My wifes Ford "Farm Truck" has 2 factory gas tanks. One @20 gal and one @ 15 gal.

I have become use to having the extra tank.

I just got me a "Farm Truck" a 1998 Ford F 150.

It has a 25 gal factory tank, but I would like to have more gas.

There are some pretty good AUX tanks on the market but they are at least $1000.00 to 1400.00 or more.

If this was a newer truck I could see spending that kind of money...

But, I am looking for a more inexpensive route to go.

I thought about getting a Boat gas tank, say 30 to 50 gallons, and a compact 12 volt electric pump, and use it like a transfer tank.

That way I could take it out of the truck whehever necessary.

The problem here is finding an inexpensive electric gasoline pump.

Sadly the most affordable and easiest to implement system is to just have several 5 gallon individual gas tanks.

But they do take up a lot more bed space. And they seem to be more suspectable to a spill inside the bed of the truck.

Not as handy as a AUX transfer tank, but a lot more affordable.

I am suprised there is not a good "portable system" on the market. It could also be used to refuel ATV's, Snow Machines, etc...

A 50 gallon system could even be transported on one of those exterior carriers that plug into a 2" trailer hitch.

The two tanks on Ford trucks are nice. I had a couple like that. The problem you will have is that most aux or transfer tanks are built for diesel, not gas. Gasoline is a lot more volatile and needs extra considerations that diesel doesn't. Any metal or plastic box can be used as a diesel transfer tank.

However, I think this place has some options for gas that might work:

Northern Tool fuel tanks

Cheapest is probably going to be jerry cans on a hitch rack, like you said.

Thanks captain I have checked N. Tool out.

There is a company that makes great Aux tanks for PU's www.transferflow.com

The systems are a little over 1K, and if this truck was a few years knewer I would go with them. I kust hate to spend that much money on this particular truck.

I am thinking of getting one of those portable 15 gallon "filling stations" for the wife to use for her lawn tractor and her ATV here on opur place, I might give it a try in the back of the truck...

Well tonight one of my Sweet Sister-in Laws helped solve my long range extra fuel problems.

She gave me one of those 500lb Cargo carriers that plug in to a 2" hitch.

This would allow me to carry 50 to 60 gallons of extra gas in 5 gal cans.

This way the gas in not in the bed of the truck with my other gear.

While it is a low Tec solution, it is also a low cost solution.

And the Cargo carrier can be used to carry other things that I would not want to put in the bed of the truck.

I also told the Wife to find a comfortable chair that fits the Cargo Carrier, just in case she wants to go an a trip with me...


OK, I did tell her that, but she knew I was only kidding, as she is a Great camper/backpacker/hunting buddy.

We have been married over 30 years, I almost have her fully trained.

The down side on the carrier is a rear end collision. I used to carry 5 gal. cans on my tire carrier until I decided that if someone rearended me it could get really ugly. An aux tank tucked up under the frame rails is a lot safer.
C.G.B.

None of my business but it sounds to me like you're trading a lot of safety for very little gain. If it's a "farm truck" why would you need more than the approx. 350 mi range with the original tank?

In addition, with today's gas prices, carrying 50 gals of easily portable gas around in plain sight would likely make it a target for thieves. People will steal anything that isn't nailed down. Finally, again, just my opinion, but I'd get real tired of pouring 5 gal of gas at a time into my tank much faster than I would pumping gas into it at a gas station. Been there, done that as well.

All that said, if you really want a cheaper way to transfer gas from a tank to your orig. tank or to a gas line, I'd consider just connecting an electric inline fuelpump, costs somewhere around $25 to $50 to a line dropped down in the aux. tank. and mount a toggle switch on the dash. Running the hot wire might be a bit of a challenge but not that big of a deal.

I've also done this before when money was tight and gas was often very expensive out in the boonies in say, Montana, and stations were often a long ways apart. Just buy a 55 gal drum, metal or plastic, secure it in the bed with metal straps or even the nylon ratchet type and go to Tractor Supply or similar and buy either a hand operated fuel pump (pretty cheap, maybe $50 or so) or an in tank electric one. I want to stress that this is a safety issue but it can get you 55 gal extra fuel capacity for less than $100.

The last part of you post does make some sense.

I need to take extra gas to the deer lease and when i go to Idaho I need a fair amount of extra gas for the truck as well as the ATV,s there. There is a 300 gal gas tank at my buddies cabin,but it is not always full.

Also on cross country trips I just like to have some extra gas, just like I want to have extra ammo, scotch, etc.

Having a second tank installed on the truck would be the most conveniant for sure, but is more $$$ than I want to put in this particuar truck because I do not make that many long distance trips in it.

Tractor Supply has a 15 gallon tank that has a gas station type spigot and works on a gravity feed. So if this tank was placed on top of the tool box, it would be easy to empty it into the truck gas tank. A couple of these would give me an extra 30 gallons, and they would also be useful around my place, at the deer lease, or at the cabin to fill ATV's or the wifes lawn tractor.

I have given the concept of a 55 gal or even a 30 gal barrel some thoughts, but when full they are a struggle to move and deal with.

The nice thing about a couple of the 15 gal "gas stations", or even 10 five gallon gas cans, is that they are easier to handle and can be used individually or as a group for the rest of the year around the place.

If this was a new 4x4 truck I would have an AUX tank fited with the proper connections to either feed directly onto the fuel line or into the factory gas tank.

But that is just not in the cards for this particular truck.

Here's my 2 cents-

If you are looking for an economical fuel pump, there are a couple options.

The cheapest and probably the best suggestion is if you have a friend who works at a garage, ask him if he has any old electric injection fuel pumps that he has replaced. In general, the pumps don't go bad that often but they will not produce enough pressure so they get replaced. You can get one and hook wires and a hose to it and most will fit inside a 55 gallon drum bung hole.



You probably won't get the wire harness, so just make up some new ones and epoxy them on to the terminals and then put a piece of fuel line on it, drop it into the bung hole and plug it in. For a transfer pump it will work just fine. Remember to put an intake filter on it, but that can just mean putting it into an old sock.

There are also quite a few other fuel pumps, some of them are pretty slow but they will all get the job done given a little time.

Don't forget you can siphon it out as well. If your hunting camp bulk tank is next to a tree you can weld some lifting eyes to the barrel before you fill it with gas for the first time.

Mark I have thought about your plan. However I prefered to have a pump I could run off a Cig lighter plug in and instead of submirging the whole pump just put a hose connected to the pump in what ever gas can I was using. Be it 50 gal or 5 gal.

I tend to want to use tanks no larger than 15 gallons as they can still be man handled.

I took a snow mobile trip out of Nome AK one time and we used several 30 and 50 gallon drums of fuel, we had a hand pump but if it failed there was no way, well not a good way to fuel up the machines as the 30 and 50 gal drums would be quite a a bit of trouble to "man handle"...

Snow machines use a LOT of fuel...

In that case just google "universal electric fuel pump" and you can find ones that pump about 30 GPH that are in the $30-40 range.

Here's an example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=9ATBCZG0049441

Oh gosh, look at ebay too, there are some a lot cheaper:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html...c+fuel+pump&_sacat=0


Anyway, do whatever you wish but you were asking for inexpensive options and free fits the requirement. Also, any of these pumps you can wire up to a cigarette lighter plug.

also, there are pumps that go considerably faster but they also cost a bit more, but you can look for those too.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G3136-1/

Anyway, good luck in whatever you choose.

Mark

Thanks for the information.

We carry a lot, and I mean a lot of extra gas when we boat down the Yukon and head up the Koyukuk river in search of moose. Like 400 gallons on the deck of the boat.

Pretty much every one up here carries the gas in either 30 or 55 plastic drums. You can get the 30's at car washes as they get their soap in them. 55's can be found at places that service a lot of vehicles such as car dealerships, truck stops etc as antifreeze and some cleaning compounds are shipped in them. Cheap and easy to dispose of as they burn really easy. Been using some of the drums for 5 years and they are still leak proof. Just give them a good cleaning before using.

Bought a gasoline 12 volt rated fuel pump with a 1 inch inlet and outlet and it will drain a 55 gallon drum in about 7-8 minutes. Just use some common sense to avoid static electricity when adding or removing the gas.

Thanks Snowwolfe, I had thought about the Plastic, or even metal drims, but they will not fit in the truck under thee cover, I plan to use on it.

However there are some plastic or metal boat tanks that would be useable, and I am taking a look at them.

If you do not mind the extra expense you can research another method and that is inflatable fuel bladders for boats. Come in a lot of different sizes and once empty they can be folded up and tucked out of the way. But they are pricey.

That is a good idea.

Another option - find an old semi truck and get one of the aluminum fuel tanks off it. They come with straps made to fit and it's easy to build a cradle in the back of the truck. Usually, they hold about 200 gallons. Already fitted with bottom outlets that you can use or plug and fit the top with a transfer pump.

And so, my question would be -- Just exactly how big is this farm? I have a Ford Ranger, 4WD, std. 17 gal. tank gives me a range of about 250 miles. If I can't find gas in that range, I'll opt for the 5 gal. jerry cans in the bed -- strapped in so they don't shift/spill.

How about this?: Since this is a "farm truck" I presume you may frequently need to haul a trailer to carry extra items outside the bed. Why not take the bed and integral gas tank from a frontal wrecked truck like yours and convert it into a trailer. Then use the gas tank in the bed section to store extra gas. You could even rig a flexible fuel line to pump gas over into your truck tank.

I'm patient (some friends say "ruthless") and methodical enough to have gathered sufficient parts to have retrofit my '87 Ranger supercab pickup truck with 4x4, a much later 4.0liter V6 engine (to replace the original 2.9 liter V6) and finally retrofit dual tanks to it...

AFTER I had upgraded the mid-ships tank from a metal 14.5 gallon to a 1994 plastic 21gallon tank. (22-23 if you "top up")

The behind-the-axle "aux" tank is a actually from
an '89-up F-350/450. this tank holds 19gallons, but 21gallons can be squeezed in by patient "topping up". it is also plastic.

The plastic tanks will never rust...

It takes care and patience to set up a safe dual-tank system
and THE THING you need to avoid is a fail-safe system to assure that return fuel goes back to the tank it is being drawn from.

Otherwise you have a "cross-feed" and a cross-feeding event can be a catastrophe with near apocalyptic results...

I also have a very rugged in-bed tank that holds an additional 45gallons...

How far can I go with my little Ranger?

Theoretically 1950miles.... which is conveniently just slightly longer than the distance between my house in Pennsylvania and my brother's in Wyoming... and enough longer to allow me to stop at ALL the Cabela's between here and there to pillage their bargain caves


I have made a round trip to the Boston Metro area with a side trip as far north as Kittery, Maine without adding a single drop of fuel....

It is a great thing to leave your driveway on a multi-state trip
and knowing you have sufficient fuel for the complete trip

If you also have a smart phone and have installed the Gas Buddy app, so you know where the cheapest gas can be bought..., you can if you wish top-up on the cheap...
and with that in mind you can reduce or eliminate your need for ridiculous tankage...

AD