Below bed spare tire carrier w/ relocated gas tank ?

[viking427]

Has anyone ever looked into installing a spare tire carrier assembly below the rear bed of the 69-72 Blazer/Jimmy and moving the gas tank to one side or the other of the driveshaft, just like the Tahoes and many other late model SUV's have ? Full size Toyota truck/SUV have a spare tire storage design that hoists the spare up tight against a brace directly beneath the rear bed floor with a single chain/cable winch, simple and effective. It would probably require moving the rear frame cross member back a little, and would definitely require a custom long & narrow fuel tank below floor to left side of drive shaft with exhaust routed down right side. Not sure if the 26 gallon 4 dr. Tahoe tank would fit in the early blazer space or not. Sure would free up a massive amount of cargo space inside, especially with a fold & tumble rear seat from a 77-91 Blazer.

[Firebirdjones]

Don't know where you would put the gas tank.

There is no room beside the driveshaft inside the frame because you have the exhaust to deal with No room on the outside of the frame either on these old 69-72 blazers because they have torque boxes inside the rocker panels.
If you tried to stick a tank there it would not only be an eye sore hanging down so low but would also be a potential hazard as it would be easy to puncture.


That's why outside mounted tire swings became popular for some people. But they too have their good and bad points.

[viking427]

Yeah, I knew the 80's pickup side-saddle (outside frame) tanks wouldn't work, but the newer Tahoe and a few others mount a single long tank inside of the frame, to the left of the driveshaft with cat/exhaust all down the right side. The Tahoe also happens to use the same "cable winch" spare design the Toyotas do. Slim chance the Tahoe 26 gallon plastic tank would fit in that same space on the early blazer, since the late model plastic tanks are molded to conform to specific floorpans/crossmembers, but a custom aluminum/steel fuel tank might be a better option anyway, since it could be tailored to the 69-72 floorpan, maximizing capacity. Of course this all assumes there's enough room to hoist a 32-35" tire up between the rear frame rails b/n the axle and crossmember. Thought I'd throw it out there to see if anyone ever looked into it.

Here's a closer look at the Tahoe setup;

How to Replace An Electric Fuel Pump -...

[Firebirdjones]

It works on the Tahoe because they are running a single pipe exhaust system down one side of the truck.

I guess if you plan to do that with the exhaust, (ie: Y-pipe etc..) then you might make something work or a custom dual system down one side of the truck (that would be tough dealing with a transfer case). Still though, even with the exhaust pipe out of the way, there isn't alot of room between the frame and the driveshaft, might have to do a custom tank if you were determined. Sounds like alot of trouble for little gain.

[cleszkie]

Why not just fab up some saddle tanks that go over the rear wheel wells? I run a 40 gallon tank under my Blazer with another 13 gallon Hickey tank over my passenger side wheel well. Seems that you could just go with two saddle tanks and ditch the under truck tank if you really wanted to stuff a spare under there. BTW, will a spare even fit between the frame rails or will it hang way low?

[Firebirdjones]

I believe the spare would fit just like any pickup truck does it, so you'll see it partially, but probably no more than you can see the current factory gas tank.

Cleszkie, where did you find a 40 gallon to fit in the factory spot.

I'm wanting to increase my gas capacity as well and was thinking at least 35 gallon, but I was leaning towards a custom aluminum design.
Please pm me details, thanks, Larry.

[viking427]

Saddle tanks would be an easy solution, but would put fuel into the passenger compartment, still intrude on cargo/storage space and raise the trucks center of gravity (slightly). Pretty sure there's plenty of room b/n the frame rails, but the problem might be b/n the axle and rear cross-member. I don't think it would hang any lower than modern trucks/suvs and the sibling C/K pickups of the day, which share similar floors/frame/supports, had below bed spare storage.


Both NWMP and Aero offer an extra capacity blazer tank that fits in the stock location. NWMP markets it as 37 gallon, while Aero markets theirs as 40 gallon, but they look almost identical. They do hang down a little lower than stock.

[low'n slow]

Fab up some tanks that double as torsion boxes. Don't know it has been done before, but you could make them fill the spot from under the floor back to the wheel well.