Extended Fuel Tank - for gas

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DHDB

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Has anyone installed an extended fuel tank or auxillary fuel tank for a gas engine? I'm looking to increase my traveling range by adding addition fuel storage. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated....
 

cdhd2001

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They are very hard to find and quite expensive if you find one. Has to do with dot regs and the fact gas explodes much easier than diesel.

You might be better off mapping out your fuel stops and or carrying a standard five gallons gas can.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 

audio1der

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Agreed. The other factor is our low payload #s to begin with, and carrying extra fuel just exacerbates that.
I carry a 5Gal jerry can every time I tow, just in case.
 

Arth

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I've seen one 09 Ram and he had transfer flow in bed tanks installed. Due to laws and regs he couldn't have a direct flow into his OEM tank so he just has the regular gas nozzle inside the bed. Whenever he needs to fill up he just pulls off at a rest stop and fill up from the bed of his truck.
 

TRCM

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I've seen one 09 Ram and he had transfer flow in bed tanks installed. Due to laws and regs he couldn't have a direct flow into his OEM tank so he just has the regular gas nozzle inside the bed. Whenever he needs to fill up he just pulls off at a rest stop and fill up from the bed of his truck.

That is true for diesel tanks also in some cases. Gasoline tanks have way more regs on them than the dieesl ones.

I had a custom made tank for the bed of my 97 dually that fit under a fullsize cross bed toolbox, so I kept the huge toolbox AND gained 60 gals of fuel capacity. It was also tied in to the fuel supply for the engine, so when the stock tank got low, I flipped a switch, and the engine started pulling from the aux tank (stock in dash fuel gage also swapped to the aux tank).


Cost me about 850 total....and did add about 550 lbs or so to the weight of the truck (fuel + tank/lines)

here's the tank by itself....

DCP_0027.jpg

and then the toolbox and tank together like normal....

DCP_0030.jpg
 
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RangerGress

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State regs differ, but as long as your tank isn't obvious, who's going to know? The beauty of gravity flow is that you don't have to monitor the level in the aux tank. If you plumb a pump in, then you have to monitor aux tank fuel level because if you run dry, your pump will overheat.

The gravity flow systems have a checkvalve where you plumb them into the OEM filler tube. The checkvalve prevents the aux tank from overfilling the filler tube. Gravity flow is legal for diesel in many states. It might not be legal for gas, so you might need a pump for that.

In my case I got a spare gas tank off of Craigslist and strapped it into the back of my truck. The tank came with it's own shield so it's reasonably rugged. The tank also came with the OEM pump and level sender. Since my truck is a Ford and so is the spare gas tank, the fuel level senders are compatible. So I wired the aux tank sender to the dashboard fuel level gauge via a switch. Now I have 2 switches, one for the pump and the other which switches the fuel gauge between the truck's tank and the aux tank.
 

audio1der

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@OP- Transfer Flow has a 50 gal tank they say will fit so long as you don't have the 5'7" bed.
But 50 gallons of gas weighs 312lbs, PLUS the tank and ancillary fittings etc. That will hurt your payload as much as it helps extend your range.
 

Stgraves

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Has anyone installed an extended fuel tank or auxillary fuel tank for a gas engine? I'm looking to increase my traveling range by adding addition fuel storage. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated....
I had a 2010 Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4x4 with a factory 32 gallon fuel tank instead of the 26 gallon. I didn’t get any further. My fuel mileage dropped do to the extra weight, so when I ordered my 2015 HEMI Ram I just stuck with the 26 gallon.
 

chri5k

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The DOT regs folks cite do not apply to private motor vehicles. They apply to commercial vehicles regulated by the FMCSA.

That said, gravity feeding gasoline is a bad idea safety-wise due to it highly volatile nature. Even small leaks or spills produce significant mounts of highly flammable vapors. Additionally, gravity feeding gasoline into a modern vehicle fuel system runs a high risk of overfilling the tank and pushing liquid fuel into the evaporative emissions control system. Fouling those components with liquid gasoline will lead to an expensive repair. If one wishes to carry significant extra gasoline, the use of an auxiliary tank with its own pump and auto-shutoff nozzle is the most readily available solution.
 

Heatheroo

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I think they make 32 gallon tanks..I had one in my outdoorsman
Correct. I used to work for the company that designed/installed the Fuel System Leak Testers for the FCA Saltillo, Mexico plant. There was an option for a 32 gallon tank. As I recall, they built very few trucks with this option.
 

Stgraves

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Has anyone installed an extended fuel tank or auxillary fuel tank for a gas engine? I'm looking to increase my traveling range by adding addition fuel storage. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated....
@OP- Transfer Flow has a 50 gal tank they say will fit so long as you don't have the 5'7" bed.
But 50 gallons of gas weighs 312lbs, PLUS the tank and ancillary fittings etc. That will hurt your payload as much as it helps extend your range.
Water /fuel/milk weights 8.6 lbs per gallon. So just figure 9 lbs per gallon for liquid. 50 x 9 = 450 lbs. a 50 gallon plastic tank with all the goods needed to operate weights around 100 - 150 depending on make and model. There may be heavier ones and lighter ones out there. It’s just that’s the weight that I’ve seen while looking up 30 - 50 gallon tanks. So just figure you will add 600 lbs with a spare/oversized tank.
 
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