To all those who like to fill er' up to the top.

I just finished the mod kit that David Kelley dkelley@fuse.net has put together. I couldn't help but notice that the fill time nearly dead empty was approx 6 min compared to the 25 min I was spending "fighting the foam". David's product is well worth the money in today's fast and busy world.

The hardest part believe it or not was unplugging the second fuel line from the sending unit. This took time and a few choice words and then a hallelujia!!!when it came free. Mr. Kelley's kit is wonderful and IMO anyone who changes their own oil can do this mod. He provides clear and up to date directions with color pictures for those of us who skipped school on reading day. ha ha.

Thanks for the kit Mr. Kelley you have saved me A LOT OF TIME at the pumps.

Jamie

 

i just logged on to research this topic and there it was at the top of the page! i ordered my kit from david and had it in like 2 days, no time to install yet. how long did it take you to install?

 

what does this kit do?

 

Just got done with mine! Yep, 32 gallons pumped in 7 minutes to the rim. One of the great benny's of forums. The hardest part for me was getting the tank back up. I didn't go all the way down on fuel and had about 6 gallons in there sloshing around. Used some straps and hoisted that bad boy up there. Total time took me 4 hours.

Fronty - this just closes the factory vent hole and then you make another one higher up at the back of the tank. Works wonders.

David did a great job on this and shared his info.

 

how does this cut down on foam and allow the tank to fill faster?

 

It vents much faster...

 

Oh, I see.

 

To expand a bit on "what does it do", at the rear of the Ram tank there is a large bulge upward. This bulge is very poorly vented. Dave's kit put a vent at the top of that bulge. I installed his kit last summer, so have one of the "old" ones. A previous poster mentioned closing the factory vent. There was no mention of doing that when I installed mine. It also greatly enlarges the usable capacity of the tank. My shortbed '04 is rated at 34 gallon. On one long trip last summer, I went 832 miles on a single fill. Put in 37.05 gallons. Yes, I regularly get over 22 mpg on the eway driving around 65 mph. The tank was not completely empty on that fill. I've read a post by someone with a short bed and Dave's kit who said he ran until sputtering & put in 38 gallons. This is, again, into a 34 gallon rated tank. The kit is reasonably priced, around $40, not rocket science to install and is a GREAT improvement to the truck. WOnder what DC thinks about it? I know there are DC people who monitor these sites.

 

My install took me about 2.5 hours taking my time to not mess anything up. Still spilled fuel all over the place from the sending unit. My goal was to save time on the fill up. I will legitamitly save 1.5 hours at the pump a week with his kit.

Very pleased,

Jamie

 

A little more information on David's kit and the plugging of the existing vent line. David has re-designed the vent kit from the original. The original version calls for a "T" in the existing vent line and you end up with two vents, the stock and th one added with the kit in the top rear of the tank. The new version calls for plugging the stock vent line and running a new vent line directly to the new vent on the top rear of the kit, you end up with 1 functioning vent in the tank.

I have the original version sitting in my garage, just very, very leary of doing the install. I have never worked with fuel tanks before and this scares me. The more I read about people doing the install themselves helps me believe I could do it also. One of these days I hope to get up the courage to do it, I'm tired of standing in the cold topping off the tank.

Hope this helps.

Eric

BTW - If anyone in the Kansas City area would like to do this mod, I would volunteer my garage and tools and we could do a couple trucks.

 

BTW Keep in mind the larger/higher rear end of the fuel tank was originally there as an air pocket for when the fuel expands on a hot day. So take care, when you fill er all the way up, not to immediately park and shut down b/c if the fuel expands it's got to go somewhere and it will be all over the side of your truck, and ground.

Jamie

 

hovisimo, you will need in addition to the list of tools David provides in his directions is a regular sized 15mm socket in order to reinstall the nut closer toward the front of the truck. I found there is just no other way to rethread that nut. It's difficult to get to but not impossible.

Jamie

 

There was alot of talk on TDR about fuel expansion and the tank mod. The tank is the same used for the gas models and as such has to allow for gas related issues. Some of this does not apply to the diesels and as such general concensus is that diesel fuel expansion is minimal. I have the mod on my truck and routinely fill it to the top of the neck with fuel and have never had an expansion issue.

 

I have one of Dave's early kits. I do have the expansion issue. If I fill until fuel is standing in the neck & walk in to pay or just drive the mile to the house, I will get fuel on the ground, not on the truck's side. I assume it must come out the stock vent. If I'm not "on the road", I just fill until it clicks off. No expansion problem then. If traveling, I go for the max.

 

thanks Buzzer , even better.

Jamie