Removing LR tank to reduce weight?

[Poida4x4]

I have recently switched to a D3 from a D1 and am really stoked on it. I keep imagining how groundbreaking it must have been when it was released, when you consider the last D1 was made in like 1999 and the first D3 was 2005 or so. Such vastly different vehicles

Anyway, I was very fortunate in finding a great example on here that I was able to buy before it was advertised for sale. The seller was incredibly helpful and the vehicle is in excellent condition. It came with a lot of accessories, including a Frontrunner long range tank and tank guard, with a single spare wheel carrier on the back. It’s also got a bull bar, second battery, cargo barrier, roof rack, and the rear seats have been removed. I’m planning on fitting a winch. We’re 2 adults and 2 young kids, and we’re planning on a Big Lap in a couple of years in this vehicle, towing a camper trailer.

My concern is weight. When we tour, I reckon I’ll remove the roof rack, and having the rear seats removed is a bit of weight off. I didn’t buy the vehicle because it had the long range tank, and I don’t feel a great need for having that much capacity, and it’s heavy, so I’m wondering whether removing it all and switching back to having the spare under the back of the car might improve my weight a fair bit. It’d be a pain to do, and I know I’d have to work out a way to activate the wheel winch with a loaded boot. The alternative would be to leave the tank and spare wheel carrier and just not use the tank. At the moment there is no dual filler for the fuel tanks which is a bit of a pain (they both fill when you load fuel), so that will need modifying.

What are your thoughts on this?

[Bulletman]

I have the same set up and having just driven the west coast from Darwin to Perth with a couple of detours I would keep the tank. If you really wanted to remove some rear end weight you could put the spare on the roof rack and remove the wheel carrier. If you are in places like the Kimberley the extra fuel is handy as it’s not always available in remote places , ttwice I have left the gibb river road at the derby end only to hit Halls creek with the town out of diesel and 50 caravans lined up waiting for the fuel truck to arrive.

I ran my D3 over the weigh bridge before we left Darwin and full of fuel, fridge in the back , 30kg on the roof rack ,spare tyre on wheel carrier, plus wife and me - plus trailer connected - 2930kg on the D3 .

Once you start driving weight is reduced as you start using the fuel and I always pump forward when the main tank gets to 3/4 as I like to have the weight in front of the rear axle but I also don’t want to get caught if my transfer pump fails.

For my 2bob , I would keep the tank especially seeing you already have it installed

Bulletman

[cripesamighty]

There have been several occasions when I have required more range than a standard tank and jerry can could provide - ie. doing someone a favour and helping with some exploration work in the middle of nowhere (spending most of the time in low range), road closures requiring big detours (cyclone season), and also bypassing fuel stations that were waiting for the fuel tanker. Those are the times the LR tank was a bonus. Plus it keeps the weight down low!

The D1 I just sold had a long range tank (110L of useable fuel) and a rear bar with two jerry cans attached to the swing arm. I only filled the jerry cans when required, but it gave me a total 150L of fuel when touring. My D3 came with a long range tank and will take around 190L of fuel if you need to almost run it dry in an emergency. Over the last 3 1/2 years of ownership, I usually put 100L at a time in the D3, and only top it up when touring.

The choice is yours but I would be inclined to keep the LR tank even with its small weight penalty. If nothing else, only top it off when travelling as it will give you some extra room elsewhere in the vehicle which would be taken up by jerry cans (roof/rear cargo area).

[scarry]

Yes,i would keep the tank, spare on roof or on camper.I used to strap the second spare up against the cargo barrier in mine during remote travel, thats another spot for your single spare.In fact if you run a good set of LT tyres, you probably won't need it anyway.

Once you have a vehicle with a large fuel tank, you realise how handy they are.You will probably only have around 76L usable in the stock tank,and particularly towing, the small capacity is a real PITA.It also means you won't have to carry jerries,and can fill up where its cheaper and in the bigger towns where the fuel should be better.

Just my two cents worth.

[jon3950]

I understand the arguments for a bigger tank, but for me I’d prefer the lighter weight option. As big a pain as the underslung spare is, I hate the idea of having to stuff around with the spare on the back every time you want to open the rear, or having to drag the spare off the roof if you need it - they’re bloody heavy.

Unless you’re planning on doing the Canning, the reality is for most people there aren’t that many places where you really need to carry the extra fuel - especially in Tassie. For those occasions carrying a few jerries is not usually that big a deal. If you’re towing a trailer on your lap its not hard to carry a couple of jerries on it.

That said, if you’ve already got it, it may not be worth the hassle or expense to fit a standard tank. It really depends on your usage and how close you are to your GVM.

Cheers,
Jon

[rocket rod]

You can't use what you don't have and at the moment all you need for a touring car seems to be installed, so I would leave it all there. As you are towing a camper, put all the weigh in there. Your car may have space for another 200kg of payload given your accessory list but your trailer should have maybe 500kg available.

[Poida4x4]

Thanks for all the input. It pretty much matches what I was thinking; it's all there, I may as well leave it. I just need to set it up so I can use it better.

As I've said, the filler bifurcates way past where a pump nozzle can reach, so I need to modify the filler. Can anyone suggest a dual filler I can replace my single filler with? I'll attach some pictures of the current setup. A gauge would be handy too but I reckon that would be a hard thing to setup. We went away for our first long trip in the D3 over the weekend and it was excellent to cruise around in. I pumped fuel from the aux to the main, but it's pretty much impossible to know when the aux is empty. Is running the pump for a while when the aux is empty a problem?

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[shanegtr]

my LR tank is made by Long Range Automotive. The filler neck that they use is dual fill and would do what you require. No idea if you can get just that part from them?

[DieselLSE]

my LR tank is made by Long Range Automotive. The filler neck that they use is dual fill and would do what you require. No idea if you can get just that part from them?

Ditto for the Brown Davis long range tank.

[Tombie]

Either way it really doesn’t matter, just pump across what you put in