Hey guys,

A couple years ago, I had my front fuel tank strap fail. When I was installing my Webasto heater, I noticed that the rear fuel tank strap is cracked across a good portion of the strap... I haven't seen the rear replacement yet, but the front was certainly beefed up compared to what came with my truck.

A) This appears to be a safety issue. There are only two straps that hold the tank in. DC doesn't seem to care, and politely remind me I am out of warranty. I think it should be a safety recall.

B) Have you had this issue?

I would recommend checking the straps - although they need to be removed to be checked. The appear to tend to crack just shy of the bolt that holds it to the frame.

 

I just changed my rear one. it was looking nasty.

let's see... 35 gal x 7.5 lbs/gal plus the weight of the tank and the slosh factor.

bought a new strap at the dealer $32. Then I hit it with wax and grease remover, a coat of rustoleum primer then 2 coats of black.

Imagine, if dodge put a coat of paint on those, they would last twice as long.

 

yeah I painted mine with POR15 when i was under there a few months ago
if youre really worried you can probably hack something together with a good heavy nylon tie down strap and some bolts to the bed support rails. would work nice as a safety

 

File a complaint here with the NSTSA, it takes very few complaints to force a recall
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

 

nhtsa is US only... I gave the first strap to Transport Canada a few years back.

 

Scott, you couldnt tell us about this in JULY??

 

Heh, yours is a later truck, maybe it has the revised strap. If there are rivets on the bolt end, then it should be the revised strap... I found some pictures from the first strap I had to replace... once they are approved, I will post (or look in my gallery).

The really scary part is that apparently the same straps are used on gas trucks...

 

one more thing to pay attention too is that the nuts that hold the strap should be changed if they look any way near rounded. i just spent quite a few hours under the truk with a air hammer to get the completly rounded off bolt out. just a cheap investment b4 a lot of work just my .02

 

oh by the way thre out of three dealers i went too didnt have them in stock but one did give me the size and that is lock nut 10mmx1.25 (i hope havent found it yet) and all three didnt have valve cover gaskets either.

 

I think you can tell which one is new. :P

I had one bolt seized badly enough that I had to angle grind it off, then I drilled through the existing bolt (harder than you'd think, the bastard) and used a new grade 10 bolt (Mostly, that was what I had handy that, surprisingly enough, was the right size, thread pitch, etc.) I replaced the nut on the front strap at the same time for future benefit.

There is a bolt house that has pretty much everything I need nearby, the only problem is they charge $5 minimum.

 

Good info ScottN !

 

Take that shinny new one and get all that cosmaline (?spelling) junk off it and give it some paint. Not the spray can stuff that will chip off with the first sand flake that hits it. Slap some Rustoleum on there with a brush.