Hey guys,

I see some good information on here about converting your AC compressor into an onboard air setup, either with the stock compressor or a York compressor. I'm thinking about doing it to my 2004 FX4 XLT.
With this kinda setup, could I retain my truck's A/C? I can't see it mentioned on any of the posts talking about the conversion. I definitely need it in the summer here in the south.
What are the pros and cons of this kinda setup vs a mounted electronic compressor?

 

No, compressor is either for AC fluid compression or Air pressure generation can't be both

And no, not swappable back and forth

With any air pressure system you need a holding tank
Use electric compressor, engine can be off for light use, engine running for heavy use
Using converted AC compressor engine has to be running

 

Thank you, that helped wrap my brain about why this wasn't possible haha.
As an engineer, i should know better haha, I loved learning all about the rankine cycle and such, but I didn't realize you were changing what medium was being compressed to accomplish the conversion.
Makes a lot more sense now, thank you!

I was already leaning towards an electric compressor anyways, for the reasons you stated, but I was entertaining the idea of using my AC compressor if I could retain AC, but I see that's not possible now. Seems like having a belt driven compressor can be quicker and cheaper vs. an electric compressor, but losing AC is a deal breaker, so i'll just go electric. Thank you!

 

Belt driven air compressors generally "like" stable RPMs, vehicle engines, especially gasoline engines, they tend to have a larger RPM band, 600-6,000rpm, lol
Electric motors can have that stable rpm, belt driven or direct gear drive

Modern vehicle AC compressors also rely on lubrication via the AC fluid it compresses and circulates
Never looked at doing this conversion so not sure how they solved that problem of lubricating the compressor

 

From what I've seen, there's two ways to work around that.
Either use the stock compressor (or similar), and feed lubrication into it with an oiler, and use a oil filter to remove the oil in the compressed air and recirculate it back into the compressor.
The easier (and foretold "better" option) is to convert to a "York style" compressor, which has an internal oil reservoir, so it's all self contained.

Info from The Ranger Station on the York Compressor conversion:
https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...ir-compressor/

Info from The Ranger Station on the conversion using a conventional compressor:
https://www.therangerstation.com/tech/on-board-air-using-a-non-york-style-compressor/