Saddle tanks

[charlieo]

Anybody know who makes saddle gas tanks for the 67-72 chevy trucks ? Thats another option over putting a blazer tank in . I thought about having the filler neck in the wheel well in front if the rear tire . What do u guys think ?

[kwmech]

I do not think anyone makes them anymore-- they were available in the 70s and 80s. I have a couple of them for either a short or long box. They usually had the filler come out thru the side of the box with the RV type door.

[stllookn]

I have two of the stock ones that I was using as frame stands. I tried to give them away many times. I am sure some local guy will give you his...LOL!

[badpeanut]

I'm also interested in a used side saddle tank. Who has what and would be willing to ship to 58401?

[slam33]

Anyone in So Cal that needs to loose a set, let me know.

[Shane65]

I was at the wrecking yard yesterday and saw a C20 big block longhorn truck with one. The filler was just behind the stock location cab filler but was in the extended part of the box. They used what looks like a stock filler and rubber grommet. Inside the box was a homemade 45 degree metal elbow and the filler continued straight down through the bed. The tank was custom built and looked like 16-20 gallon in capacity. The stock (behind the seat) tank was still there. I would imagine that the truck drank a lot of fuel in it's days.

[franko72]

my c20 has one saddle on the drivers side just as shane 65 has said. the passenger side tank is different , its filler is under the fender well right in front of the left rear tire.it comes out of the back of the saddle tank . Its really neat because you dont see the tank filler and its easy to fill.

[toddtheodd]

Easy as long as you don't have a super drop on your truck I'm assuming.

[franko72]

the stock setup with 16.5 tires and still have plenty of room for nozzle in filler tube.

[FrankHoy]

charlieo, not to trying to steal the thread, just hoping to get some info.

I have a factory/dealer one that goes on the passenger side and is filled through a door like RVs. Bad thing is one end has some rust holes in it.

I also have two poly tanks, they are set up so they both have the fillers facing back towards the tires and are filled throught the wheelwells.
The bad thing about the poly tanks are they do not have sending units.

Can anyone advise on whether you could simple cut a hole in the top and install a sending unit. I don't want to have to guess on fuel. I had a friend that got to where he refused to ride with me in any new car because we had ran out of gas so many times before, pushing it to the limit and wondering how accurate the gauge was. :p


Can an experienced welder give some advice on repair. Is it safe to weld on an empty gas tank? I seem to remember being told years ago; any fuel tank needs to be filled with water(or something?) while welding, due to the metal absorbing some of the fuel mixture. I know of one guy that blew himself up, welding on an old propane tank, attempting to convert to an air tank for a compressor.

[lewi]

I don't know how much help I can provide but I have the long bed with two saddle tanks that originally came with the truck (aftermarket dealer installed). I had them modifed by my brother to fill through a couple fuel doors form the mid 80's trucks, looks good, works good, and a selenoid switch in the cab changes from one tank to the other with the gas gauge working on both as I switch form one to the other. This is a great mod for those of us who us the trucks and don't want the gas in the cab. total capacity in each tank is around 15 gal.

[fishuntr]

First post in a long time; good to be back. I put these saddle tanks on my 72, C20 a year or so back. They should be failry easy to find in a wrecking yard. I found mine in a pick & pull, along with brackets, fillers etc. The only problem was...#1, i didn't want to have to fill from two sides; and, #2, i didn't want to cut holes in my bed sides for the little aluminum doors.

I moved the fillers to the rear of the tanks and fill from the front of the fenderwells. I also made a crossover hose, similar to what the large diesel trucks use, so I can fill from one side, or the other. Works great. I got a lot of advice from folks on this board, and i did a writeup on it, along with some photos. I don't know how to tell you to access them; or if they are even still available. It wasn't that big of a deal if you have some welding skills and know how to safely do it.

[BobS]

This should be it:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php3?t=17225

Bob

[mrein3]

Originally Posted by FrankHoy

Can anyone advise on whether you could simple cut a hole in the top and install a sending unit. I don't want to have to guess on fuel. I had a friend that got to where he refused to ride with me in any new car because we had ran out of gas so many times before, pushing it to the limit and wondering how accurate the gauge was. :p


Can an experienced welder give some advice on repair. Is it safe to weld on an empty gas tank? I seem to remember being told years ago; any fuel tank needs to be filled with water(or something?) while welding, due to the metal absorbing some of the fuel mixture. I know of one guy that blew himself up, welding on an old propane tank, attempting to convert to an air tank for a compressor.

When I bought my truck it had one saddle tank on the drivers side. It leaked. The previous owner said to only fill it for road trips then use it up right away so you always know how much is in there.

I didn't want to have gas dripping so I dropped the tank and BROUGHT IT TO SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING. In the post somebody else linked to it shows the tank getting purged with CO2 while welding on it. I HEARD this is the way to go but my life is worth more than $50 so I had it done by somebody else. Yes it cost only $50 to have the leak fixed and the inside coated.

While it was at the shop I bought a sender/gauge kit from JC Whitney for approximately $25. I filled the tank with water and drilled a hole in the top for the sender. (I was still afraid of a spark from the drill making a boom. )

I followed the directions in the sender kit, dropped it in there, and hung the gauge knee knocker style.

One of the best upgrades I've done to the truck. 17 or so more gallons of gas AND a gauge to know how much is in there.

[fishuntr]

Bob S.....how did you do dat? I tried the search function, and looked in the tech articles, and couldn't find that thread.
I agree with mrein3 about the welding part. Had I not had a son experienced in this, I would have have the welding done at another shop. In re-reading the article, several points can be made in light of two years experience with the setup.

The small vent pipes extending into the tanks caused no problems at all, and I was able to fully fill the tanks. I am able to fill both tanks from one side; but...it's a slow process. The tank on the side you are filling from fills up, then it clicks off. You have to wait while the crossover pipe drains fuel into the tank on the other side, then you can put more in. This process continues until both tanks are full. It's a littles slow, but still much less trouble than having to fill ftom both sides. The whole process takes ablout 10 minutes.

In order to keep dirt, mud, water etc. out of the saddle tanks, I used rubber caps that have a hose clamp on them for gas caps. They work very well and are easy to take off. The only downside to the whole project is the lack of a fuel gauge on the tanks. I could have/maybe should have done the same that mrein3 did when I built them. It is not really a big deal though; you just use the fuel in the saddle tanks first, and when they are finally empty, switch to the seat tank which has the gauge.

I am very well pleased with the extra fuel capacity, and it works great. I don' t drive my 72 Chevy truck every day, but when I am traveling with my 70's era Alaskan camper on it, the extra range is great.

[Vince M]

From what I have seen the saddle tanks are only available for the long beds. The one I had on my K20 held about 16 gals. I wanted to put two saddle tanks in my short bed and eliminate the in cab tank. Anybody seen this done or heard of short bed saddle tanks. I'm not to keen on the blazer tank idea.

[ChevLoRay]

Was reading about a truck in the July Custom Classic Trucks, that has a Vega tank mounted at the rear of the chassis. Then, reading this post got me to thinking about a Vega Wagon tank. They were positioned on the side of the body, instead of underneath. Since someone asked about a SWB saddle tank, maybe the Vega is possibility. It isn't what I want, but it may work for someone else. I know the pickup/sending units are different for sedans and wagons, because of a dealership replacing one my Dad had on a nearly new 75 Wagon. After they replaced a faulty sending unit, he started running out of gas when he still had half a tank. After they towed it in for the third time, they found out they had screwed up, and replaced it with the right one.

[lewi]

I agree with you on the saddle tanks and hope you can find or make something for the short bed.

I read alot of guys on here going with the rear tank, but that means no spare and although I have AAA and another towing card I much prefer being able to change to the spare rather than hope my cell phone has enough signal strength, and wait if it does. Around were I drive a cell signal is definatly not gauranteed.

[BobS]

fishuntr,

I did a search by your user name, the search by key word feature doesn't seem to work on anything posted before the switch to the new format. Luckily the search by user name reaches back that far, unfortunately, I usually only remember the subject!

Bob