The ARB E-Z Tire Deflator

If you’re into wheeling your rig, there’s a good chance you’ve come across situations where having less air in the tires is beneficial, and unless you’ve got an H1 with inflate/deflate controls in the cockpit, you’ve got a little work to do. The kind folks at ARB hooked us up with one of their E-Z tire deflators, which makes the task of airing down a little less of a hassle and can save you some time.

The tire deflator is relatively small and comes with a small carrying pouch – but the dial, protected in a rubber casing, is still quite large and easy to read. The fittings use brass and stainless steel to prevent corrosion in the roughest of environments, and the braided hose is plenty long to allow easy operation.

What makes this deflator different is the speed at which it can deflate a tire. Most deflators on the market only push in the release pin on the valve until the desired pressure is reached. This is demonstrated by the illustration to the right. If you look closely, you can see that the inner core is screwed into the valve stem. Instead of simply depressing the pin, the E-Z system safely removes the entire core which allows for a much more rapid deflation.

The E-Z system makes this process relatively easy. First, the fitting is screwed onto the tire stem just as any other deflator does. Then, the back end of the fitting rotates in the opposite direction to remove the core. Once the core is removed, the gauge will read the internal pressure – but will not begin releasing any air. The air only starts flowing once the pin is pulled all the way out. Simply push the pin back in to read the pressure.

Some may prefer the deflators that are ‘set’ to a certain PSI, are screwed on to all four tires, and basically do all the work for you. Unfortunately, these setups can be a pain to adjust. Also, if one happens to be broken, and you unknowingly walk away, you could potentially come back to find a completely flat tire.

Overall we like the design – if we could change one thing, we’d like to have a small piece that folds out to produce a little more leverage against the core. If it’s raining or you’ve been sweating, turning a metal dial the width of an Altoid can be a little tricky. We wouldn’t let that stop us from carrying one of these in the project truck, though.

If you’d like one of these for yourself, stay tuned our facebook page for your chance to win one from HummerGuy.net and ARB!