OK fellas, AFIROver has a rear winch bumper on its way to him (anybody wanna drag it from Nashvilel to Indy for us?.

We just got off the phone arguing over the best way to modify the fuel tank for clearance.

He wants to go with a fuel cell and external fuel pumps. I think this is a waste of cargo space and $$$.

I think we ought to be able to tak eone of the junk fuel tanks we have, notch it where we want it to clear the winch/bumper and continue to run a stock fuel pump. If we want to get really crazy, we could cut the fuel tank ring off of one and have it added to the notched tnak so we could have redundant fuel pumps.

He's afraid of not being able to find a plastics welder and apparently has some reservations about the welded tank's integrity. Me OTOH feel confident that a: we could find someone in Indy that does this sort of thing on a regular basis and b: it would be at least as strong as the stock setup (they were welded together at the plastics factory!). There are at least two palstics welders in Fort Wayne and I'm sure that with the motorsports presence in Indy, we wouldn't have a problem finding someone qualified to do the work.

Your all's thoughts?

PT

ps-we really need soembody to haul the bumper and two sets of sliders from Nashville to Indy... Pendy, aren't you going wheeling down there, or don't you want to?

I would be concerned with the welding of the plastic as well as to really do a proper job you need to know almost the exact plastic used.

Honestly what I'd do is have a fuel cell built with the notch in it. That way you can alter the design of the tank to make up (somewhat) for lost volume. ie more square corners etc... But I think it is definatly worth looking into the plastic welders, especially if you are budget conscience.

When I had my tanks made for the CC, I just went to my sheet metal guy, told him I was making some 'water' tanks, and gave him the dimensions.

Each tank was under $250, and the bottom plate was made out of material thick enough to double as a skid.

IMO a fuel cell inside the vehicle is asking for problems. I had a friend in PDX make his RRC with an internal fuel cell, and IIRC the gas smell was always there.

Just a thought.

Oh, and you don't need a plastics welder, just use your old friend JB!

:flipoff2:

The tanks are made from HDPE. We would have enough material from that we removed to use as welding/filler rod so I'm not too worried about it. Back when I had a real job, we had all manner of tanks made from HDPE and they regularly carried stuff a lot more dangerous than gasoline.

I was thinking about having Assmann tanks do the welding, they build plastic storage tanks. might be slightly more expensive than having Alen Plastics Repair of Fort Wayne Plastics do the job, but they are THE guys to have do plastics welding.

Tuffjarhed built his fuel cell for his J$%^ out of mild steel and paid more to have it lined than it would have cost to buy the aluminium and have it welded. I like the elegance of the notched and welded palstic tank.

My only concern would be loss of capacity, but that's not a huge deal as you'd loose maybe a gallon or two... A custom made fuel cell would have better space utilization but $$$ becomes a factor. Due to the design of the cut and weld method the tank wouldn't be as flexable so you might look into a decent skid plate for it, but if you are not hitting it on the trails you could hold off on that.

My only concern would be loss of capacity, but that's not a huge deal as you'd loose maybe a gallon or two... A custom made fuel cell would have better space utilization but $$$ becomes a factor. Due to the design of the cut and weld method the tank wouldn't be as flexable so you might look into a decent skid plate for it, but if you are not hitting it on the trails you could hold off on that.
It's become a trail rig only-that is driven on the street so few miles, we can call it a trail rig! Loss of capacity isn't a real big problem as I suspect were we to make a fuel cell for loadspace mounting, it would be difficult to match the stock volume.

With a 5"+ lift and 35s, he'd better not be slamming against the fuel tank very often, or we have bigger rpoblems :flipoff2:

I'd go the custom route, just fit it to the stock location with provisions to clear the winch.

I'd go the custom route, just fit it to the stock location with provisions to clear the winch.

Custom steel, custom plastic?

With a 5"+ lift and 35s, he'd better not be slamming against the fuel tank very often, or we have bigger rpoblems :flipoff2:

Only problem is, once you get this big you start running harder trails, hence banging fuel tank skid. Mine is beat to crap! But it still works.

Custom steel, custom plastic?

Steel or aluminum, depending on the design chosen. If you chose to incorporate some of the winch bracing into the design of the tank, you'd maximumize the use of the space availabe and maintain the highest fuel carrying capacity.... Come to think of it, that's a damn good idea! I'd go with a steel tank if you went this route... Otherwise aluminum... or really whichever is cheaper ya CB:flipoff2:

or really whichever is cheaper ya CB:flipoff2:

An outboard fuel tank!

Steel or aluminum, depending on the design chosen. If you chose to incorporate some of the winch bracing into the design of the tank, you'd maximumize the use of the space availabe and maintain the highest fuel carrying capacity.... Come to think of it, that's a damn good idea! I'd go with a steel tank if you went this route... Otherwise aluminum... or really whichever is cheaper ya CB:flipoff2:

I really gotta disagree with ya there Jon. Steel really shouldn't be used for gas tanks, even coated it will still rust out. I've had nothing but problems from steel tanks. Of course given the life expectancy of wheeling rigs, a coated steel tank might not give you any problems. But I'd rather not build future problems into a vehicle, if I can help it.

I'd keep the stock tank in the stock place (I like stock stuff - if you haven't noticed :flipoff2: )

Assuming you are taking of a RRC/Disco, I'd cut off the rear most crossmember, it has ~4-5" of depth in it, redo it in thicket material that is "hollow" to allow for the winch (Planetary/Worm) to recess into it, and act in a dual fashion as a crossmember and winch mount. You can create vertical/horizontal tabs to put a tube bumper afterwards...

with 5" lift, and 35"s, loosing a cople of degrees of departure angle won't do you wrong...

I may be wrong (usually am when it comes to tight space :))

I'd keep the stock tank in the stock place (I like stock stuff - if you haven't noticed :flipoff2: )

Assuming you are taking of a RRC/Disco, I'd cut off the rear most crossmember, it has ~4-5" of depth in it, redo it in thicket material that is "hollow" to allow for the winch (Planetary/Worm) to recess into it, and act in a dual fashion as a crossmember and winch mount. You can create vertical/horizontal tabs to put a tube bumper afterwards...

with 5" lift, and 35"s, loosing a cople of degrees of departure angle won't do you wrong...

I may be wrong (usually am when it comes to tight space :))

We'll consider this when we get the bumper. He had the bumper built... My goal is to see what it looks like and make a final determination as to how I'm gonna do mine.

Now all I have to do is get Shopgrrl into a decent DD so I can drive her LWB as my DD and get cutting on my Disco in anticipation of next year's wheeling season.

I had thought about a rear winch and what I considered was 2 fuel cells 1 on either side between the slider and frame. Simple rectangular shape flat skid plate and the winch could be mounted way inboard and you wouldn't need a special winch bumper and loose all that departure angle

not a bad idea how did you plan to fill these tanks ?