Thread: LR tanks and fuel load - How much is too much?

I ran out of time to pull my drawer out and try to get a photo from that angle, but hopefully you'll get something from the photos. The photo with a glimpse of the tank looks to have rotated. Hoses should be at top of photo.
Everyone builds their custom back differently. Mine was done back in 2002 when the truck was new, and I hadn't seen many others to learn from
DSC06364.jpgDSC06356.jpgDSC06362.jpg
Mine's built in two parts. The chassis rails, a sheet metal skin the drawer, and the fuel tank are one half, and the aluminium tray/canopy can be easily unbolted and exchanged for something lighter duty without a canopy.
Anyway the drawer would be about 1300mm long and the (al) tank about 500mm, and built to sandwich in between the rails and fill up any bit of space in there. The back of it sits about in line with the rear axle.

Going off track a bit. I'd probably do quite a few things differently if I was doing it again. One thing I would do again is my Teflon drawer slides. They can't really break, or wear out, and only need a bit of graphite powder to keep them moving easily.

Best wishes with the design
Cheers
Mark

Originally Posted by Spinner912

Perhaps you might like to tell us all what is, in your opinion, a heavy duty truck. (I assume we are talking only about this class of vehicle, i.e. one tonne load; 4,000kg towing - that's what 110 S/W 300TDi specs say).

I thought afterwards that might stir up some one , IMV- I mean the defender is not a truck, and we should be mindful of the weights we expect them to carry, and the way its distributed.
an example of something designed for sustained heavy duty use would be say hummer or similar , net weight is similar to a landcuiser , 2400 kgs, but it has a payload of about 1100 kgs, and a 6.2 litre diesel to pull it.

good example is the twin cab 130 , has a GVM about 3500 kgs, but the majority of the 1500 kg payload area is cantilevered behind the rear axle. This configuration of vehicle has a higher number of chassis breakages than more conventional types, ( across all makes). Another member shared his experience of the effects of heavy loads on his cars suspension and tray mounts etc on a long trip on rough terrain.

Its only my view but i don't think the maker intended the vehicles to be working at, (or above), the gvm, in rough terrain for long periods. ( just as an aside one of my friends used his defender 130s , single cabs to transport bulls and cows at close to the GVM for years, but mostly reasonable dirt roads and good weight distribution. )

cheers simmo