Harbor Freight 3 Gallon Air Compressor Repair

Diagnosing and repairing a Central Pneumatic 3 gallon 1/3 HP 100 PSI oil-free pancake air compressor from Harbor Freight (part # 60637, 61615, 95275).

When I received this I was told that the unit was five years old, used for lightly for inflating car tires and cleaning grass off of a mower, and most importantly that it would only get up to about 35 psi and the pump would keep running. That is all I had to work with to get started and here is the process and the result.

#HarborFreight

[johngray]

To replace my gasket I used a black "rubber" o-ring 1 3/8" OD x 1 5/16" ID. The original orange one had flat sealing surfaces and the new one is round, but fits the recess in the head and seals well. It's a fairly common size, found in the plumbing dept of a local hardware store for $.99. Part of the oange gasket had disintegrated and lodged in the reed valve preventing closure as described in the video. Most of the black debris seemed to be wear from the rubber piston ring seal. Debris came off easily with carb cleaner, then once clean I applied a light coating of oil on the cylinder wall before reassembly. Thanks for the outstanding video.

[johnorlovich]

Thank you for this video. Others need to be aware that there is a gasket on each side of the tube. The gasket in mine that the was shown damaged in the video, was actually in good order on mine. When I removed the tube from the head, the other gasket was a mess. I gently pulled it out and trimmed it like the video showed, put a little 3in1 on it (and the other mating parts), and now works even better than it ever has. When you take the tube out of both ends, you can also take the head plate with the valve out for cleaning and making sure all the debris is removed. Now that I know better how the compressor operates, I am going to try and improve the operation of my Harbor Freight 21 Gal compressor (which has been deteriorating in performance over the last few years).

[mikecox]

your video gave me the confidence to 'pop the hood' and look around, the hardline had snapped at the ferrule on the lower/air tank end. 'stretched' the line replaced the ferrule, so far so good. if it breaks again i'll add rubber hose to the hard line for a flex/give fix

[Jiggyb]

I bought this exact model from Harbor Freight. Brand new but it doesn't build any pressure. No leaks.

[DarrellTurnerJr]

I've had this compressor for 12 years and it's worked flawlessly. Just had to replace the 5amp breaker recently for $7. Definitely got my money's worth

[ericm]

you would think HF would have a rebuild kit for that

[vickanid]

My 3 gallon Central Pneumatic air compressor was having the same issues as this one. When I opened it up, it has a different cylinder/valve arrangement then shown. What had happened, is the one-way isolation valve in the cylinder head had come apart. When that happens, it can't build pressure over 40 psi. I reinstalled it and now it works perfectly! What's odd, is it looks just like this compressor on the outside until you open up the cylinder.

[leewoodrough]

Having just disassembled my hotdog model, I can tell you, this repair will not last too long. I took that little white cover off on the end. The cam shaft for the piston was worn to a cone shape. Even though there is a still perfectly functioning bearing below the piston, the retaining clip had broken causing the piston to rattle around on the shaft, which appears to be made of pot metal.

[abox]

“This is a harbor freight tool, so I will put my eye protection on”. 😂🤣😂

[losmoore]

Good job. I just bought a first time owned a central pneumatic air tank with quick disconnect kit with it. I filled the tank at 80 PSI . The next day I checked the tank it help the 80 PSI, but when I hooked the air gun it lost all the 80 PSI when I only used the airgun 4times in one day. I will check fittings and hose that I got from harbor freight. Thank u for the video.

[ByronBillingsley]

Thank you - cleaning the reed valves solved my problem as well. GOOD JOB.

[billjackson]

I just discovered a major design flaw on my HFT compressor (same as this one). The little compressor pump is mounted on the tank with four #3 Phillips machine screws, with isolator pads between the pump mounting plate & the tank. BUT....from the pump cylinder to the tank, they used a piece of....get this....6mm OD aluminum tubing. Ferrule fittings on each end. So one end of the tubing is mounted to the cylinder that could potentially vibrate (hence the isolator pads), while the other end is mounted solidly to the tank. Aluminum tends to fatigue fairly easily, and guess where the leak was? The tubing had given way, right at the tank end where it's solidly mounted. I'm going to see if I have a short piece of braided stainless (about 6") and replace the aluminum tubing with that. I only gave $15 for it at a garage sale, so it's still a bargain. 😆

edit 9/7/22
Instead of the braided stainless, I made a new tube using a longer piece of 6mm aluminum tubing. But instead of just going from the cylinder head to the tank in a direct fashion, I coiled it to provide a little bit of "give". Wrapping the tube around a wooden dowel (1.5" diameter) 3 times, which made nice even coils without the tube deforming. Working great so far.

[fredroger]

Thank u I have the same compressor and the same problem with it u helped make this job easier for me

[edwinabanks]

This is a great replacement for my old regulator/oiler that started leaking It came with brass nipples that saved me a trip to the hardware store and even came with teflon tape.

[richardmeszaros]

Nice, thanks for showing me how to repair my compressor!

[keithwallace]

I thought I had the same problem, but once the cover was off I found it was the tube going into the tank. A new ferrule and it works again. Side note this happened after about 10 uses and 4 months of owning it, 1 month after the warranty expired.

[nomsolo]

Had exact same issue. Compressor reached 100 psi in 2 minutes after I cleared debris from the piston head assembly and re-sealed all threaded fittings with Teflon tape.

[phatsakk]

One of the main reasons for failure of these compressors is lack of initial run-in.

The manual says to open the drain cock and let it run at no load for 30 minutes on initial start.

[danseals]

It has ALLWAYS aggravated me to see that all the little compressor head/cylinders on portable 12volt tire inflators are an open bottom cylinder with no protection from invironmental debree and not lubbed. I open them op when new and lube the cylinder and install a cheese cloth backing on the louvers to filter out dust and other particles. I renew this procedure occasionally and it extends the working life of them significantly . dandahermit

[drakewoods]

Very informative. I'm ready to diagnose my own harbor freight compressor.