Torque, torque, and torque. Stock specs put the 7.3 at 500 ft-lbs (slightly more than the V10), but anybody who tows enough to justify a diesel will chip and give it more air capacity. Chips do almost nothing for gas, but turbodiesel is a whole other beast. The 6.7 turbodiesel gets 800 ft-lb of torque with stock tuning (Ford learned a lot since the 7.3 was in production). The 7.3 is capable of more. I probably have close to 600 with my configuration, but it's not dyno-tested yet.

I've been to your area many times (Newbury) and it is very beautiful, and "hilly". I have many 6% and 7% grades (some 10-miles long) between where I keep my boat and where the water is. I live on a river at 600 ft ASL, but I have to drive over a 5000-foot pass to get to the sea. I know from personal experience that a big gasser (7.5L) does a great job at pulling on the flat and hills, but it falls behind on the mountains - particularly when it's 104 degrees and 10% humidity. I don't know how many times I've had to go 55 in a 70 zone because my gasser was maxed out for heat. All the power is at high RPMs and and the desert heat wreaks havok on a revving engine. The diesel has max torque at 1800 RPM and max HP (aout 300 tuned) at about 3000 RPM - I just have to watch the exhaust temp, not the engine temp. It's not about capacity, it's about the dynamics of the power bands. None of this really matters where you live, you're better off with a V10.

 

Guys, guys GUYS - please don't turn this into a gas vs. diesel thread.

Enough already.

 

I was fair and balanced - I said copracr all good with the V10 and I just shared personal experience with my particulars (many miles and mountains). I would defend the V10 against a diesel in copracr's, 3cv's and many other member situations. I won't say one is better than the other - I see it only as which costs less over the span of 20 years and that's a personal choice.

 

Like I said, enough already... anyone else have any more info for the original poster?

 

My bad... sincere apologies to all. I neglected to realize I was hijacking.

I found this [LINK], but it's pricey. Everything I found that was fabricated for under the chassis runs about the same price (or more). There are plenty of inbed tanks as the OP mentioned, but everything has the drawback of taking up a lot of bed space when space is needed more than the fuel is. The 14-gallon tanks on wheels are easier to maneuver when full, but I haven't used these before and I don't know the leak situation. I know every plastic 5-gallon can I've tried leaks fuel no matter how I secure them. The proper metal Jerry Cans (Blitz leaks too) are secure and safe when the bracket is mounted on the vehicle. It can be a pain to lug those out for fueling, unless you leave them in place and have a big self-priming siphone hose. That last option might be the cheapest approach with the ability to easily clear the bed when needed.

I hope this is more useful than my foray into the conversation with the wrong fuel in hand. [LINK]

 

No one came up with a reason not to use a semi fuel tank?

Also, I'm sorry for the hijack, I wouldn't bash gas or diesel since I own both and like them for different reasons

 

So the tank isn't the biggest issue for me, tanks exist. My big hope was someone would say "I used this tank, I get the gas from the tank this way, and put it in the onboard thank that way, and I've used these products to accomplish it, and here are pics..."

Looks to me like its "buy a replacement tank, or a transfer flow complete system" which is not near as interesting or fun or cheap as doing something yourself, but it may be the right (safe) way to go. Pay to play.

Just seems like the gas stuff isn't done that much. I'd gladly write it up like I did when I had the same "I cant believe someone hasn't written this up before" with my jumpseat and my read headrests, but those are not quite the same category as dealing with gasoline.

I appreciate everyones input, no problem with the near hijack, thats all part of the reasoning process as to why I'm doing what I'm doing with the equipment I'm doing it with. Lots of variables.

 

Do they design those to hold gas? I'm having a rough time getting a picture of this in my head. I keep envisioning a runningboard tank or the monsters behind the runningboard.

 

My auxiliary diesel tank sat in the truck bed and had a gravity feed line to the stock tank. There was a float check valve that shut off the gravity feed when stock tank was full (so it stayed full all the time until the aux. tank ran dry). Again, not sure this is safe for gasoline because of it's very flammable nature. Best way to find out is to call one of these fuel tank manufacturers and ask questions. Mine was an RDS tank with tool box combo http://www.rdsaluminum.com/

The Chevy had a diagnostic that if the fuel gauge didn't move in a certain time (2 hours?) then it assumed the gauge was broken and would throw a warning light and diagnostic code. That's not too hard to live with but it would also peg the fuel gauge on empty for some stupid reason. That meant you're running around with no clue how much fuel you have. It would reset after xx number of key switch cycles. Turning the engine off inside of 2 hours would keep all that from happening in the first place. Don't know if Ford has same type of diagnostic that you have to work around.

 

admittedly I haven't called, but I did email RDS. They have a blurb on the autimotive tank overview saying "Gasoline auxiliary fueling is allowed, if siphoned from the top of the tank by using an electric fuel pump".

But when I get to say northern tool or one of the other distributers of their tanks they say not for gasoline. I asked for some clarification on this from RDS and didn't get any.

I like the diesel install kits with the barbed T and the check valve. I don't know if I got one of those and just plumbed a fuel pump from the tank into that port it would work... My guess is its too restrictive to do a "dump a bunch in and raise it from 1/4 tank full to 3/4 tank full, wait for it to get back to 1/4 and repeat" kinda thing.

 

A phone call does wonders. Talk to somebody tomorrow.

 

Seems that there are alot more options for diesel fuel tank replacement than there is for a Gas. I called trans flow some time ago and for my model they really do not make a high gallon replacement tank. I have to go with a in the bed type of tank.. oh well.

 

You know what I thought of...
At the track the fuel tanks they use are basically aluminum boxes with some baffles and a vented cap. Ain't that what a semi has ? I think it will be no problem
Y it into the onboard fuel system and use an electric pump for transfer, and cap the line when not in use