Custom Fuel Door Installation for Auxillary Ramcharger Tank
07-07-2006, 07:46 PM
#1
Custom Fuel Door Installation for Auxillary Ramcharger Tank
(Full pictures are in the gallery now thanks to Wannadiesel. 
)
On the course of my veggie oil conversion I installed a second tank from a Ramcharger, and stole the fuel door and paid $500 for a guy to weld it into my bed. Supposedly it was going to be done with time for a friend to take the truck into a second body shop by the time I would be back, but the body shop guy got delayed so now I have to find time to drop my truck off for a week at 1-Day Paint and Body, and then another who-knows-how-long at the vinyl wrappers.
(Wouldn't be a problem if, you know, I wasn't paying for all of it by driving my truck around all day.)
I'm more-or-less contented with the job. The biggest complaint is that since I had a depression on the box where the fuel door went, and the body shop guy was rushed, he installed the fuel door flush with the dent rather than flush with the stock body lines, so the whole thing looks quite less-than-factory. Still better than any of the alternatives, I figure, and it should look stock enough once I get the truck vinyl wrapped that I'll get some blank stares from the more knowledgeable Dodge owners. The other part where the guy flaked out on was the bulge on the inside of the bed; he welded the bulge in good enough, but only after he drilled a few screw holes through the thing and sealed it all with sloppy RTV. Looks tacky, but I can't complain since I'm throwing a bed liner in there anyways.
I'm satisfyed... Just wish that he got done sooner so I wouldn't have to take another week off of work for the rest of it to get finished. I need to earn money for my Goerend's, darn it.
)On the course of my veggie oil conversion I installed a second tank from a Ramcharger, and stole the fuel door and paid $500 for a guy to weld it into my bed. Supposedly it was going to be done with time for a friend to take the truck into a second body shop by the time I would be back, but the body shop guy got delayed so now I have to find time to drop my truck off for a week at 1-Day Paint and Body, and then another who-knows-how-long at the vinyl wrappers.
(Wouldn't be a problem if, you know, I wasn't paying for all of it by driving my truck around all day.) I'm more-or-less contented with the job. The biggest complaint is that since I had a depression on the box where the fuel door went, and the body shop guy was rushed, he installed the fuel door flush with the dent rather than flush with the stock body lines, so the whole thing looks quite less-than-factory. Still better than any of the alternatives, I figure, and it should look stock enough once I get the truck vinyl wrapped that I'll get some blank stares from the more knowledgeable Dodge owners. The other part where the guy flaked out on was the bulge on the inside of the bed; he welded the bulge in good enough, but only after he drilled a few screw holes through the thing and sealed it all with sloppy RTV. Looks tacky, but I can't complain since I'm throwing a bed liner in there anyways.
I'm satisfyed... Just wish that he got done sooner so I wouldn't have to take another week off of work for the rest of it to get finished. I need to earn money for my Goerend's, darn it.
07-07-2006, 08:52 PM
#4
Originally Posted by 92DIESEL
Looks good, except the first pic, very fuzzy 
That's not fuzzy, it's the half inch sheet of dirt that's covering The Incubator.
07-07-2006, 11:37 PM
#5
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Originally Posted by Begle1
... he welded the bulge in good enough, but only after he drilled a few screw holes through the thing and sealed it all with sloppy RTV.
Hey Begle1,
On that RTV, in my experience it is not as tough as I would like. It also doesn't seal as well. When I redid my sleeper I got a tube of automotive seam sealer at the local paint and body supply. I used it to seal the seam on the sleeper as a cuple of them were leaking. I had also applied it to the channel I had installed around the crawl through. I really liked the way it sealed the channel and covered the edge. If it is much of a concern, seemed like a cheap tube was about $8.00, and the 3m tube about $12.00.
Just a thought if you are looking for a better solution to the bump inside the bed...
Oh and by the way - the door looks great!
07-08-2006, 02:37 AM
#6
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There's also the 5200 marine series sealant from 3M. It's good stuff. UV resistant, flexable and won't crack. Can take above and below water in salt heavy enviroments too.
When I was doing marine fabrication this is all we used for through bolting, screw holes and under any mating surface. If you want to be able to get it apart for whatever reason the 300 psi tensile is what you want. And that's a fight sometimes to get back apart. The highest grade has 700psi tensile strength
The fuel door looks great on there. Needs some pics of the tank install.
Den
When I was doing marine fabrication this is all we used for through bolting, screw holes and under any mating surface. If you want to be able to get it apart for whatever reason the 300 psi tensile is what you want. And that's a fight sometimes to get back apart. The highest grade has 700psi tensile strength
The fuel door looks great on there. Needs some pics of the tank install.
Den
07-09-2006, 12:38 AM
#7
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WOW! You went all out! I simply got a fuel pocket from a custom truck accessory shop(it actually has a Ford logo on it) and cut a 4È hole and dropped it in. Then I cut and re-sectioned the Ramcharger filler pipe to fit in the cavity in the box. Not nearly as pretty as yours but only took a few hours and cost $30 for the pocket, the filler neck came with the tank. There are more pics of it and the tank in my gallery.
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07-28-2006, 02:10 PM
#9
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my freind and i are thinking about ramcharger tanks for our $500 beaters.
a few questions:
will the RC fill nozzle accept a diesel pump, or do we need one from a CTD, or other diesel powered vehicle?
other than the obvious things like the fill door and bulge in the bed, what sort of modifications need to be done to make the tank fit. obviously, the spare tire must go, but what else?
what about fuel lines and pumps, and what not? what if i just wanted it as an extra diesel tank? how might i plumb it?
a few questions:
will the RC fill nozzle accept a diesel pump, or do we need one from a CTD, or other diesel powered vehicle?
other than the obvious things like the fill door and bulge in the bed, what sort of modifications need to be done to make the tank fit. obviously, the spare tire must go, but what else?
what about fuel lines and pumps, and what not? what if i just wanted it as an extra diesel tank? how might i plumb it?
07-28-2006, 02:34 PM
#10
There is a crossmember that you have to take out of the Ram, and two crossmembers from the Ramcharger that you have to put in. You get to have lots of fun getting the stock crossmember out, and then additional fun putting the Ramcharger ones back in. Not too bad, and if you align the R/C crossmembers correctly you can use the stock straps for the tank.
The filler neck I got doesn't accept a nozzle. Appparently I need to take a Dremel or chisel to it until it does.
As for the fuel lines, you're going to need about 16 feet of additional fuel line to get all the way back to the R/C tank. I don't see any difficulty in running the lines, but I haven't actually done that yet, so I'll have to get back to you on that one Monday.
No matter if you run veggie or #2, the stock lift pump (or a stock~ish piston lift pump) is more than adequate.
If you run veggie you're going to want to run heated lines, preferrably all the way to a valve in the engine compartment, so that's awful lot of extra work. If it's just for Diesel you can put the 6-way valve back farther and share all of the lines, so you only need to run the additional lines behind the tank. Clear as mud?
For my veggie lines I have 40 feet of 1/2 inch stainless, and then I'm going to have to find something for the heater too, which I guess is 5/8's... So that's a bundle of one 5/8 inch line wrapped up with two 1/2 inch line? Ahh, I'll have to get back to you on Monday about that one...
The filler neck I got doesn't accept a nozzle. Appparently I need to take a Dremel or chisel to it until it does.
As for the fuel lines, you're going to need about 16 feet of additional fuel line to get all the way back to the R/C tank. I don't see any difficulty in running the lines, but I haven't actually done that yet, so I'll have to get back to you on that one Monday.
No matter if you run veggie or #2, the stock lift pump (or a stock~ish piston lift pump) is more than adequate.
If you run veggie you're going to want to run heated lines, preferrably all the way to a valve in the engine compartment, so that's awful lot of extra work. If it's just for Diesel you can put the 6-way valve back farther and share all of the lines, so you only need to run the additional lines behind the tank. Clear as mud?
For my veggie lines I have 40 feet of 1/2 inch stainless, and then I'm going to have to find something for the heater too, which I guess is 5/8's... So that's a bundle of one 5/8 inch line wrapped up with two 1/2 inch line? Ahh, I'll have to get back to you on Monday about that one...
07-28-2006, 05:26 PM
#12
On one side, the 6-way valve has one main fuel line going to the engine and one fuel return line coming from the engine; on the other side, it sends the return line to one of two tanks, and then it selects the main line from one of two tanks.
That way you have the engine pumping and returning fuel from the same tank at the same time.
That way you have the engine pumping and returning fuel from the same tank at the same time.
07-28-2006, 11:19 PM
#13
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Originally Posted by jeepsuck
my freind and i are thinking about ramcharger tanks for our $500 beaters.
a few questions:
will the RC fill nozzle accept a diesel pump, or do we need one from a CTD, or other diesel powered vehicle?
a few questions:
will the RC fill nozzle accept a diesel pump, or do we need one from a CTD, or other diesel powered vehicle?
I used the Ramcharger filler neck and and aftermarket fuel "pocket". A diesel nozzle at a regular gas station fits just fine but its too small to use the big one at the big rig stations. If I punched out the center it would probably fit.
Originally Posted by jeepsuck
other than the obvious things like the fill door and bulge in the bed, what sort of modifications need to be done to make the tank fit. obviously, the spare tire must go, but what else?
Originally Posted by jeepsuck
what about fuel lines and pumps, and what not? what if i just wanted it as an extra diesel tank? how might i plumb it?
BTW this is not an easy job but is probably one of the best mods I've done to the truck. Last weekend I hauled a 40ft 5th wheel over the pass into BC. It was about 900km round trip, return was empty. When I returned I put about another 200km on the truck hauling a 16ft trailer with an acerage tractor on it. So it went over 1100km on a single fillup with a good portion of that hauling a HEAVY load. And still had about 1/8th of a tank left in each tank when I filled up.
07-29-2006, 06:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Begle1
On one side, the 6-way valve has one main fuel line going to the engine and one fuel return line coming from the engine; on the other side, it sends the return line to one of two tanks, and then it selects the main line from one of two tanks.
That way you have the engine pumping and returning fuel from the same tank at the same time.
That way you have the engine pumping and returning fuel from the same tank at the same time.
07-29-2006, 02:41 PM
#15
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HUH? If you set the valve up as instructed you will be returning fuel to the same tank you are drawing from. Any other configuration could cause overfilling of one of the tanks.