I still say that those of you with a crew cab, shortbed, Diesel should save your pennies and invest in a 50 Gal Titan tank; ESPECIALLY if you're like jdadamsjr and tow heavy. Nothing beats doubling the cruising range and not having to stop every so often for fuel. (Be sure and have it professionally installed, unless you feel confident enough to do it)

Using jdadamsjr's VERY rounded numbers we can do the simple math:

Stock 26 gallon tank:

towing 26 gal x 10 mpg = 260 miles
untowing 26 gal x 20 mpg = 520 miles

50 Gallon Titan tank:

towing 50 gal x 10 mpg = 500-520 miles
untowing 50 gal x 20 mpg = 1000-1040 miles

If was rich enough to where I could afford both the Ex AND a 2012 F250, the VERY first mod would be a 50 gallon Titan tank. I'd be too spoiled with the 44 gallon tank on the Excursion.

 

You're pretty much right but there is also the real world side of this. I can get close to 300 miles from a tank towing my biggest trailer which is the 36' fifth wheel camper in my avatar pic. It weighs around 11,500 and I get around 11MPG going 65 mph. It's all in the wind direction....

So, if we leave at 9 in the morning (5 and 9 year old, dog and the wife) we need fuel at 11:30-12:00. It's time for lunch, bathroom, dog walk anyway so we pull into a gas station, make sandwiches, and take care of business. Then we hit the road again at 1:00 and go another 250 miles which makes for a 500+ mile day. At 4:00 or so it's time to stop and get the campsite squared away. That's plenty enough for one day on the road.

When I work I tow smaller trailers that get me around 11-14mpg depending. We leave at 8:00, at 11:30 it's time for lunch and fuel. Then drive from 12:00 to 4:00 and I'm either done for the day or I fill up and go to the bathroom and finish up. It's really not an inconvenience for some of us. In some ways it is very convenient and makes the stops on the road pleasant.

Those of us that drive more than 55,000 miles per year don't worry much about "making time" or trying to squeak out another 50 miles here and there before we have to pull over for food or something. Stretching the legs is actually a nice thing.

 

X2.

I was kinda worked up about the 26 gal tank like others here to start with, but the more I thought about it, the more it became a non-issue for me. The days of me wanting to drive for 6-8 straight hours to "make time" are long gone. I want to pull over, stretch my legs, go to the can, etc..., and when the kids are with me, 4 hours is about the limit anyway.

Late night solo fishing trips or hunting trips out into the boonies when fuel stops aren't always available/reliable are the only situations I can think of where the Titan tank would really be an advantage. A couple jerry cans solves those occasional problems for a lot less money, and other than that, the 4-6 hour driving range the stock tank gives me is more than enough.

 

I don't see the issue.

On a 4000 mile trip at 14 MPG you need to fill up 3 extra times with the 26 gallon tank as opposed to a 40 gallon tank. Even if we figure 15 minutes a fill up that amounts to 45 minutes over the course of a 4000 mile trip. If you're in that big of a hurry then maybe you should consider flying.

 

I owned a 2000 and a 2003 Shortbed. Both of them had the 26 gallon tanks. So Ford has been using those smaller tanks on Shortbed trucks since the SuperDuties came out in 1999. F250 or F350 made no difference.

If the 2008-2010 short beds had the larger tanks, that was a change from previous years. I'm sure when Ford had to add the DEF tank, They just went back to the tank they had designed for the 1999-2007 model trucks.

Diesel fuel weighs 7.15 lbs per gallon. So the diffence between a small tank on the short bed and the larger tank on the long bed = 82.225 lbs of fuel plus what ever the large tank weighs over the smaller tank. As the trucks keep getting more accessories and growing in weight, I suspect Ford had to look seriously at how to reduce the over all weight. My 2000 F350 weighed in at 7200lbs, My 2011 truck weighs in at 8200lbs. Just like me they seem to be gaining weight as they age.

 

This is a perfect description of the benefits of the smaller tank.

 

Thanks guys, guess i'll just get used to it. I like the titan tank, but not at the risk of my warranty.

 

I have a 100 gallon capacity. The aft tank is 40 gallons and the RDS is 60 gallons. We travel Kansas to California with 5th wheel. Now, I can pick the easiest places to get in and out of. Last year I left Kansas full and only fueled twice in 1800 miles to California.

 

I should have added I also have a large Wix fuel filter/water separator on the output of the aux tank. This is in turn fed to the aft tank by way of 12V shutoff valve and Airtex pump. AutoMeter fuel gauge on dash gives me aux tank levels and dash gauge gives aft tank readings. The entire system is connected to the upfitter switches and works perfectly.

I had similar system on my 04, but it was only 30 gallon aux system. I can take advantage of lowest prices on diesel and the easiest to get in and out of.

 

WOWSER ! 100 gals would put me WEIGH over my rear GAWR

 

Yeah, I know that wouldn't work for your SRW F250. My F350 dually works great with the system though. Like I said I used a similar system on my F250, except it was only 30 gallons.

That's one of the bad things about the F250's, you reach the weight rating so quickly. I don't have to worry about it now with this truck. Of course, so just end up hauling more STUFF!!!

Jim