bjmoose mounts NATO jerry gas cans

My 94 F150 held nearly 36 gallons of gas with no extra gas cans. The Tacoma holds a paltry 21 gallons of gas. So I decided to add 3 cans. I wanted NATO cans. They've gotten hard to get as more states have adopted the CARB restrictions. But they're possible to find.



Mounting rubber feet on both sides of the center can so they won't rattle together.



Lots of guys are running elaborate steel cages, but I want to keep it simple and also be able to use the bed for other purposes if I remove the cans. So I'm going to mount them at the front of the bed using these eye-bolts and parts:



The steel strips will become backing plates, and are used as a template to drill holes in the front of the bed for the eyebolts:



and



Not shown - the nuts are welded onto the backing plates.

There's not much space for fingers between the cab and the front of the bed. We use some threaded rod (NOT a bolt with a head!) to fish the backing plates into position from inside the bed:



and



and



Temporarily put a nut snugly on one of the threaded rods to hold the backing plate in position, while the other threaded rod is removed and the eyebolt is threaded and tightented into position.



Repeat for the other eyebolt, and then the other backing plate.


Now ordinary rope will hold the gas cans tightly in position. These bad boys aren't going anywhere. Use a lot of tension on the rope and then a trucker's hitch to finish tensioning the tie.

EDIT: See update below. I ended up switching to ratchet straps as the rope didn't hold the full cans in place for multiple days of off-roading.

 

Nice work as usual Bullwinkle

 

Nice setup, like that you can easily remove them if space is needed.

 

Hey I just saw this thread after reading another thread about installing a secondary gas tank in the bed.
Did you happen to ground the tanks? I read that static can build up and potentially cause a spark....

 

Nice! do they allow the bed cover to sit flat?

 

Why are your sliders angled down?

 

Hope he didnt weld them on.

OP nice mod, thanks for sharing

 

Put on the wrong side possibly ?

 

LOL get that a lot. I angled em down because..
1. dont foresee high centering my truck where I go.
2. Comes out a little farther to protect against door dings.
3. Use em as a step and at this angle, gives me plenty of room
for my steel toe boots to fit on them.
4. More room for my hi lift to clear the side of the truck.

and they don't sit down any lower than the cross member.

 

I like your idea of drilling the bed for mounting points!
How strong is this method? How much force can they take?
I'd like to try this for a bike mount idea I'm cooking.

 

nice work man

 

You'd want to ground any permanently attached tank. These are just gas cans. Never heard of anyone grounding temporary use gas cans.

 

Yes.

 

Thanks for all the compliments.

 

BJmoose,

You're such an intelligent person! Very nice, keep up the good work! Ever since we went to Hollister, I've had your Taco stuck in my head!

 

whoa cool!

 

and

Thanks for the compliments.

 

UPDATE: So after a few days of continuous off-roading, it turned out that a single piece of rope with a truckers hitch can't be cinched tight enough to hold the full gas cans and keep them completely in place.

I ended up switching to using two ratchet straps, with the top one led through a piece of plastic hose to prevent it from chafing on the inside edge of the handles.

The rubber feet that I put on the center can came off pretty quickly too, as the rubber grips the adjacent can about as well as the adhesive. So I've switched the rubber feet out for some felt squares to prevent that "paint removing" friction.

 

Hey Steve what are you using to pour? Do you have the specific spout or just a funnel?

 

Yeah, there's a spout designed exactly to work with these cans and I keep it zip tied to the cans.

Make sure it's seated tightly when you pour or it may disconnect unexpectedly while you pour.