Plumbing an auxillary tank
 

I'm going to put an in-bed aux. tank in my truck. I'm leaning toward this model from Northern Tool:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...21&R=200306721

Any way, I'm thinking about plumbing the tank to fill the main tank through the vent hose. Northern has a kit that uses the filler hose, but I think I can do it cheaper than $59.99 + tax by using a 1/2" tee into the vent.

Anyone see any problem going this route? My other question is with the auxillary mounted higher than the main, what keeps the main from over flowing? Simple answer is an in-line valve, but then I have to open it everytime I want to fill the main, then shut it back off. Anyway to do this and just leave the valve open without overflowing the main tank?

Thanks,

Clif

Me Too!!
 

I have been thinking about doing the same thing but have held back not knowing if the box would fit into my 05 3500 sb. Have you already gotten it?
I spoke to a local rep for Northern and he said that I should not go w/ gravity feed kit because of danger of not stopping it. What have you heard?

works great....just remeber two things...

1. Do not open your OEM gas cap while the aux tank is full or you will get splashed!

2. Make sure the cap on the aux tank is a one way breater (I guess two way would work too...but you need air to get in).

Sooner,

Well that's kind of my question, how to stop the fuel from overflowing the main tank.

Some guys put a valve on the outlet fuel line. But I don't want to have to stop, open the valve, wait for the tank to fill, then close the valve back.

I don't know if it will fit a short bed or not. This tank is 20" from front to back, so if you have 20 inches from the front of the bed to the fender, no problem. If not, these guys have a tank/box made for Dodge short beds, they're more than the one at Northern though.

http://www.attatank.com/index.asp?page=boxes

The OEM cap will stop it...I have run 100's of thousands of miles this way in several brands of trucks...always works. No worries.

I had an 01 Ford that I plumbed just as described. It worked great for many months and then one day I awoke to a huge puddle of fuel under my truck. After that I just closed the inline valve to avoid the problem. I was too lazy to investigate it because I knew I was trading in the truck within a few months.

I would mount an inline valve and use it just as a precaution. 110 gallons at $3 plus a gallon can turn into an expensive lesson.

Joe

Fords do not plumb the vent the same way and will leak without some "other" modifications. The dodge will work great no issues.

A friend of mine has one with a solenoid valve inline. He just flicks a switch in the cab, when the gauge hits F he flicks it off. No worries about leaks.

I have installed 2 of the RDS 60 Fuel/Tool box tanks. One in my 99 (White Obsession) and one in my 04 (Ghost Rider). In both installations I did the following and have not had any problems at all.

On the RDS tank, you will have an outlet line, return line and an overflow connections. I pumped fuel from the auxiliary tank into my existing factory tank from a switch located inside my cab. This way I use the existing stock fuel gauge. From the RDS tank I first installed a manual shutoff valve so when I changed the filter, I would not have a syphon effect, then I installed the in-line filter, I then installed a electronic fuel shutoff valve (or a line switch for 2 tanks, made one active and the other was capped off), then I installed a 12V fuel pump. The fuel pump and shutoff valved are control by the switch in the cab. From my research, this installation is DOT approved.

As far as how I tapped into my factory tank, I drilled and tapped fittings in the top of the fuel tank ( I installed the fittings with JB Weld) for both the incoming fuel and also a breather or overflow back to the auxiliary tank. This way, if I forget and leave the pump on, it pumps back into the auxiliary tank.

The overflow line on the auxiliary tank was routed thru the bed, I wrapped the line with a 360* wind in it, and the zip tied under the bed for drainage.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies fellas,

Now that I think about it, if the cap will hold presssure ie. hot days when the fuel expands, it should hold liquid.

Bob,

I hadn't even considered filtering it, good tip.