Auxiliary Fuel Tank

On the diesel forums people supplement their main gas tank with an auxiliary tank in the bed, as well as some of the bigger gas trucks. I was wondering if anyone has found a bigger fuel tank for the Tacoma or an in bed gravity or pump tank to supplement the fuel tank size? Since I plan on towing 1000's of miles this summer on a big road trip while towing my trailer...stopping every 180 miles for gas is gonna be a pain in the ass. I'm wondering if anyone else has tried an in bed aux tank? I'm thinking a 37-40 gallon tank would fit under the bed rails just fine and increase driving distance to around 550 miles per tank while towing and over 1000 miles when not towing.

 

My camper is around 5000lbs and is 27ft long, I get 10.85mpg with it loaded. Gas weighs less than water and at 6.6lbs per gallon a 37gallon tank + 19lbs for the tank would add 263lbs. My wife, dogs, gear and I add 500lbs to the truck and the hitch adds 455lbs, the tank would bring me close to the max GVWR for the truck which is around 1350lbs. I doubt I'd lose anymore MPG. The manufacturer I'm looking at also has an 18gallon tank which might be more reasonable as it would leave me more space in my short box which I sometimes only carry firewood in, sometimes bikes.

I've done several cross country 4000mile trips and the fewer stops for gas while headed to the main destination the better.

PS, the water tank on my camper is 35 gallons...leaving that empty would mean no increase in weight with the gas tank full.

 

Towing 5000lbs for 1,000 miles or more regularly? Or often enough to permanently mount a fuel cell in the bed? I'd almost rather buy a diesel tow rig for that. I mean, I've towed that much or more with mine for 100 miles, and while it did it I would not like to do it often. Or for longer distances.

What octane gas do you run? If you run 87 normally, bumping up to 91 or 93 might help out the power and MPG while you're towing.

Other than that, maybe check out www.summitracing.com or www.jcwhitney.com for fuel cells and pumps? They might have something. Either way, it's gonna have to be a custom job. Toyota's have had the fuel tank on the driver's side for as long as I can remember. And I've had a 93 tercel, 98 corolla, 94 camry (mom's), and an 04 Rav4 (also mom's). All had fuel tank on the driver side. (or at least the filler was)

 

I wasn't trying to offend you with the 6.6lbs and I do appreciate the suggestions. I haven't added in the weight for the pump and pipes or the gravity feed.

I'm already at 1500miles on my truck. I drive 2-3000 a month thanks to my job, fortunately they pay me for the truck and gas! So the RV is kinda my car payment. The truck tows really well, I was very impressed.

 

As I said in the other response I just made, I drive a lot 2-3K a month and it would be nice to fill up less. This first vacation we're gonna tow 1000 miles one way, so about 2k maybe 3k total after stops in other states. Next year we are going to drive to Utah, Oregon, Washington, and North Dakota...probably 6-8K miles, all towing. I would love to own a diesel rig and that is the plan in a few years...buy a used diesel and move to a 5th wheel...but I have to work with what I got for now and that's a Tacoma and a 27ft 5500lbs Travel Trailer--tows great by the way, could do it all day no problems in wind or rain (Use and equalizer hitch).

I haven't tried another Octane gas but that is a good idea! Probably try mid grade for towing. Thanks for the info so far guys!

 

Yeah a WD hitch and higher octane would help. I had no problem pulling the loads below with 89. Could've tried 91 but I didn't bother. I was running 89 for a month to see if was worth it. I got maybe 14-15mpg IIRC on a 200 mile round trip. Out with the truck, back with the car. Had 4 mounted tires and wheels in the bed for my buddy's blazer on the way back. Wish I'd had a WD hitch because it sagged so much. I have a lift with AAL's in the rear too.

 

The WD helps quite a bit, this is the only pic I have so far and the tongue jack is down because we didn't unhook to camp as we got in at 11pm after buying it. We're about to leave here, but even with the jack up it doesn't sag as much as yours, that's crazy!

 

I have a 3" lift too so I think that makes it looks worse. The front isn't going to go down, but the back can still sink to the bump stops (which it almost did). I was maybe 1/2" off the bump stops so the front is gonna be 3" or so higher anyway! I'd like to see what kind of difference a WD hitch would've made. I may invest in one at some point, but I don't plan on towing cars very often. That was just a quick favor for a buddy, and now he has a newer Ford F150 he could tow with if needed.

 

Depending on your preference here is what I have come up with as far as fuel choice while towing.

You will get better mileage out of 89. By about 1 MPG over 91. However, I choose to sacrifice the 1 MPG to run 91 because I prefer the power increase. I have not dynoed it or anything, but I would suspect that the power and torque increase is in the area of 7-10 horse, and 10-12 LB-ft torque.

That is a nice bump in power for towing, (and I'm only at 23ft. and 3750 lbs wet and ready to roll) and frankly I run 91 all the time, for the same reason.

Just as an asside, the best towing mileage I have seen was 11.17MPG, ro a roughly 208 mile range.

 

I think you should do it, maybe get an Add-A-Leaf, or an Air Support System, get a honking 40 gallon tank, get it plumbed, and drive on ! You would be the first I know of to do it, I am confident the engine and transmission will handle it without a problem. It's a great rig, nice looking trailer, you love your truck...right ?? love your trailer...right ?? Next !!

 

my fuel tank (bladder) won't let me get over 300 miles...... I fill up before my truck runs out

 

thats a damn big trailer! good looking rig though. i like the truck and trailer alot

 

I am also interested in a larger fuel tank. Don't the 4-runners have a 26 gallon fuel tank, at least that would yield another 5 gallons?? What do you think?

 

Hi jdubh,I am also looking for an aux. gas tank,mainly for also towing our trailer.Did you ever find one? Ihave tried all the sites that I have found on the internet,but no luck. Would really like to hear fropm you. Thanks, Dano rickerranch1@msn.com

 

try a junk yard. maybe youll find a wrecked 4runner get the gas tank for cheap

 

There is a reason you don't find many in bed transfer tanks for gas. All of the ones that I know of are for Diesel. This is mainly a safety reason. Also, DOT regulations for each state vary on the amount of fuel you can have in transfer tanks before you have to have a HazMat permit. In Florida, you can carry as many 90 gallon tanks of diesel as you want, but if you have a 91 gallon tank you have to have the permit.

 

I've been thinking about something like these:

10 gallon


12 gallon

 

Bumping an older thread.

I was looking around for aux tanks and found a one-off build that's pretty awesome, but rather than for road towing, it was done for expeditions.

http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipment/tacoma/fuel_tank.html


I'm not very technical myself, but some of you guys who like to tinker with stuff could probably handle this type of modification.

I'll probably end up buying the mounts and fuel cans for extra fuel rather than do something cool like adding another tank.

One note though, the guy in the build from EW is a bit over the GVW when fully geared. I suppose he worked it out though. That's a lot of fuel

 

I'd love to fit my truck with an auxillary tank like the one on Baja Taco. On a recent trip to the desert I felt like I had to go out of my way to get gas more than a few times. I get about 280-300 miles out of a tank if I'm careful. I'd love to extend that to 500 miles without using external cans.

 

Bump.