By Jon Maib
Since the beginning of off-roading, Jeep drivers have been trying to find a successful way to fill their tires back up after airing down for better traction. In the old days, a GI could carry a good ole bike pump to get the job done. It stored easily in the Jeep, however, it took a lot of manual labor to fill a tire.

As time passed, Jeeps and their tires became larger and that handy bike pump quickly became a thing of the past. Jeepers demanded a better way to fill up their tires. The auto industry responded with the road side plugin air pump. While these took the manual work out of filling up tires, they took forever to get a tire filled up. You might as well grab a chair and a cold one because, you'd be there a while.

As the off-road industry began to build, its focus on the ability to air up tires grew as well. We began to see many different setups emerge, from a mountable air tanks filled with compressed air to the use of old A/C compressors mounted to your engine to provide air. The air tanks, while fast, only provide so much air and then the A/C compressors, while also quick, lent themselves to their own mechanical issues if not properly lubricated and maintained.

With the introduction of the Jeep JKU, this new breed of Jeeper needed something to tackle the task of airing up their tires after a day of wheelin. Several companies have compressors and tanks you can setup. Most are either concealed under the hood or mounted to wheel wells in strange fashions. But then, in steps the air horn giant, Kleinn Air Horns, to rescue the JKU crowds with their new, fully intergraded, bolt on Jeep JKU Onboard Air kit.

The Kleinn Onboard Air system for the JKU is a complete system that fits snuggly under your Jeep with an integrated skid plate to protect from rocks and other debris. It comes with the heavy duty, high volume 6450RCWP waterproof air compressor that won a best new product award at SEMA this year, a 2.8 gallon air tank that has the ability to inflate up to a 37" tire or support air lockers, air powered tools and comes with everything you need to install it. This kit has already won two global media awards as well.

Click here for our installation write up with photos

The Kleinn compressor kit sits flush with the gas tank skid plate and can help provide a little protection to the evap canister. We are very impressed with the kit as a whole and Kleinn has left nothing out of it.

The Good:
- Complete kit that tucks under your Jeep and comes with rock protection
- Submersible compressor that is pretty quiet
- Upgradeable to dual compressors
- Can fill tires (up to 37") and run air accessories
- SEMA winning innovative design

The Bad:
- The included air gauge seems to be about 3lbs off
- Slower filling a tire than we expected (but, Im sure we can solve that with a dual compressor setup as it is an available upgrade to the kit - P/N JK6450)
- Price: Retails for $699.95 (We have talked with several people that like the setup but, are afraid of the price. What we've seen from this kit thus far, it's worth the money)

With everything installed, we took our Project Vulture out to test the Kleinn kit. That meant we needed to submerse it and pound on it a bit to see how well it held up and if it would continue to work. We drove through many muddy puddles and even dragged the skid plate over some stuff. This kit took everything we threw at it like a champ. Even after 2 weekends of abuse, the system held up great and filled our 35" tires afterwards with no issues. It's so easy to use, the kids have now made it their job to air up after the trail. While we understand the price on this kit seems high, with everything that Kleinn has put into this all-in-one system, you are really getting your money's worth for a well-designed, high quality system.