I have an 05' LLY crewcab shortbox and I pull a 20' toyhauler on weekends. The truck is totally stock currently. I live in Colorado and have to make long distances when I am towing. My effective range towing with the small stock fuel tank is around 225 miles before I start sweating. When I rented a Dodge this past summer I remember the mileage better and the tank larger (i.e. more fuel range). Are there larger aftermarket fuel tanks for the crewcab/short box Duramax's? If so, who makes them and how good are they (both from an installation/fit standpoint and ongoing use/reliability standpoint)?

do search for fuel tanks, have read several here, form inbed to stock replacement.

www.supertanks.com. I have the long bed and have the 75 gallon tank and love it. Without a load I can get up to 1000-1200 miles on distant trips with one tank. When I am hauling my camper and trailer together, about 17,000 lbs, I get about 650 - 750 miles in a tank. I believe the short bed has a 60 gallon tank. It takes about 6 hours to install it yourself if you follow the directions that come with it. This tank mounts under the truck in the stock tank location. I didn't want a tank to install in the bed because I use the bed of my truck for everything.

Jeff

I installed the 45 gallon transferflow tank that goes entirely under the bed. I would not recommend it since it only allows a usable 35 gallons. I am not exactly sure why this is but that is all I get. It was expensive as well.

I installed a KSH combo tool box and 45 gal. tank on my dmax. Purchased the installation kit with it. am very satisfied with it as now have 70 plus gal. before fill up. Installation instructions on the transfer valve mounting were not very good, but not complicated to figure out either. Makes for a neat job. Small filter that comes with kit has to be changed often.

I installed the 45 gallon transferflow tank that goes entirely under the bed. I would not recommend it since it only allows a usable 35 gallons. I am not exactly sure why this is but that is all I get. It was expensive as well.

I called them two days ago. When I asked how they pickup the fuel, they said they use the factory pickup/bucket. The factory bucket is specifically designed for plastic tanks with a flat bottom and no baffles. I started to ask about fuel pickup and they guy got a little jumpy. It is obviously not a good idea to use our unmodified factory pickup in there metal gas tank.


While they have there welder out, they need to build a tank with no baffles and an internal sump. Problem is you would loose some advertized capacity. Probally drop the rating to 35 gallons but you would be able to use every last drop. A fake bottom with a 1 foot by 1foot by 6 " deep section right in the center. Or a flat bottom with a welded drop down section but most do not want anything hanging down low in fear of ripping it off.

I installed a KSH combo tool box and 45 gal. tank on my dmax. Purchased the installation kit with it. am very satisfied with it as now have 70 plus gal. before fill up. Installation instructions on the transfer valve mounting were not very good, but not complicated to figure out either. Makes for a neat job. Small filter that comes with kit has to be changed often.
How often are you finding that you have to change the inline filter that came with your KSH tank? I have a custom tool/tank from KSH, that I have made some modifications to so water does not get into the tool portion :( . I hope to get it all hooked up as soon as I get one of Kennedys new lift pumps :) . Did you put an inline filter in the line from the OEM tanks as well?
Thanks

I had a supertank on my last truck and am getting ready to order another... Any one interested I purchasing one. Maybe we can get a better deal if we order a few more...

I sell the Supertanks- drop me a pm for special Diesel place price.

Tdognasty,

I have the 45G transferflow and the first time I was able to fill it with 51G. When my fuel light comes on, it usually takes from 40-46 gallons.

If you can't put more than 35G in it there must be some problem with the install.

Yes it is expensive but real heavy duty. I am very happy with it.

I have run the TransferFlow 56 gallon model for over 2 years, love it. When it was installed, the price was competitive with all the others.

Bronco,

You seem to have some knowledge on this subject, I have some questions for you:

First: How does the factory Pick-Up change its performance when you use it in a steel tank?

Second: Why would you desire a Sump Area at the bottom of the tank? Would that not collect all the "Nasty's", water, alge etc., in one arena (I presume you place your Pick-Up in the Sump Area for maximum use of available fuel), ready for injestion?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

Idahofox

I installed the 45 gallon transferflow tank that goes entirely under the bed. I would not recommend it since it only allows a usable 35 gallons. I am not exactly sure why this is but that is all I get. It was expensive as well.
I had the same problem with my Transfer Flow midship. I tried everything to get more capacity but 32 gal was all I felt safe using. At 35 gal I was sucking air. Transfer Flow made no attempt to help with the problem and acted like I was the only one having this problem. I have talked with many other Transfer Flow users and they report similar frustrations. I will never buy a Transfer Flow midship again. It is such a shame because they are built really well and installation was a breeze :o:

However, there seems to be a positive concensus on the Super Tank unit. I think I am going to go that route this time..............................:)

There have been 2 post in this thread stating the exact same thing. First post said transfer flow leaves about 11 gallons in the tank. 35 out 45 gallons or so.

Second post came in corrected first guy by saying he filled 51 gallons and can use 40-45 gallons. So they both said same thing. 11 gallons left over in bottom of tank. I believe P.C. was upset about this exact same thing quite some time ago.

So there is a problem if you are leaving 11 gallons of fuel in the bottom of your tank. First you are not getting the full capacity. Second is this fuel being mixed or is this fuel collecting sediment/water and other undesirables? I cannot answer the mixing question because I have never inspected the inside of a transferflow fuel tanks.


As far as why the factory pickup does not due good in a metal tank? The factory pickup in a factory fuel tank was specifiacally designed to ride on the absolute bottom of the fuel tank. The factory bucket is spring loaded and rides on 3 steele 1/4" colums. So the factory bucket is always slammed against the very bottom of the tank. It can move up and down with the tank bottom and is also allowed to vibrate/oscilate with the movement in the tank bottom. This neat little contraption is designed to gather fuel in 16 oz. container from different locations. The cooled return line, the bottom of the tank, and also from higher sections of the tank when the fuel level is above 8 gallons on a short bed. So the fuel line is always sucking a blend of fuel. It is also attempting to keep this 16oz bucket full so you always have a reserve. Hard launches, uphill,downhill,cornering, low fuel conditions. This bucket uses a variety of fuel scavenging techniques to keep its self full. One of those techniques is riding on the very bottom of the plastice fuel tank but being able to move up and down ever so slightly. There is a one way rubber flapper on the bottom of the bucket that will actually fill the bucket to a level higher than that of the fuel level in the tank. It is similar to a self priming fishtank vacum pump. You shake it up and down and it creates a suction.

A sump in the bottom of the tank would keep the upper lip of the bucket covered with fuel in a larger variety of situations. The engineers did a good job but by keeping the bucket covered you would solve alot of problems. It will still suck the bottom clean if it rides on the very bottom.

That is alot to take in without having a factory pickup in your hands, some diesel fuel and 3 or 4 fuel pumps to play around with. The above explanation is how I decribed my 2 days I spent with my fuel tank out of my truck. I could be off but that is what I came up with. It is one intricate little bucket. Much more that a normal fuel pickup covered with a sock.

As far as why the factory pickup does not due good in a metal tank? The factory pickup in a factory fuel tank was specifiacally designed to ride on the absolute bottom of the fuel tank. The factory bucket is spring loaded and rides on 3 steele 1/4" colums. So the factory bucket is always slammed against the very bottom of the tank.
I agree with you on the function and operation of the factory pickup. In trying to squeeze more capacity out of my transfer flow I noticed the pickup was no where near the bottom of the tank at full extension. Also the baffles in the tank were so far apart they did nothing to control the sloshing of the diesel. This was where I had the most problems. I would come to a stop or take off fast under 1/8 tank and it would die. If I left it parked in my driveway with the nose pointing down all the diesel would run to the front and it would not start. Had to roll it out into the street and bleed the system.

I must have pulled that Transfer Flow tank out half a dozen times to try to fix the problem. I tried everything and I finally came to the conclusion that it simply required 10 gals of diesel to work properly...........too much surface area and the pickup was no where near the bottom of the tank................:(

Marco Polo-

How do you suppose the tank is installed incorrectly?
I followed all directions and cannot really understand how it could be that big of a discrepancy.
Any ideas on how I could "fix" it to hold more fuel?

Thanks
Tnasty

tdoggnasty,

Wish I could help you.

Mine was installed at a Transferflow dealer. When I picked it up, the shop told me I only had a gallon of diesel in the tank. The fule light was on and I was sure I was going to run out of fuel. It took me 10 miles to find fuel. It took 51 gallons and I was impressed by its capacity. Now when I refuel with the light on it takes 40-45 gallons which meets their specs. Also if you pump fuel real slow it will take an extra 4 gallons which means we are filling the two higher humps on the tank. When I installed it three years ago Supertanks was not around. When I tow I always carry two 5 gallon jerry cans just in case.

Start a new thread about the 45G and your problem. There are many people on this forum that have this tank. I am interested to see their responses.

CUL
Marco Polo