I was hoping someone could give me advice on an electric inline fuel pump and filter to use on my new RDS Auxillary fuel tank. I had the last one hooked up gravity, but want to use fuel pump on this one. Would the Carter 4603 pump be a good choice? This pump is 43 gph and 6 psi. Could use Carter 4389 which is 72 gph, but that seems more flow than I need. I like the quality of the Carter pump, and don't care if it costs more. This will be on my new chassis cab, so very easy to get the plumbing done now while waiting for the bed. I want to use good inline filter, but don't know what size micron filter to get and if 6psi pump is ok to use with the restriction of inline filter. Fuel will be solenoid controlled into filler hose of rear tank. Would appreciate advice. Don't know much about pumps or filters and what work well together. Also, should I use the top of tank fitting with internal pickup tube or the bottom drain plug hole? RDS will include the pickup tube at no cost. Thanks for any help...

 

From an Aux tank i would use a fuel pickup rather than from the bottom, pulls less crap into the main, like water. Either carter will work well, i agree the 243 gph would be enough. Just remember not to let it run until empty because the pump will fail without fuel going through it. An inline filter, preferably a spin on type to housing mounted to the frame rail would be easiest fpr you Change once in a while. also, i would hard plumb using hard fuel line, as large as you can and proprly fix to hard points with proper grommets so you dont get a wear through issue. As for filter size pourosity a 6 or even 8 micron would be file, because you just want to pull the crap out as your main filters will do the rest. Do you have upfiters, use a 25 amp switchto poeer the pump, would work nicely. If you run a pipe into the filler tube, make sure it goes down into the filler a foot so its going down into the tank and cant turn around on you. Rickatic probably has some good advice, i have never used an aux tank to fill the truck, we always had a bigger pump and nozzle for fueling equipment. One final warming, if you are not using a lighted upfitter you might want a light aomewhere so you know the pump is on, it should only work with key on too. Save dumping a lot of fuel and either overfilling or burning out the pump running empty.

 

Yeah, I have upfitters. It's for the new truck in my sig. Like I said no bed yet. So everything easily mounted, plumbed and wired. Bed not ready for another 3-4 weeks. I don't know about the lines you are suggesting? What do you mean by hard lines? Steel, aluminum, copper. I was just going to use Gates fuel line, but open to suggestions. A spin on fuel filter sounds handy, do you know who makes one? On my last truck I mounted a switch and bright LED on the dash. That worked fine, but will probably use the upfitter switches this time. So, you suggest using the pickup tube and fitting on the top of the tank, guess the pump just sucks the fuel up and out of the tank. Also use 12 volt fuel shutoff switch last time. I guess I could wire that in front of the pump on the same upfitter as the pump so there is a positive shutoff to the pump. I appreciate the help!!!

 

Hey Jim,

Excited for ya outfiting your truck. Sounds like fun. I purchased a filter kit for the hydraulic system on my old 1948 Ford 8-N tractor from the local NAPA store. It is a spin on filter and I just mounted it in-line in the return line at the tank. Works great. Simple to change filter. Don't know if that helps or not, but I bet they could advise you.

Snow is disapearing here pretty fast this week. I got the urge to tow somethin heavy.

 

Yeah, it's fun to at least get in the thinking and planning stage of outfitting the truck. If there's one thing good about these chassis cabs it's that running wiring and lines is a snap. No bed means easy access. Unfortunately it also means you can't do much with the truck. I'll check out Napa. I to can't wait for the first tow. I won't have near as much power as that gorgeous blue dually of yours. But, hope mine will work out OK. I don't know much about pumps and filters, good thing I have all the great guys out there to help.

 

Hey Jim yeah, i was thinking hard fuel lines with clip connections need flare tool and use flex pieces only where you need it. I was thinking autoparts willhave a filter housing like
You will want and matching 6 micron fuel filtrr that is spin on. If it was just me i woul opt for the higher output in line carter pump, but any fuel pump will do. You might also as an afterthought be able to pump and circulate into the rds tank,so you can mix additive ie antigel in a pinch, manual valves.

 

Hi Mike. I thought about Carter too. However in the rotary vane they only have tow listed for diesel that are 12 volt. One is 100 gph and the other is 72 gph. I really think that is more than I need. The fittings in the aux tank are 3/8 and I'm not sure you could get the fuel out of the tank as fast as those two pumps could do. Been thinking about Airtex which is 35 gph and 14 psi. And at about $50 dollars it is about $25 cheaper than the 72 gph carter and about $70 less than the 100 gph carter. I can use the upfitter switches and maybe a bright LED to indicate pump on. Have not found a filter yet. Thanks for the info, good to hear from you....


Jim

 

Makes sense, that low pressure you could use flexible lines throughout bt hard linies are better. Yeah 100 Gph through 3/8 would be hard on the pump. I am living vicariously from your project not likely a new truck is in the cards for me unless i win the lotto, made a deal with the devil back in 2005 to get my Larry. Your new rig will be a beast, i wish i could get a 450 and tHe 40 ft toyhauler to go with it, with toys of course, going to be happy with family, larry and the TT for a while. Save up for retirement.

 

Mike, you're sure right this has been a project alright. Planned this truck for over a year. Of course I had no idea when I ordered the truck on 15 Nov that it would take 12 weeks to get the truck and at least 8 weeks for the bed. It's a good thing I didn't wait till spring to order the truck like I first planned. The darn bed wasn't supposed to take this long, but the plant is swamped with bed orders. Everything they make is aluminum. Stock trailer, car haulers, heavy equipment trailers and flatbeds. The plant is currently working 10 hours a day 6 days a week. So, I spend my time thinking and planning what I can do when I finally get the truck with a bed on it.


Jim

 

Here is what I have done for a 70 gallon tank in the bed (previous truck). I just got my new truck a week ago and will be installing the tank soon.

I just used rubber fuel line hose from the top of the tank. Where the fuel line crossed metal corner(s) I put an extra sheet of hose for protection. When i removed it befor selling my old truck there was very little wear on the sheet protector after 10 years. The fuel pump was just from NAPA, I don't know what the GPM was or pressure, but it would take about 30 mile of highway travel to refill 25 or so gallons. In my 12 years of use I did burn out a pump from running it dry. Filter was a spin on water seperator type with a petcock for draining water that accumulates before it went into the truck tank. The filter was a add on after have a water issue with my last truck and never a water problem again. Just drain the seperator every couple of oil changes and would always get water from it.

I like the idea of an electric shutoff valve, will be doing it. I had a manual valve that was mounted beside the drivers seat so I could reach it while driving down the road.

 

Roger. Thanks for your input. The idea of the water separator with a drain on it sounds like a really good idea. Is there a spin on type filter with a drain in the bottom of the filter can itself? I have not seen one of those. I was thinking about doing the shutoff valve, filter/separator, and pump all mounted to a thick aluminum plate. Then in turn mount the plate to the outside of the frame. This would actually be behind the left side underbed box. I want to get as much of this done while I wait for the bed. That way I hopefully can mount the plate up and hook up the line and be ready to go.

I bought my 12 volt shutoff valve from the following:

www.dan-marc.com

I used the phone number listed on the site and talked to Dan. I told him what I was hooking up and he suggested a valve. I used it for 5 years on the old rig along with a swithch and red LED on the dash. It worked great and will be reusing it on this rig. Valve is brass and really well made. I thought the price was very fair.

Did you dump the fuel into the big filler hose on the stock tank? That's what I thinking of doing. I think on my Ford it is 1 1/4 ID. I'm trying to find a 1 1/4 barbed nipple I can put a 3/8 right angle barbed fitting into and place this in the rubber part of the filler hose. Sure would appreciate any tips you or anyone else can provide.

I'm thinking the Airtex E8153 pump would be OK. It's 35 gph at 14 psi with 3/8 fittings. What do you think about that. Also looking for a decent fuel level gauge. The RDS tank will have a 240-30 ohm sender. I can't believe how expensive some of those fuel gauges are. I was just wanting a reliable gauge.

 

The NAPA filter number is 3123 and just got a generic filter base and mounted it to the frame. My pump has psi of 5.5-9 with 3/8 fittings. A better pump would help.

I have plumbed the tank into the vent tube rather than the main fill on the 2 trucks I have had the tank on. The vent tube on the new truck looks like about 1/2". I'm going to change my lines to 1/2" as well and that should help with the fill time.

Thanks for the link to the shut off valve.

 

Hi Roger. Of couse on my truck I can see EVERYTHING. On the stock tank there are several fittings coming into the top of the fuel tank. These are all on top of what I guess is the in tank pump (If it's not what is it). However there is a lone right angle fitting off to the side of this plate with nothing but a piece of rubber about an inch long on it. Maybe this is a vent not sure. I'm not sure I want to use that for an input. May go with original idea of the 1 1/4 nipple in the fill hose. Thanks for the Napa numbers, I'll look them up. Hope your tank install goes well...