rear tank upgrade

True. It's a flammable, not an explosive. If I was overly concerned about safety, I probably wouldn't have bought a vehicle that came standard with 10" manual drum brakes all the way around, a body mounted "sport bar", lap belts, and manual cam and lever steering. I think I am eventually going to get around to moving the exhaust, but for the time being I just plan on running half a tank of fuel on the trails (It doesn't run out that way) and installing a fire extinguisher.

 

I will say this so long as you leave the rear drawbar on the jeep, it would be pretty darn hard to hit the rear tank, skid plate or no skid plate.
Besides with a rear tank you never smell gas, its always nice to breath with the jeep closed up.

 

Another point is, look at the location of the tank. if you hit something on the tank, it probably would have also hit your pumpkin on the rear end.
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k261/dgaf18_2006/DSC00013.jpg
mine looks well enough out of the way to me.R)

 

The stamped steel replacement tanks of different eras are all the same dimensionally (as long as they are 15 gal) and they can be mounted w/ either straps like a later tank or brackets and x-member like timgr mentioned. I would suggest getting a later tank as fillers and surrounds are easier to come by. I purchased one for '76-'86 w/ the 1.5" fill and mounted it like an intermediate. As you can see the tank sits above the pumpkin. You'd have to really try hard to hurt it.:v6: View attachment 15455

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Grannyscj: thanks for your input...the filler issue seems to be a big one. Also, the pictures you have are great! Can you take another one that shows the rear mounting bolts on the straps? I had almost given up on this upgrade until I saw your pictures and realized how workable this upgrade is. Thanks again!!

 

The rear bolts mount the tank to the frame. You can kind of see it in the middle pic. It's a no brainer though. Where the frame attaches to the bumper each frame rail curves inward and the tank is square and sits right in the frame rail. I drilled through there and mounted the rear. The front was just some 2" strap bent to form a L-shaped bracket for the tank lip to set on and I adjusted it to level by where I drilled the frame mount holes. The tank already had holes on the front so I just worked off those. I ran rubber fuel hose inside the frame rail to the fuel pump, fastening it along the way w/ some 1/2" cushioned cable clamps. I got a SS filler surround from Kentrol that Old Bill is going to powder coat for me and the filler was an easy find at my local junk yard. It was a very easy job, only took about an hour.:v6: