I have mentioned in previous blogs that we purchased a Central Tyre Inflation System for De Trucksta and promised that I would dedicate a blog to it and the installation. With this type of vehicle we decided that it was a no brainer to allocate some extra dollars for this convenience. We definitely plan to be travelling in places that it will be necessary to deflate and inflate regularly for comfort, enjoyment and safety to us and the truck.
As usual, Fred did extensive research and settled on purchasing the Traction Air Smart CTI from TRT in New Zealand. It’s a fancy bit of gear and set us back just over 8000 Aus dollars. The day it arrived it was like Christmas, we opened the box and there were hundreds of bits and pieces all waiting to be assembled like a puzzle. Lucky I have Fred and he welcomed it with open arms – bring it on he said! It did come with a manual, and I caught him taking a sneak peak – normally he is too manly to need a manual lol!
I will take you through the steps involved in the installation, but trust me this is coming from the expert, I’m simply the scribe in this bit.
Fred attests that the manual is really well set out showing a step by step plan.
First step was to mount the electronic controller and run the wiring harness in the cab down to the control box under the truck.
Next was to mount the control box in the centre of the truck. The brackets came with the box but we had to drill 4 holes into the cross member under the chassis to accomodate this.
Step 3 was to select an air tank to plug the air supply to. Our truck already had facilities for a trailer brake air supply which we won’t be using, so this was perfect for the job. Before attaching the air line to the tank, the kit provided a safety device to ensure that the air supply maintains the required minimal air pressure for the braking system of the truck. Once this was fitted we ran the air supply lines to the control box and then from the control box to one front and one rear t block. From the t block separate air lines were then run to each wheel. All lines came with protection, being rubber tubing and spiral wrap and they even threw in the cable ties. Bloody generous eh!
Once this was complete, it was time to attach the hoses to the wheels and it is ready to test.
We are keen to test the system, but are still waiting on our front wheels to arrive. Hopefully that will be today or tomorrow and all will be a success.
Stay tuned………