Front Runner 45Litre auxiliary fuel and water tanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by patclan

Well, I just got mine back from the garage, it had a fuel leak from the top of the standard tank, I filled up and every thing from the AUX tank came flooding out at the servo and on the way home, I tried to lower the tank to see and all I could determine is it was from the breather pipe area, it was so tight I could not get to the T piece with my hand, I did not want to remove the anti roll bar to lower it any further so in it went to get fixed.

Anyway long story short:

When the Aux tank was fitted the original tank was not removed and the large breather pipe extended, it was just bent round and attached to the side of the fuel filler inlet as it is supposed to be, it meant there was a 90 deg bend in the pipe above the original fuel tank near the T piece that had been rubbing and had grown a good size hole in it.

To fix the pipe was extended with a nice loop in it and all is good now, but I was told that this is probably how most of them would be fitted in the Puma due to the accessibility of the top of the tank and that I probably would not be the last to have the issue.


Maybe just something to watch out for.

Pat.

---

Would that be simply a case of adding an extension to the breather pipe or replacing the existing breather pipe with a longer one?

I was originally thinking of paying to have this job done but after reading the instructions I think I could do this myself. In any case I may look at doing the breather pipe before the instal so if I do get someone else to do it then this part is already done to my satisfaction.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by loneranger

Would that be simply a case of adding an extension to the breather pipe or replacing the existing breather pipe with a longer one?

I was originally thinking of paying to have this job done but after reading the instructions I think I could do this myself. In any case I may look at doing the breather pipe before the instal so if I do get someone else to do it then this part is already done to my satisfaction.

---

Sorry about the delay, did not notice a reply, you may have done it now but if not.

I had a look to see what was done to mine, and the breather pipe to the t piece was extended to the edge of the main tank, from there the pipe was connected up to the filler, the T piece has the small breather pipe on it also.

If it was me I would extend the pipe from the top of the tank to the T piece closer to the chassis rail, that way if you need to get to it you can lower the main tank onto the sway bar and have access.

As it stands the main tank will need removed or lowered to a point access is available to the T piece, I tried lowering it but it does sit on the sway bar and there is still not enough access, if the T piece was closer to the chassis rail then it would be possible.

The other thing is seemingly it is not a commons size of fuel pipe, so they used pressured oil pipe or something like that. I will attach a photo of what I have if you want.

I hope that all makes sense..

Pat

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by patclan

Sorry about the delay, did not notice a reply, you may have done it now but if not.

I had a look to see what was done to mine, and the breather pipe to the t piece was extended to the edge of the main tank, from there the pipe was connected up to the filler, the T piece has the small breather pipe on it also.

If it was me I would extend the pipe from the top of the tank to the T piece closer to the chassis rail, that way if you need to get to it you can lower the main tank onto the sway bar and have access.

As it stands the main tank will need removed or lowered to a point access is available to the T piece, I tried lowering it but it does sit on the sway bar and there is still not enough access, if the T piece was closer to the chassis rail then it would be possible.

The other thing is seemingly it is not a commons size of fuel pipe, so they used pressured oil pipe or something like that. I will attach a photo of what I have if you want.

I hope that all makes sense..

Pat

---

If you can post a photo it would help, thanks. I haven't yet been crawling around under there yet to have a look. I've bumped the tank down my list in favour of some underbody protection before we go on our first trip. I'm not going too remote and there's plenty of fuel stops I can use when I go to Shark Bay after Easter so I'll be looking to do this before our Exmouth trip later in the year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by loneranger

If you can post a photo it would help, thanks. I haven't yet been crawling around under there yet to have a look. I've bumped the tank down my list in favour of some underbody protection before we go on our first trip. I'm not going too remote and there's plenty of fuel stops I can use when I go to Shark Bay after Easter so I'll be looking to do this before our Exmouth trip later in the year.

---

What sort of underbody protection, I did the APT steering guard but no more. Are you going off off road or rough tracks?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndyG

What sort of underbody protection, I did the APT steering guard but no more. Are you going off off road or rough tracks?

---

I'm looking at getting the steering guard, fuel tank guard and bumperettes.

Let us know how the fuel guard pans out please

I replaced my original springs because they were too hard. The only time they felt Ok was when we were fully loaded. 7 pax roof rack full etc, maybe at 700+ kgs load.

But other wise I clenched my stomach muscles when i saw a bump or pothole ahead.

I went for OME springs and dampers, 2" lift, medium duty, not quite range rover standard , but a big improvement. They seem to have lasted OK, I don't have any complaints, but i haven't done the cape run or anything terribly demanding in terms of corrugations . If I did one of those trips I 'd probably buy a new set of Rancho shocks or similar.

I have a sill tank it's only 42 liters made of 2 mm mild steel plate, it has few scratches on it , but that's about all. The car does tilt a little to the right when its full. I usually use it first on a trip. It means I have reasonable range without any fuel filled Jerry cans. Next year I'm planning to go from Birdsville to Ayres rock via the Simpson desert. Does anyone have a comment about leaving Birdsville with 120 liters of usable fuel in a tdi defender?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndyG

Let us know how the fuel guard pans out please

---

My car's under body protection as it currently stands:

APT diff guards front and rear
Mantec steering guard
D44 Transmission guard (protecting the TC and handbrake drum that sits lower on a Puma compared to a Td5)
D44 fuel cooler guard
Custom made bolt in x-member guard
Terrafirma rocksliders
Terrafirma bumperettes
Standard MY10 Defender 90 fuel tank guard

I'm considering the APT tank guard to replace the thin standard one to round off the under body protection, but its a bit of a "want" rather than "need" item as the anti roll bar prevent the tank guard coming anywhere near hitting anything. I've had to replace the rear AR bar brackets a couple of times as they touch first when the rear of the 90 sits down after clearing an obstacle.

Here in WA we end up doing quite a bit of rock crawling on sand stone boulders where the topsoil have been washed away and under body scratches and scrapes are pretty common.

Cheers,

Lou

I have the Front Runner fuel, and water tanks in my 110 Defender. I installed both, and had no major issues doing so. Just had to drop the fuel tank to replace the fuel pump (roller drawers installed). I also needed to remove the Front Runner tank to get the original fuel tank back in, as the filler pipe kept fouling with the Front Runner one. No major drama, just a few extra hours of work.
I actually had mine shipped directly from South Africa. Much, and I mean MUCH, cheaper. Did have to pay quarantine to x-ray them though, which annoyed me. I have a post somewhere on here about the instillation.

It is nice to have close to a 950k range, and still under $150 to fill up. Water is nice to have also, but the only reason I got this tank, was it was very cheap compared to here in Australia.

Cheers,

Ken

"With the water tank, I didn't want to cut into the cabin so just added a breather hole, L fitting and hose and back fill the tank via the outlet tap. Its a bit tricky to install but some careful observation and planning and it all goes in pretty easily."

A 36 liter water tank sounds good under the LHS, filling and emptying through the out let is god makes for less holes. Water carrying is something I'm a bit concerned with. I'll check out the price . :)