"Budget" Rotopax bed mount

After almost running out of gas the other day after getting into a towing project that burned more fuel than I anticipated, I figure it was time to put a stash of fuel on-board for such unplanned events.

Now, I'll probably never need it again. But that's how these things go. Better of course to be prepared!

So, what did I want?

An unobtrusive gas can, mounted somewhere in the bed. Ideally, 5 gallons, but that would have been a big can. I've always liked the Rotopax stuff, and that seemed to fit the bill, but their stuff is expensive, and most of the containers aren't that big. A 2 gallon can is $80.. a 3 gallon is $100. LOL, nope.

What to do?

Well I was browsing Rotopax's site the other day, and saw these, FuelPax line from them: https://rotopax.com/fuelpax/. The warranty isn't as good (1 year vs 3), and they aren't as modular as the Rotopax stuff, but neither of that mattered for my needs. Plus, they have a 3.5 gallon can, with "introductory" pricing at $50. Still expensive for a simple gas can you can get a generic version of for $15, but closer to impluse price. That with the Pack Mount for another $30, and I'm in for $80. Better than the $100 for a 3 gallon RotoPax, and another $33 for the mount, and another $30 for the 3 gallon container extension you apparently need. So I'm in for $80 where it would have been $163. So far so good.

Not bad for $80.... I guess??


Now, how to mount it? I have the can and the pack mount, but nowhere to secure it. Next up, would have been to buy a front bed rail ($45 on Amazon), and then the Rotopax Tacoma plate mount, for another $33. Well I didn't want to do that either, I've already spent a little more than I'd like.

Spare plywood and a trip to the hardware store to the rescue!

So here's what I did.

Had a piece of 5/8 plywood laying around that happened to be a just about perfect width. Here it is marked up and drilled.


Measured out these 3 holes here at the top of the bed (where the rail would normally mount):


Cut the plywood to length to sit across those 3 bolt holes, drilled out for the Pack Mount, and painted it black.


got some metric hardware from the hardware store, and some washers. It is M6x1.0 bolts, I got 50mm long. Because of the ridges of the bed, I need to shim out, used some washers for that.


Here it is mounted up. Seems plenty sturdy. Biggest concern is it might rattle against the bedside and make annoying noises... we'll see if that happens and address it if need be.






Here's the fuel pack mounted up. It doesn't protrude past the final piece of my Bakflip VP, so it's tucked up nice and out of the way. If you are curious, yes, it is "supposed" to mount rotated 90 degrees from how I have it, but for obvious reasons doesn't fit that way. But when filled to the fill line on the container, the spout is still well above the fuel line even how I have it mounted. Should not have any problems with leaking!


Looks good stashed in there, waiting for the day I need it!



I put some fuel stabilizer in there so I don't have to worry about it too much... but I'll probably rotate it out every 3 or so months, as I think about it.

So, the project, all in:

$92 - Fuel Pack, mount, and shipping
$8 - hardware
$4 - black spraypaint
$FREE - plywood

Just a hair over $100, because I wanted to paint it, and metric hardware is actually kind of expensive.

Not sure how long the "introductory" pricing on the Fuel Pack is, but FYI to those interested might head over there and take advantage if you've been looking at a Rotopax but turned off due to the price!

Next up, I'm going to make a mount so I can put this can on a receiver hitch, when I need to take spare gas in my Suburban and don't want it in the back. Need this going to our cabin to run the generator and haven't had a good way to solve that problem yet either. That will probably run another $50 or so, need another pack mount and a receiver hitch and some hardware. That will come later though. For now this solves my main issue.

Thanks for reading!

 

Nice job

 

Looks awesome. Great write up, too.

 

LOL... it does indeed rattle when going into reverse. Just a bit. Doesn't seem to going forward. We'll see how annoying it is... might put a rubber door stop or something similar on the bottom.

 

Just a heads up, Rotopax has a 20% coupon code on there own website. I just bought the 3.5 gallon, lockable mount and Tacoma bed rail mount for only $114. The coupon code is EBAY20 but make sure you put on all caps. Nice write up though OP, I'm just lazy and don't want to do all of the work but it looks good!!

 

Do you run out of gas often?

 

Not now!

 

You mounted a fuel container to wood? Just when I thought I had seen it all in the 3rd gen forum

 

Not for a long time.. but it's good to be prepared.

 

It's people like you who keep me busy, so keep on mounting something extremely flammable to wood Darwin is quite good at hide and seek...

 

I store gas cans in my garage, and I'm pretty sure that is flamable. Heck, the poly bed is probably quite flammable in the presence of an accelerant anyways. So really any gas mounted in the bed, on any material, is unsafe to a degree. If the plywood stays dry under that tonneu cover, and it is thick enough to handle the weight of the gas without failing.... it looks like a solid mod to me.

 

how did you pay $0 shipping cost?

 

This^^^

Not to mention if you're camping/over-landing/hauling chances are the materials in the bed will also be flamable. Sounds like someone has some unresolved anxiety issues.

Nice post OP

 

Also, don't bring gas into the forests. They are made out of wood.

 

Hardly. I am a veteran firefighter, and what he has done is extremely unsafe and will cause him issues in the event of a collision. There is a reason gas can mounts are metal.

Aww how cute, someone is trying to use sarcasm

There is a reason like I said above that mounts are made of metal, and not wood.

 

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So you're telling me that Kawasaki, Honda, Truimph (amongst others motorcycle companies along with other vehicles with plastic tanks) all have it wrong with the use of plastic tanks in their designs and anything secures a fuel tank has to be made of metal? What about plastic components in the manufacture of filler necks, fuel line attachements etc?

Besides, your comment was about the wood board being flammable, not the construction of the mount.

And by the way, I was a state trooper for 16 years and worked many many wrecks. Shit happens on the roadway, and carrying 3 gallons of fuel in a plastic container, attached to a piece of plywood, secured in the bed of my truck would bethe least of my worries.

 

Those pieces are designed specifically for fuel, his plywood holder is not, doesnt take a engineer to figure that out.

Well Im glad you arent worried about 3gallons of fuel being improperly secured in your bed, would make for easy determination of why the fire started

 

The strength of the wood mount is the issue, but plenty of people just toss a loose can in the back of the bed...... I get the point, but it's probably not that big a deal, and it's better than what a lot of people do.

 

Shipping wasn't free. That was just the total for all of the products. Didn't post shipping since it'll be different for everyone.