There at 15 gal spun aluminum tanks for buggies and hot rods that would be perfect on amazon.

 

My Toyota (1982) has a spare tire mount under the back behind the spare axle. I plan on cutting that out and mounting a 95ish ford bronco gas tank in that spot. It would fit perfect and give 33 extra gallons. I'm sure it would fit on the later 4runners too.

And it would be way safer than on a roof rack

 

Yea I've looked at that option but I don't have a swing out and I want to still have my spare.

I've heard it will be safer but why? I can't imagine that a tank directly in the spot that gets crumpled in a crash is safer that a spot that would almost never be touched except for in a roll over or something. I just can't think of a reason why it would be safer, even though that's what I keep hearing.

 

Maybe because if the tank gets punctured, gravity will likely cause gas to get into the passenger compartment.

Inside the frame rails under the car is the safest place to put the gas tank. A low tree branch could easily smash a roof mounted can/tank. Covering the car and with any luck be a rolling burning fireball.

And in addition to that, you already know about the thermal expansion caused by sunlight.

 

Do you put anything else on the roof rack?
The tank plus fuel adds up to about 150 pounds.
Having a fuel tank on the roof makes me nervous.

 

Might sound crazy, but I'd put a fuel cell in the cargo area before I put one on the roof. There are companies that make them damn near crash proof, Google ATL fuel cells. On top it's more vulnerable and draws more attention.
You can even install an electric fuel pump in the tank, and if you ground it, you can just transfer the fuel to the regular tank when you need to

 

The fact that it's fuel on the roof has never been an issue to me. I guess because ive been doing long off-road trips for 10 years always having 2 or 3 jerry cans of fuel on the roof. A puncture would suck but fuel leaking on the roof still wouldn't get inside the cab of the vehicle.

Honestly I didn't think the fuel on the roof would be the part U guys were worried about because every long off-roader or overlander I've seen has fuel cans on the roof.

I was more wondering why people act like fuel in jerry cans is normal but an aux fuel tank on the roof is dangerous.

 

I do also have a 2000 f350 4x4 long bed with the 7.3l that I've considered turning into our overland rig because it already has a large main tank and I could easier add a large aux tank in the bed with a common kit.

I'd love to stick with my 4Runner just because I've put a lot of time and thought into building it and it's amazing on long trips, the range is the only issue.

 

I had a boss a while back that decided to move to California and drive his 4 runner with his family in it to California pulling a small trailer.

Somehow he rolled the vehicle and almost killed his entire family. Wife and 2 kids.
They all spent time in intensive care. The wife got some stitches across her forehead.

I saw a pic of the vehicle afterwards. It was a miracle anyone lived. The vehicle was smashed beyond recognition.

 

I'm sure you know already...More weight up high is never a better idea than putting it as low as possible, be it for an off road rig on traveling the highways at 80mph. If you are going to or have spent time building this rig, continue doing it right.
Get a long range tank underneath, up grade the rear bumper for tire and fuel, and or get a trailer. Loading up the roof in not a smart thing.

At the very least I'd opt for the thin, rectangle shaped "cans" (rotopax is one, I think there are others?) that can mount to the sides of the vehicle, you can get racks for over the rear side windows, and mounts for bumpers...they are around 4 gal each, they have other sizes, sometimes seen on ATV racks. You can also put them on top, and they don't change the balance as much as a classic jerry can would.

 

I would go with a larger main tank for daily use. You use fuel a lot more than the spare tire so why not put that up there for now until you can get a swing out carrier?
For a BOV, as much fuel as you can carry is likely to be the case. Since you will probably not be able to refill them after use, scepter cans on the roof And mounted on bumpers, hood, etc could be a life saver. They could also be a great target for the violent or those seeing you have and they want.
Another option is have an aluminum cell made to fit in a roof rack. Make it the same footprint as the rack but not very high. That will spread the load over more of the roof area and you could gravity feed it into your under vehicle tank.


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Why lift filled cans off the tough rack to pour into the gas tank when you could just syphon directly into the tank and never pick them up to get them off, or hold them up while filling the tank?

(Being injured, I'm always looking for easy/efficient ways of doing things)

 

I keep an electric fuel pump in each vehicle. 10' of fuel line on either end and 20' of +/- wire with alligator clips to reach the battery. Each is set up on a 3 position switch. Have about 30$ in each setup which was mostly cost of the pump and new hose.


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Great setup and good to have, but with the gas can above the fuel tank gravity will do the work.

 

It will if the can is laying flat or you use a siphon pump to get it moving. Or tilt the can manually. The other benefit to an electric pump is I can transfer fuel from one vehicle to another or access in ground tanks if there is no power.


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I would never want fuel anywhere NEAR me or above me in an accident. If that tank is punctured you and your family may be covered in fuel. Add some sparks and it would be a really bad demise.

 

I looked into a long range fuel tank for my Nissan Frontier that mounts in place of the factory tank. My research led me to this company:

https://manafrelv.com/?post_type=product&s=fuel+tank

They are the US importer for this company in Australia:
https://longrangeautomotive.com.au/

You might check with them to see if one of their tanks will work in your 4Runner or whether they could order you one from Australia.

The other option would be to look for a 38 gal Toyota Tundra (2016) factory fuel tank and see if it could be fitted under your truck.

 

Have you thought about a 2in reciever basket deal that had a fuel tank on it? Not saying buy some cheap chinese basket and throw 60gal of gas on it.

 

Why not get one of those storage racks that mounts into a 2" trailer hitch mount? You could mount your extra fuel tank, or jerry cans to this and then carry it when you wanted and remove it when bot wanted.

 

Weight, exposure to being rear ended, and loss of departure angle would be my reasons for not doing that.
I've only seen one of those racks that looked stout enough to hold very much...

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I would never mess with gas. How about putting your spare wheel in the roof? Or on the hood, just like old Land Rovers?



That would free up space inside, where you could store a jerrycan much more safely.

 

You hit the nail right on the head with that one countryfree. I was scrolling through the messages and going to post the same thing.

I've got a '95 F150 2WD truck and it has dual tanks totaling 35 gallons together. I also found another aftermarket vendor that replaces the 15 gallon tank with another 20 or 25 gallon tank.

Then I got to looking at it and my spare tire is mounted under the bed. What a HUGE waste of space. I eventually plan to relocate that to the front bumper, or a swing out rack on the back bumper. I think the tank I can place under there would be 50 gallons at least.

If I can't get far enough away with 100 gallons of fuel and getting 19mph, I need to find another place to bug out to.

 

Fuel tank on top of your vehicle? Well, when the SHTF, you can call it "The Zippo." NOT a good idea. Really, really, think about it... And what happens if you roll it? Certainly a Darwin Award Winner...

 

I wouldn't do it but...

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...tal.com/threads/134446-Roll-call-on-Expo-Portal-FJ-Cruisers?p=1715920&styleid=4



Compared to:

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/10281-Roof-Rack-Fuel-Storage

 

Top heavy, vulnerable to explosion, leaks end up on your vehicle.
Bad idea.

 

It also screams steal me, if you park in an urban location.

I used an E350 15 passenger van for camping and did not like carrying Coleman fuel inside the cabin. So I found a spot up behind the rear bumper to strap a plastic gas can with bunji cords.

Why not weld or bolt in a shelf between the frame rails to store jerry cans. They would be out of sight, shaded from sun and thieves, and no more vulnerable than your gas tank. Just leave plenty of clearance from the exhaust pipe.

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I would be scared to put petrol on the roof of a car, especially if it is for offroad. Have you looked into replacing the normal tank with extended ones?

Check out this site:
http://thelongranger.com.au/toyota/4runner/1989-1995
They have 60L and 130L auxillary tanks, as well as they claim they can replace your existing tank with a 134L option.

Not sure what year model you have, or your current capacity, but this company might be able to get you up to 260+L range, and the weight will be where it should be.

Be sure to do your research before going down this route. Im not recommending the products, etc,Im just linking to show what options I found available.

 

well change of plan. I found a good deal on a 70 gal transfer flow tank for my f350. So that truck will have close to 2000 miles range without having to fill up or move fuel cans around. So well use that when range and really covering miles are important and use the F350 to pull the trailer. Since the trailer was bought to be pulled by the 4Runner it'll be nothing for the Ford.

I used to have a hitch mounted holder I used for fuel cans and that worked really well. I broke it once a few years back on a trail. I'll make a much heavier duty one and use that if I think range is going to be an issue on a trip with the 4Runner. Other than that I'll just use the 4Runner when we're going to do more technical stuff and trails and just deal with the range that we have.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4qwpij06ejedba/Photo Sep 01, 12 26 32 PM.jpg?dl=0

 

I had the same range problem and started out by using plastic jerry cans on the rack that slides into my hitch receiver that's rated at 500lbs. I wound up removing the factory hitch and replacing it with a heavier one that was rated at 1000 GTW although I probably never go over about 600 when I put a motorcycle on it. Although I never had a problem with it it was still kind of loose so I welded some box tubing the same size as my receiver to the frame rails and then slid some smaller box tubing the same size as the tongue of the carrier into the outer box tubing. I keep the two 4' sections of the inner tubing in the cargo area or on the top cargo rack and when I need to haul something heavy on the carrier I just slide in the extra supports and the thing will easily hold 1000lbs. This made the back end kind of bouncy so I put in two overload springs and another set of shocks which required a little more welding but the whole thing cost less than $300 and is about bulletproof. I also mounted another set of lights on the top cargo rack that are wired parallel to the rear turn/stop/signal lights to keep the idiots from tailgating. If I stop and put the truck in reverse the backup lights on top light up the aux tank so I can add fuel.
The problem with carrying another large tank on top is that the tank couldn't feed into the main tank because of the extra 5' of head. My extra tank is an 12gal tank from a wrecked boat that I found at a yard sale. There's room for a couple more if I ever need them. Since the bottom of the aux tank is higher than the bottom of the main tank, the aux tank will always empty first. I also installed a check that prevents the main from feeding the aux. When the main tank reads about 1/4 left I know the aux tank is about empty and it is time for a pit stop. The carrier still has room for three jerry cans so if I need to I can empty them into the aux tank which is much easier than emptying them into the main tank and with the extra support rails the carrier doesn't bounce around.