz Engineering J-flaters (http://www.jantz4x4.com/jantz.php?p=detail&pro=jflaters) on my Jeep. Basically, you remove the valve stem, and screw on the J-flater. Screwed all the way in, it seals off. Unscrew it a little and it allows air to escape. The farther you unscrew it, the faster the air escapes. Stays on all the time and all 4 can be airing down at once. For beach driving, it takes me just a couple minutes to drop from 30psi to 18-20 psi with 35s on my Jeep. That's for all 4 tires.

tellersv@hotmail.com

Thanks for all the great feed back!


I do want to go with a permanent on board air compressor system. I checked out the Viair 400c 150 psi dual performance air compressor system. I have a 15 gallon tank from a burned out Dewalt air compressor that this dual compressor set up should be a good fit for. I'm thinking of trying to mount the system inside of my truck bed tool box with disconnects incase I need to remove the box for extra payload room. Thanks also for the web address to the J-flater, I will definitely will be purchasing one.