Thinking about putting a rear tank in my truck with a transfer pump to the front tank

[Can30Diesel]

Hey All,

So I am thinking of this idea where I run a transfer pump to a switch on the dash area so I can basically refill my front tank with the rear one on the fly. Its just an idea at this point.

I have completely replaced the stock fuel system so I don't really want to modify that too much, however installing a rear tank and using the rear tank as a tidy tank of sorts might be interesting for added range. My reasoning is I tend to find myself in the bush camping a lot and this could be a nice alternative to hunting down somewhere that sells diesel in the boonies. Also, if I am bombing down the hwy with a trailer on and I am getting low on fuel, filling up on the fly would just be cool.

Anyone done this? If so, how did they like the result?

 

[fordf350man]

i was going to do the same but havent yet, waiting for warm weather, i was thinking of adding a fitting in the fill pipe and running the fuel lines from the front trank to the rear fill pipe and putting in a switch to flp it on when i choose, would be nice to see what others have done

 

[Can30Diesel]

So I am not quite insane about the idea then!! Excellent news!

I'll have something fabbed up and working by the summer so I will keep you all in the loop on how it works!!

Anyone know of cheap places to get rear tanks in Canada?

 

[fordf350man]

thanks and if you could pics when you do would be awesome, dont know of any places in Canada but im in Michigan and i know a few places with good prices here dont know about shipping though

 

[79jasper]

So no in-bed tank, using the actual stock rear tank location?

I think several here have done it.
I would use a high gph pump.
I mean any would work, as long as it flows better or equal to the stock pump. IMO.

Now with an actual bed mounted tank, you could gravity feed with an electric valve.

 

[sassyrel]

Hey All,

So I am thinking of this idea where I run a transfer pump to a switch on the dash area so I can basically refill my front tank with the rear one on the fly. Its just an idea at this point.

I have completely replaced the stock fuel system so I don't really want to modify that too much, however installing a rear tank and using the rear tank as a tidy tank of sorts might be interesting for added range. My reasoning is I tend to find myself in the bush camping a lot and this could be a nice alternative to hunting down somewhere that sells diesel in the boonies. Also, if I am bombing down the hwy with a trailer on and I am getting low on fuel, filling up on the fly would just be cool.

Anyone done this? If so, how did they like the result?

a bit diff than what your wanting to do....i got a 100 gal alum tank off of a semi.made saddles for the bottom of tank,,and banded these to the tank. then went and had went and had 1 1/2 inches of foam blown on tank.brought home and tied it down to frame.inside bed to the front. teed out of tank,ran two facet pulse pumps. [way better flow],took front tank filler neck off, and brazed a 3/8 brass fitting into the side.after the pumps, i teed the line back together,to 3/8 line to filler neck.my intent,was to be able to heat tank,for year round wmo use. more involved than i said what i did to it.switch in cab for pumps. drive down road,watch the gauge on front tank,when full, shut off..mel,travis, and darrin seen it at a idi weekend..

 

[franklin2]

Now with an actual bed mounted tank, you could gravity feed with an electric valve.

I thought I read on here that gravity feeding was not legal. After reading that I have been observant on other types of fuel transfer systems, and sure enough I never see a gravity system, it's always pumped up and out of the tank. Might be a safety issue? I don't know all the ins and outs of it.

 

[Clayton]

I've got mine set up this way because of issues with the tank selector... I unhooked all fuel lines from the switch and run directly off the front tank, And I can still use the factory switch to see the levels in both tanks.. And with the flip of a switch I can fill the front..

 

[argve]

I would recommend plumbing any extra tank like a factory one, meaning that you pull fuel from it directly to the engine and return fuel to it directly from the engine. This way you can't forget and overfill one of the stock tanks. It's actually easier and cheaper to do than adding a fuel pump to pump the fuel from one tank to the next and safer as well - win win. Reason for this is it's not if you forget once it's WHEN you forget. I got a full taste of this last fall when following behind Seth and he was dumping WMO and such out the tank on his truck and we were on the Motorcycle - lovely is all I can say. You could see the evidence all over the side of the camper he was pulling, and us on the bike. Not a big deal everything behind him is wash and wear but the cost of the fuel dumping isn't quite that way.

Napa sells or used to sell a 6 port switch valve that was solenoid driven that you could just tap into the fuel lines between the factory switching valve and the engine then with a flip of the switch you select between the factory fuel tanks and the extra tank. No pump needed because the engine already has a pump mounted to it. This way you don't / can't forget and overfill a tank. Now just remember to pull the fuel from the top of the tank (just like the factory ones do) the reason for this is so that the weight of the fuel won't force open the 6 port switching valve. Trust me I did this when I first installed the tank in the Enterprise years ago.

 

[79jasper]

It may not be legal. It was on some other forums that I had read about gravity feeding.