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Hammerli22

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Haven't seen any posts about installing the new ARB brushless twin compressor with the SDHQ mount so thought I'd share what I have done and maybe some tips. This isn't a how to post, as the instructions that came with the SDHQ mount was pretty straight forward. I just think pictures are worth a thousand words.

There are many horizontal ARB mounts available from different vendors. They all seem to mount the same way, from the passenger fender wall and with a support piece attached to the front shock mount. The one that I came close to getting was the KR mount because out of all of them it was made of stainless steel and it supported the brushless ARB without any modifications. However, I just didn't like the idea of using a shock mount for support, I'm sure it works, but just not for me.

That led me to look into vertical mounts. They look more OEM and appear to take up less space than the horizontal mounts. The Grimm Offroad mount seem pretty good and has lots of nice reviews. But I didn't like it because again it relied on the shock mount. It also does not support the brushless ARB, but it can if some simple drilling of mounts were made. This led me to the SDHQ mount, it's a pretty simple mount that didn't require putting the ARB in a cage with a bunch of screws like the Grimm mount. The SDHQ mount also does not support the ARB brushless twin or at least I have never read about anyone doing it. Recently SDHQ did come out with an adapter such that you could now mount an ARB brushless twin with most of their existing ARB twin compressor mounts. Although this sounded great, it increases the cost of the mounting solution. The SDHQ mount is about $280.00 and add the adapter was another $100.00 so I can see why the SDHQ may not be on anyone's top list. In any case after investigating as much as I could, I decide to go with just the SDHQ mount with no adapter and just make it work. The Northridge 4x4 YouTube video gave me a good idea on the physical differences between the brushless and brush motor and the only concern was the height.



Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260417_170848


This is the main SDHQ mount where the ARB brushless twin adjustable adapter is bolted on, this adjustable thingy worked out great. It turns out with all the bolts I had prepared at hand; I wound up only using a combination of the bolts, washers and nuts that came with the ARB and the SDHQ kit. I DID NOT have to drill anything or use any extra hardware, it just fit.


Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260417_173523


This is the other side of the mount, and you can see 5 nuts and bolts, 4 of them hold the ARB and 2 (1 from the 4 bolts is dual purpose) are used to hold the firewall support bracket. The instructions show using 1 bolt for the firewall bracket, but I manage to also use 1 of the 4 bolts so that there are 2 mounting points to the firewall support bracket. Keep in mind the SDHQ instructions were meant only for the ARB twin compressor. To my surprise it turns out the SDHQ mount can support the ARB brushless twin compressor with no modifications at all. The only trick is you have to use a combination of hardware that came in both the ARB and SDHQ box.





Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192002

It fits perfectly and you can see they give you spacers; the ECU is not flat against the mount itself. I guess it does 2 things, it keeps the nuts from hitting the ECU and keeps the heat away. No modifications were made. The mount is so solid I could rock the bronco with it and thought about not even bothering to mount the firewall bracket. BTW I didn't even bother to disconnect the cable from the ECU, just left it on and bolted it all to the main mount. Yea I disconnected the battery though.


Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_200047


Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192020

For the 2 ground wires the instructions say to bolt them to the firewall, I chose to bolt them to the fender bracket because that's where the ECU ground was bolted to so it must be good (LOL). If you use the original bolts that held the ECU bracket you will have to sand down underneath the flange bolt to get to the bare metal for a good ground connection. I used some other ground bolts I had lying around, yea I know the bracket is powder coded, but I measure 0.1 ohms from that ground connector back to the negative of the battery cable so I'm good. The ground point on the firewall also measured 0.1 ohms to the negative battery cable.

Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192042


This is the wiring mess. You will have to hack the stock wiring harness down a bit because a lot of it you won't use. There is an excellent wiki on this subject by MileHighWT. I heard so much about how much heat these things give off that I made sure to keep everything away from the ARB. The power connectors are zip tied to one of those VHB taped zip tie anchor thingy on the air intake box. The brownish sleeves are silicon coated fiberglass heat shields, one is for the pressure sensor wires, the other is covering a 1.5M 1/4" JIC female 04 stainless steel braided PTFE hose. The 2 positive cables are sleeved in a high temperature split nylon wire loom. Nothing touches the ARB body. Overkill, heh?


Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192620

This is underneath the ARB. You can see the pressure sensor connector and the shiny 90-degree JIC 04 fitting. There is enough space underneath for air when the twin fan motors turn on.


Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_200145

This is how low you want the ARB to sit. Do not mount it higher than the top screw that holds the ECU, otherwise the Broncos hood lining (if you have them) will hit the ARB filters. This was why I was concern that the ARB twin brushless was taller than the brushed version, but because the ARB brushless twin has a sliding mount, that came in handy in adjusting the height to where I needed it to be. It made me wonder if the SDHQ adapter mount for the brushless would work because they don't use the sliding mount, its statically mounted. Well, they make good products, so I assume their engineering dept checked it out.


Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192516

Positive cable connection, I used the battery accessory stud away from the engine, so you need get a 6mm flange nut. I didn't have one lying around so I used one of the original flange nuts that held down the ECU, its black oxide, I'll change it to stainless steel later. The red positive cables are hooked up to 2 60A fuses and I mounted them using VHB to the side of the battery box. I also flipped around the cables in the fuse box so the cover holes were on the bottom, if you do that don't forget to change the bus bar in the fuse box also, the bus bar should be facing the battery.

Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192546
The 2 red positive cables were sleeve in nylon split tubing. The "Red" wire, which really controls the pressure switch by giving it juice, was hooked up to an upfitter switch. I know some people like to just hookup a switch next to the ARB instead of using upfitter switches. Some folks hookup the air hose and turn the switch on from the engine compartment and say they don't like having to push the accessory button just to use the air compressor. I think you need to turn the engine on otherwise your battery could drain (unless you have some dual batt setup) so might as well use the upfitter switch.

Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco Screenshot 2026-04-24 033354

In any case I was thinking of installing a switch in series with the "Red" wire to use it as another cutoff switch, but it turns out for some reason, the switch that comes with the ARB brushless twin compressor does not fit the rectangular hole on the SDHQ firewall bracket, it's too small, go figure. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I will have to file down the hole a bit if I want to use that switch.







Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260417_221819
Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260419_113117



Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192408
Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_192111

I made a coupling bracket using rectangular tubing from a scrapped NordicTrack I found on craigslist. The bracket bolts right up to the KR fog light mount I already had.

Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260423_200032

The redline hood struts fit with no issues when closing the hood.

Ford Bronco Installing ARB twin brushless compressor using SDHQ vertical mount on a Bronco 20260417_154720
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Broncofly

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I've had that SDHQ mount for several years now, works great and lasts long time. I'd buy it again!

Great write up OP.
 

dougcjohn

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Very nice write up, great informative photos... and super clean install.
From the mount location, if one has the S&B CAI... that open space increases removing the OEM CAI, giving more room to access the compressor.

Did you notice a nice improvement of the Brushless ARB over the older Brush model?
The Brushless has much better specs & performance!

Just curious mount question, new to Bronco world...
Is there a reason many prefer the Engine bay ARB Compressor mount location vs other?
I've looked at the Spare Tire mount setup, Compressor inside tire mount and hardware in tailgate.
That looks like a clean setup as well.
 

CalvinT

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Is there a reason many prefer the Engine bay ARB Compressor mount location vs other?
I've looked at the Spare Tire mount setup, Compressor inside tire mount and hardware in tailgate.
Engine bay frees up space for other "stuff" elsewhere. I think it's the simplest install with the shortest electrical run. Mounts in the back require longer AND larger wire.

Also compressor in tailgate adds weight possibly leading to tailgate reinforcement and stronger hinges.
 

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Hammerli22

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It would appear that you have more room for aftermarket air box if you're using the newer ARB twin brushless.

I have no idea how the new ARB brushless compares to the old one but there are plenty of YouTube videos out there that do just that, I just went for the latest and greatest.

I thought the spare tire mount compressor was a good idea too. But it seems like a lot of work to run wires back there and everything, and then I thought someday I may change my tire mount to the turnoff road spare tire mount for a bigger tire and so that compressor installation may not fit anymore. Installing the ARB brushless twin inside the tailgate door itself would be an interesting project
 

CalvinT

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The brushless compressor is smaller than the older version. It also has different mounting holes. I haven't seen anyone selling a brushless specific mount, yet. The mount determines how much space you lose to the compressor.

You could save space if you fabricated your own mount.
 

dougcjohn

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It would appear that you have more room for aftermarket air box if you're using the newer ARB twin brushless.

I have no idea how the new ARB brushless compares to the old one but there are plenty of YouTube videos out there that do just that, I just went for the latest and greatest.

I thought the spare tire mount compressor was a good idea too. But it seems like a lot of work to run wires back there and everything, and then I thought someday I may change my tire mount to the turnoff road spare tire mount for a bigger tire and so that compressor installation may not fit anymore. Installing the ARB brushless twin inside the tailgate door itself would be an interesting project
All valid & great points, some I hadn’t considered.
With BRaptor, I have Ford’s reinforced tire mount for the 37”. That should handle weight especially with ARB Brusheless being a bit lighter. The S&B CAI is smaller than OEM… so ample room.

That’s a great location for something needing space for sure.

I use the MorrFlate 4-6 Wheel 10-6Pro Pump in “Bag” now for Dually and Others. It out performed my brushed ARB easily so wasn’t encouraged at that time to purchase another. Then the ARB Brushless was released with much better performance specs. Really like the compact small size of ARB.

How’s the new ARB Brushless on noise & vibration in your observation, better than Brushed? Do you notice a nice performance improvement?
 

Billy Baroo

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Make sure the engine is running when using the compressor or you will blow the fuse in the ARB wire harness. I wonder how I know this ...........
 
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Hammerli22

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The brushless compressor is smaller than the older version. It also has different mounting holes. I haven't seen anyone selling a brushless specific mount, yet. The mount determines how much space you lose to the compressor.

You could save space if you fabricated your own mount.
The KR bracket from 4x4TruckLEDs advertises that it fits both ARB brushless and brush twin compressors, I believe that's pretty specific.
 

CalvinT

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I believe that's pretty specific.
To be really specific, it needs to take advantage of the brushless compressor's smaller size and fit only the brushless compressor. As it is it's a "universal" ARB compressor mount. They took their original mount and drilled extra holes in it for the brushless compressor.
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