California Air Tools Compressor Repair

This week we repair a vandalized Air Compressor. It's a California Air Tools 60040CAD and the manufacturer flatly refused to provide any information or support.

These are places where you can see more of my work....

[jda]

you said everything i was feeling about this company. how do you not support your product except with USELESS videos?

[GregsGarage]

Interesting. I'm not surprised their support is poor. Most of the compressor companies out there don't know anything about how they work. They just repackage someone else's work. Also, their commercials are shot outside their office bathrooms... Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

[dalescribner]

California Air Tools sends you to Mastertoolrepair clear over in Virginia on the other coast for parts. Their prices are sky high.

[stlouisphotography]

Good quality content :) I have a smaller California Air Tools compressor that's not working. I think it's the capacitor. Best to you.

[Psi]

Now you send them a letter saying you were forced to continue with the repair without their help.
But you reserve the right to hold them responsible if it explodes or causes injury because of their decision to intentionally withhold the required schematic and repair documentation.
We need to hold companies accountable when they refused to provide information that could create an unsafe repair situation. You own the product you can do what you want with it, including repairing it.

[randywright]

Thank you for doing this video. I own a much smaller unit than yours here. Mine had gotten incredibly loud over the years and i suspect i should replace the gaskets on it, we've been using it to fill the air in our tires only the last couple years but i wouldn't mind making it quieter again. Oh well someday ill find where to buy the replacement gaskets needed. Their customer service is terrible i completely agree

[SaphariTv]

My god man this is the video I’ve been looking for. A general direction to getting my air compressor fixed bout mine in the same condition as yours but mines missing the fill tubes the bolts that mount the motors to the tank are broken.. called CAT to see if I could get the parts through their warranty and was hung up on

[garagemonkeysan]

Great video. Awesome job at reverse engineering! Mahalo for sharing! : )

[jakebrowne]

I'm wondering if you could possibly help me. I have a model very similar to yours and I've tested power. And it's coming out of the pressure switch. Going down to the motors. I have power at the capacitors and the contacts on the cylinoid are corroded. Do you think the corroded contacts would be keeping the motors from starting up

[RubinRubin-eosw]

So on my pumps CAT pumps my rings are shot. What’s the best way to get them into the cylinders? They want to kink and warp to fit in because they’re so oversized. Do I put the hold down piece on and angle the cylinder over the ring? Thanks for your advice

[kmarinier]

Mine is drawing 18 amps and tripping the overload after a few minutes. Any idea or information out there on splitting the air pump to get at the motor. Or do I need to just replace the whole air pump section?

[berniecaro]

Wildman, is there a way to check and replace any capacitors that may have blown as a result of overuse heating of the compressor motor?

[sbruslind]

Hey Marsh, would you have the start capacitor specs handy on those pumps? I'm looking to drop a CAT SP9418 (2HP, 220V, 1500W, 35uF on the nameplate) on my 40 year old Craftsman 20 gallon tank. Thanks, Scott

[Psi]

This is why we need right to repair laws.
Blocking access to schematics for products should be illegal.

[backyardsounds]

What kind of a yahoo made that diagram and who on Earth does their customer support!? Is it Americanoid made or Chinesium? Sounds great though. My Craftsman sounds like a jet engine with asthma.

[Lulanda]

So I acquired one of these units in a very similar situation it was torn apart and I had to rebuild it. Seems to me you are correct the engineers at CAT are indeed morons. I tried speaking with them several times in order to obtain parts as most of CATs IPL are incomplete and do not show but a select number of parts. What I found is 99% of the parts are all manufactured by big brands that produce parts for many other compressors, so a good bit is available online for cheap. I do hav one question though, how hot does your motors and pump heads get when the unit is running? Mine get quite hot which I cant determine if that’s normal or if something else is going on. I wired it via a Nema 6-20 amp receptacle, 12 gauge wire 20 amp dual pole 230 breaker.