kcm.MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- NW Minnesota
[b:042a220408]cjunrau[/b:042a220408] made a post in the other thread (thank you cj!) that brought up a VERY good subject that probably deserves its own thread. He posted this: "[i:042a220408]I have used air to empty fuel into other containers. You just have to have common sense and or a regulator. I know a guy who had. Semi fuel tank on the back of his truck. Had air valve and would transfer it into a 300 gallon tank On stand at home. Fuel was cheaper at a certain store than what they would deliver onto his yard. Every trip to go shopping was less than half price because of the 75-100 gallons he would bring home. To avoid regulations some guys even made them permanent mounted as extra truck tanks.[/i:042a220408]"
This brings up an interesting twist, AND a good question. My very first truck was my late-Grandfather's 1976 Ford F-150, 2wd, auto, 390ci, and geared low for pulling. He was an expert welder and had made custom rear bumper and front brush guard, as well as making 2 additional gas tanks. That truck would do 76MPH uphill, downhill, loaded, empty....didn't matter. Only thing that did matter was it was a heavy drinker. Some might even say that truck was a hopeless drunk! Shocked
Anyway, from what you're saying, I could weld up something similar for my truck today and make it so that the truck could run off of that tank, and that would bypass the regulations? Certainly it's not as simple as that.....is it??
As regulations continue to stack deeper and deeper upon us, this is one that certainly should be hashed out a little bit, not only from the perspective of "can it be done", but also from the perspective of safety. What happens if such a vehicle is ever involved in a crash? What if road debris pops up and starts the tank to leaking badly? What if someone is not a good welder, or does not design/build their tank or make their connections well enough?
I've mentioned before how we were in a similar way here to what was mentioned, that it is cheaper for us to buy fuel at the pump in town rather than to have it delivered. However, all the regs about hauling fuel (specifically gas) have me wondering. Is there a limit to how many 5-gal cans we can carry at once? Does it matter if they're secured? What if we build on a permanent tank - sort of like building our own fuel hauler....where is that line we cross that puts us over into commercial regulations?
This brings up an interesting twist, AND a good question. My very first truck was my late-Grandfather's 1976 Ford F-150, 2wd, auto, 390ci, and geared low for pulling. He was an expert welder and had made custom rear bumper and front brush guard, as well as making 2 additional gas tanks. That truck would do 76MPH uphill, downhill, loaded, empty....didn't matter. Only thing that did matter was it was a heavy drinker. Some might even say that truck was a hopeless drunk! Shocked
Anyway, from what you're saying, I could weld up something similar for my truck today and make it so that the truck could run off of that tank, and that would bypass the regulations? Certainly it's not as simple as that.....is it??
As regulations continue to stack deeper and deeper upon us, this is one that certainly should be hashed out a little bit, not only from the perspective of "can it be done", but also from the perspective of safety. What happens if such a vehicle is ever involved in a crash? What if road debris pops up and starts the tank to leaking badly? What if someone is not a good welder, or does not design/build their tank or make their connections well enough?
I've mentioned before how we were in a similar way here to what was mentioned, that it is cheaper for us to buy fuel at the pump in town rather than to have it delivered. However, all the regs about hauling fuel (specifically gas) have me wondering. Is there a limit to how many 5-gal cans we can carry at once? Does it matter if they're secured? What if we build on a permanent tank - sort of like building our own fuel hauler....where is that line we cross that puts us over into commercial regulations?