AUXILiARY FUEL TANK

[woodworker414]

Good afternoon from chilly central FL.
I know I have asked this question before. I have entered the words in the search box, but no results.
Those of you that have added a AUXILiARY FUEL TANK.
Which one did you purchase?
Did you do the install yourself?
I am giving serious thought of putting one on the tuck this spring.
Your thoughts both pro and con.

[woodworker414]

Thanks everyone for the great replies. I am not worried about losing bed space. I have my 5th wheel hitch locked in place. Anyway its to heavy to take out. I won't use the bed for hauling anything. That means I'd have to work, and I don't do that any more.HeHeHe.I like the idea of fueling when I want and probably not having the 5er on the truck. I,m leaning towards a tank 70/90 gal. Grvity flow and I will have it installed. I can't wee well enough to do this kind of work any more.Again, thanks for all the replies. Lots to think about.

[nremtp143]

I added an ATI(Aluminum Tank Indistries) 51 gallon tank to the bed of my truck a while back. I love having the extra fuel as I don't have to stop at JUST truck stops. This gives me a total of 88 gallons of fuel when both are full. It is a gravity fed system and only took about 45 minutes to install. However, I wired in a 12V valve from Valves4projects on Ebay to my upfitter switch so I can choose when I want to add fuel or IF I want to add fuel. Since I already had a toolbox, I wasn't concerned with a bed cover but I did want as much bed space as possible, so my tank is only 9" wide. This is a pic of my setup.

[Nicholsfamily05]

We installed a transfer flow 50 gallon auxiliary tank in the bed of our truck.
It’s great, all computer controlled, fill it and go.
With our 42’ fifth wheel no fun trying to get in and out of gas stations.
We installed it ourselves and was easy. Took our time and all together maybe 6 hours but hubby is picky and hide and took time to make it all clean looking.
Some people complain about loosing bedspace but we don’t carry anything in our bed besides the hitch and our truck is only used for towing so for us made no difference.
Also fits perfectly under the bed cover we use.

[hornet28]

There's no such thing as a permanent tank installation. It's added and it can be subtracted. I bought my tank for my 02 and I traded that truck with the tank in it for the dually. A week later the salesman called that he had a buyer who didn't want the tank was I interested in it. Buyer came over I took it out and had it back and it cost me my labor and a like new HI-Lift jack that I'd bought at a garage sale for $!5. I had another tank I'd bought used and installed in another truck. I sold that truck after taking the tank out and putting it in my brothers truck

[jmvx2]

I put in a 50 gallon Transfer Flow tank in my 2017 Ram 3500 DRW long bed, with the automatic pump transfer.

[fj12ryder]

Bionic Man wrote:

TxGearhead wrote:
I'm a bit confused, as usual. I'm looking at RDS gravity flow tanks. I thought these tanks would just gravity feed into the OEM tank as that tank level falls. Why would I need an electric pump?

You don't.

Nope, don't have to. I have an electric pump because I didn't want to mess with cutting into the fill tank hose, and worrying about overfilling the tank if something screwed up. It's not very likely but I just kept everything extra simple. The less things to go wrong, the better I feel about it.

And with about 30 minutes work I can transfer it to a new truck if the need so arises. Easy peasy.

[Lantley]

JTrac wrote:
I have the 25 gallon Enduraplas also. It fits under my bed cover and is super easy to use and efficient. It will empty itself in about 3 or 4 minutes. On my last 2 trucks I had Titan replacement tanks installed, not cheap. When I traded vehicles I'm pretty sure I got nothing for them. The Enduraplas is easily removed as needed, empty of course, and stays with me if I ever get another truck.

The one issue I had with it was keeping strapped down when full. The heavy duty plastic it is built from is a little slick. Part of the problem is the connecting points on the truck did not line up well with the grooves on the tank for a strap. To solve the problem I framed a couple of boxes out of 2X4's to wedge it in place on the sides. A couple of boards against the hitch frame and the back bed wall stop the fore and aft movement. It may sound like a lot of effort but it is acutally super easy to load and undload.

I originally learned of the Enduraplas from someone on this forum.
I agree what really motivated me was that I could move it to the next truck with little effort.
The tank now resides in its 2nd truck.

[Bionic_Man]

TxGearhead wrote:
I'm a bit confused, as usual. I'm looking at RDS gravity flow tanks. I thought these tanks would just gravity feed into the OEM tank as that tank level falls. Why would I need an electric pump?

You don't.

[TxGearhead]

I'm a bit confused, as usual. I'm looking at RDS gravity flow tanks. I thought these tanks would just gravity feed into the OEM tank as that tank level falls. Why would I need an electric pump?

[fj12ryder]

Actually, if you have a long bed truck, then losing less than a foot of bed length is not that big of a deal. You still have more bed to use than a short bed truck. Losing less than eleven inches of length hardly makes my fuel tank a huge PITA.

And AFATG, I can remove my "permanent" 36 gallon tank in just a few minutes by removing 4 bolts and a couple wire nuts. Not something I would want to do often, but not a huge inconvenience either. Nope, your argument doesn't hold water, or fuel AFATG. 🙂

[pyoung47]

Permanently installed fuel tanks in the bed are just that -- permanent. I installed a tank with a hand pump that I used during our trip to Alaska. This allowed me to pump in fuel when I needed it in an emergency. When I returned home, I removed it (just had it strapped in) and I now have full use of my truck bed. If you actually use your truck for hauling other than just towing, I would think that the permanently installed tanks would be a huge PITA. I have a 16 Ford F-350. It has a 26 gallon tank. Obviously, this is a joke for a tank when you are getting 9-10 mpg. Even so, I was able to drive 10,000 miles on our Alaska trip without using the extra tank -- had it not been for being stupid and careless.

[JTrac]

I have the 25 gallon Enduraplas also. It fits under my bed cover and is super easy to use and efficient. It will empty itself in about 3 or 4 minutes. On my last 2 trucks I had Titan replacement tanks installed, not cheap. When I traded vehicles I'm pretty sure I got nothing for them. The Enduraplas is easily removed as needed, empty of course, and stays with me if I ever get another truck.

The one issue I had with it was keeping strapped down when full. The heavy duty plastic it is built from is a little slick. Part of the problem is the connecting points on the truck did not line up well with the grooves on the tank for a strap. To solve the problem I framed a couple of boxes out of 2X4's to wedge it in place on the sides. A couple of boards against the hitch frame and the back bed wall stop the fore and aft movement. It may sound like a lot of effort but it is acutally super easy to load and undload.

[sljohnson1938]

while I no longer have one, mine was an "L" shaped tank with about 100 gallons I purchased from Tractor Supply. I had a 12 volt electric fuel pump to transfer to the main tank. Both cost about $400-500 dollars.

[woodworker414]

4x4ord, thanks but I think I will pass on the cheap solution of using the spare tire for a tank.

[Jim_Sharon]

RDS 60 gal/tool box, gravity feed,diesel only, installed with northern freight install kit.

I've been using it since 2006, and would not be without it.

I like to switch it on to refill the main tank when we stop for lunch (Takes about 30 minutes). Then I fill the aux tank when we go out for supper at our campground. I like to start the next day with 80 gals.