Long Range America secondary fuel tank installation!

[smlobx]

Alright, it’s been too long without some serious upgrade posts so ladies and gentlemen I present to you the process of installing a Long Range America secondary fuel tank. Yes you read that correctly I decided to install a second, 17 gallon fuel tank which will almost double our range without taking up valuable and limited storage space.

First off I have to say that this install is NOT for the faint of heart and should only be accomplished by a very experienced mechanic. There isn’t much that I haven’t done mechanically but this was beyond my capability so my local shop agreed to tackle the project knowing there would be some head scratching along the way...

So last fall I placed the order and little did I know the tank system was still in the Beta stage but that’s what I get for being anxious...Life being what it is we didn’t get around to this project until January.

Here is the package after unwrapping it off the pallet it came on.. actually this was just after the first test fit after removing the exhaust system. You can see where we had to trim the flange in the upper left of the picture to fit flush (one of several slight mods we had to do).

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[smlobx]

The biggest issue was mating up the instructions with the parts that were sent to us.
We were sent several different versions of the instructions. In, what we thought were the most up to date version we had to install the large Tee pipe onto the top of the tank...Long story short this pipe is NOT for the Gladiator install (maybe for the Wrangler??) After much head scratching and several calls to LRA (who sent us the Wrangler instructions) we figured out that this part is not for the Gladiator!!!

 

[smlobx]

OK with that issue resolved the rest of the install went fairly well. We made a few changes along the way including flattening the flange that bolts up to the frame next to the driveshaft carrier group so that the tank was as high as possible. It now sits flush with the factory tank so we didn’t loose any clearance.. Another modification was that we opened the flange on the bracket on the other side to fit the factory hole better.
Finally we relocated the fuel transfer pump slightly to the passenger side to better protect it from the pumpkin on the rear axle and to make changing the fuel filter more accessible should that be necessary.

 

[smlobx]

Some additional pictures...

 

[smlobx]

This afternoon I trailered the truck to a local, respected muffler shop to reroute the exhaust as the tank has taken up most of the real estate. Hopefully I’ll get it back midweek next week and can post a few more pictures..

 

[Mac Attack]

This afternoon I trailered the truck to a local, respected muffler shop to reroute the exhaust as the tank has taken up most of the real estate. Hopefully I’ll get it back midweek next week and can post a few more pictures..

Eddie, one of the most important installs I intend to do...thanks for breaking new ground for us....And, please, let us know your thoughts after finishing some of your trips. Hopefully the issues you faced will be resolved by the time I receive mine.

 

[smlobx]

Eddie, one of the most important installs I intend to do...thanks for breaking new ground for us....And, please, let us know your thoughts after finishing some of your trips. Hopefully the issues you faced will be resolved by the time I receive mine.

I’ll be happy to help in any way possible when you get yours.

 

[Mtpisgah]

What exactly is the purpose of an added tank? Yes,, obviously longer distances between stops, but how often do you need to stop for the bathroom? I can drive for four hours on a tank, I can not drive that long before I need to pee.

If you are wheeling in the wilderness for a few days then I can see the utility, but are you really doing that enough that a few rotopacks cannot achieve?

Serious question.

 

[smlobx]

What exactly is the purpose of an added tank? Yes,, obviously longer distances between stops, but how often do you need to stop for the bathroom? I can drive for four hours on a tank, I can not drive that long before I need to pee.

If you are wheeling in the wilderness for a few days then I can see the utility, but are you really doing that enough that a few rotopacks cannot achieve?

Serious question.

‘Serious reply.
Yes we do go into some very remote areas and are building our Gladiator to do just that. I am not a fan of roto packs as they place the fuel in a place that can be easily “disturbed” by other people. The fuel is also higher and that doesn’t help with off-road stability. We hope to take the Gladiator into Mexico and Central America and fuel can be hard to find at times..
We drove to Prudhoe Bay last summer and thankfully that rig had a 600 mile fuel range. The stock Gladiator, fully loaded has less than half that and that is why we are adding an additional 17 gallons.
I hope this answers your question.

 

[Mtpisgah]

Understandable then. Most people I have talked to on the right coast are not doing that extended of trips, so big tanks do not really matter. If you are planning on a south of the boarder trip then it makes sense. i would guess the extended range would also help in Alaska.

You are the outlier I would think of this group, serious kudos to you. We travel to Europe at least once, sometime twice, a year for vacation (pre covid). Unfortunately we do not get to drive overlanding vehicles there, luckily the cars we rent get ridiculously good gas mileage.

 

[smlobx]

I may be an outlier. We are fortunate enough to have traveled to some pretty exotic places pre-Covid and hope to return to doing that later this year. We are friends with a group of Europeans that also love to travel and we are talking about exploring either Iceland or Mongolia perhaps next year...
I think that travel is the best education one can get.

 

[KurtP]

Looking good. I was under my glad the other day considering what fuel tank options might be viable.

 

[Moe_Fugga]

How does it work? Does it transfer gas to the factory tank or does it tap into the factory fuel lines and act as a secondary tank?

 

[Devil Dog]

@smlobxhow long did the install take and what was the cost?

 

[jtimbrook]

Any chance you have a picture showing the full underside with the tank installed?

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