New tank delivered, filtration questions - Diesel Forum

ToddT · 10-19-2004, 05:15 PM

The freight company just dropped off my new 60 gallon tank/toolbox combo unit from Northern Tools ($500 not including freight from FL). Overall, the tank looks good... polished diamondplate. It makes a nice fit behind the cab of my truck leaving 60" of bed space between the tank and the tailgate. I'm going to add a 1 1/2" deep coolant chamber beneath the tank. This will provide some heat as well as elevate the overall tank a bit so it won't hit on the curve of the side walls as they radius to the floor. With the coolant chamber beneath, the overall height will be only about an inch above the sides of the truck.

It has a filler neck, manual fuel gauge and four ports: vent (next to the filler), supply (to fuel pump), return and drain. The drain is on the absolute bottom, driver's side. The supply and return lines are on the front edge (closest to the rear window of the truck) about mid-ways across the tank.

The toolbox has 6" of interior height available. It will be plenty of space for a fuel pump, some filter elements and some tools. But, where would you mount the filter? There isn't enough space on either side of the tank between the tank and sidewalls. I could go beneath the truck but would rather have something topside. Without giving up cargo space in the bed, what about running a filter horizontally and placed inside the toolbox compartment? Other than making a mess when changing elements, is there any problem running a pressurized filter sideways?

My plan is to weld a heavier bar across the width of the tank, toward the rear. This will give a place for securing the load as well as stiffening the tank from shifting cargo.

Any suggestions?

Todd T

xhead · 10-20-2004, 11:11 AM

I dunno, I would make sure that the filter you get can be mounted that way. Most of the filters I've seen, with the screw on filter (like the Racor) have the bowl at the bottom to collect the water that is separated from the fuel. And a drain for that as well. So anything with a water separator is probably supposed to be vertical.

My Racor is mounted on my hood, and when I lift the hood, it leaks a little more than when the hood is closed (I think [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] ).

If you do a vertical filter, you'll need at least 12" of space I would think, more if you wanted a larger (ie longer) filter. Too bad there isn't space between the truck box wall and the tank.

It is definitely messy when you change filters too.

Mike

tsaunders · 10-20-2004, 12:27 PM

Which filter?
I like xhead's hood mount, but only for a shorter filter.

Any chance you could put a few inches between the box and the front wall of the truck bed for mounting the filter?

If you're welding angle-iron across the rear of the tank box, how about mounting the filter to that and welding a small square of iron bars around it for protection?

Stefan · 10-20-2004, 01:24 PM

ToddT,

That is the exact tank I was going to buy, so I wait impatiently for your install and your review.

Are you going to run a Holley pump and a Racor filter/seperator?