Quote:
Originally Posted by spinning wheels
Some of the 3/4 ton trucks, have one or two auxiliary tanks, mounted under the bed. Well actually, they are mounted outside the frame next to the truck's bed. They are known as roman candles in a crash. A few years back, this became a huge news item, as most GM trucks had their tanks mounted outside the frame and could easily be punctured in a wreck. I bet ya, it was someone at F**d getting back at GM for the Pinto bomb stories  |
Actually NBC got in all kinds of trouble for that lie. Some GM lawyer with a sharp pencil and a good slow-motion video player discovered that NBC rigged their "crashed" truck with a little explosive charge to help the gas tank catch on fire. In slow-mo you could see a little explosion as the truck was being crashed from the side.
The NBC exploding GM truck got all kinds of attention. The retraction did not.
Have you ever seen or lifted one of these add-on tanks? I'm not saying they wouldn't benefit from being inside the frame rails but there is some serious steel used in their construction.
I use my "saddle" tank all the time. My trucks range went from 200 miles to 340 miles. Out east that may not sound that great but when you are up in the mountains elk hunting, it sure beats toting around jerry cans full of gas so you can get back to town after your hunt. I did that once. Trust me it sucks. My buddy's 66 Chevy did not have enough range to get from the last town to the trailhead and back. There was a happy ending however. The last time I went in 2004, his '04 GMC diesel got 22mpg pulling a trailer with FOUR horses. If I wasn't there to see it when he filled up I wouldn't have believed it.