Wanted to ask, if they made plastic saddle fuel tanks for 1972 F-250? Mine are rusted out and steel and leak. Possibly with strap to hang on frame.

 

Ford did not offer any saddle tanks for any Ford truck, regardless of what year it was.

1967/72 F100/350: Ford offered, as an option on Styleside pickups, a 25 gallon auxillary steel tank that mounted inside the left frame rail.

1967/69: The filler neck and exposed fuel cap are mounted above the scallop line (bumpside) about one foot behind the cab.

The auxillary tanks fuel cap is almost in a direct lIne with the in-cab tanks fuel cap.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1970/72: The filler neck and exposed fuel cap are mounted below the scallop line about one foot behind the cab.

If aftermarket saddle tank(s) is/are present, the fuel caps are usually behind doors that are riveted to the quarter panel(s).

 

I have a auxiliary fuel system in my truck, with 2 fuel tanks mounted side saddle style. here a few pics to show how they looks

Passager side fuel door



Passager side Fuel tank bottom



Driver side fuel door



Driver side tank



Yes, that is a Marine Fuel Filter/Water separtor



Bottem Fuel Selector for 3 tanks



Fuel Selector



Dash gage sw



I hope this give you a idea, these tank fit under the bed from thr front of the bed to the rear wheel wells and are hung from the bed, not the frame, taking up every possible inch. They hold about 19.8 gals each.

 

I can tell those tanks have been on the truck a LONG time, but I think I'd be concerned with the exhast running so close to them!

How much clearance between the muffler and the tank???

 

About 4 to 5 inches, and those tanks are about a year old, the first set rotted out, I made these and installed them. there copied from the first set. Never have had a issue with heat from the mufflers. and I use these more then the cab tank

 

I guess it just LOOKS closer than that in the picture of the driver's side.

Looking at that photo, it looks like there's only a couple of inches of clearance.

If that were the case, the heat from the exhaust would make that a potential BOMB if the tank were close to empty.

4 to 5 inches should be plenty of clearance. In fact, it MUST be, since you haven't had any trouble!!!

 

Remember what happened to the Chevy & GMC pickups when they mounted their factory auxillary tank outside the frame rail, just behind the thin quarter panel's sheetmetal?

KABOOM!

In the 1970's, the exploding Chevy/GMC gas tank fiasco was almost as famous as the exploding Pinto gas tank fiasco.

 

There also very little of the tank exposes on that side of the tank to the mufflers, with the truck running duel exhaust each muffler stays relative cool compared to a single exhaust set up

 

I built these tanks from 1/4 cold rolled steel, there not that likely to be puncher like the GM ones

 

Since I'm not planning to drive north of Redding on I-5 anytime soon, I won't be around when someone T-bones your truck going 30 MPH or better.

 

Back in 74, while working for a GMC dealer, we added TONS of these tanks to GMC and Chevy pickups, especially on 454-equipped trucks.

These factory tanks were built well, and there was actually a lot of space around them.

The "exploding tank" fiasco was a lot of crap!! I think it was NBC that ran the big news story about them. Yes, they, like any tank, would explode in the right situation. You pretty much had to puncture the tank and provide a spark to ignite the leaking gasoline. Then, as Barney Fife would say, "BLOOEY"!!!

If you think back over the years, there were a lot of tank locations that could have resulted in similar explosions. Pretty much anything in the 60's and 70's that had the gas tank located under the trunk would have the same potential, especially unibody cars. Nova, Mustang, AMC Gremlin and Hornet, Barracuda, Dodge Dart, and the list goes on and on... Even the full-frame vehicles were subject to the same fate if hit in the rear. All of these vehicles had one thing in common -- stamped steel fuel tanks. Crimp the metal in an accident, the crimp causes a fracture which causes a leak, two (or more) metal surfaces come in contact, which causes a spark, which causes (as said by NumberDummy) KABOOM!!

The main reason you heard so much about the Pinto and the GM trucks was that there were so many of them on the road. For the first time, manufacturers were using identical designs for several years. Having that many vehicles of the same model resulted in more visibility of inherent problems.

Is a side-mounted tank like the ones used on those GM trucks any more dangerous than the in-cab tanks used in all of the trucks for so many years? I think NOT!!!

I think the Ford Pinto and GM trucks got the same disrespect as the Corvair got from Ralph Nader, resulting in their demise. Corvair. Now THAT was REALLY a well-designed car, and had some great styling. How many of those cars went HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of miles without a problem? I know of quite a few. I only wish I had one now!!

 

Id be more worried about the in cab tank then mine, Besides it being made of thin stamped steel. it in the cab with me!

 

People here wet their pants worrying about their in-cab tanks. IMO, that's ridiculous.

Look where is mounted, high up in the cab behind heavy sheetmetal. I've owned the same old rolling pile of miseries for 44 years, since it was new, never had a problemo.

With over 35 years of Ford parts (dealership) experience, I've never seen any 1957/77 truck with an in-cab tank that was split open.

And...I've seen faaar more of these trucks than most all of y'all will ever see in a lifetime.

As long as the neoprene filler hose is in decent shape, there's little to concern yourself with, unless you get T-boned by a locomotive, or a big rig.

And...if that occurs...regardless of where the tank is...you can kiss your old ride good-by.

 

I have had a few of these in cab tank get leaks, then your breathing raw fumes that are also explosive in a enclosed cab

 

Just think of it this way.

If it's your time to go, it's your time to go, no matter WHERE your gas tank is located?

Until NHTSA started paying more attention to design, there were a lot of things that would be considered unsafe by todays standards, but only presented a danger given the right set of circumstances.

For 5 years, I was the Quality Assurance Manager for a major catalog distributor of supplies for early childhood education. One of the biggest complaints by day care centers was that a bookcase or table had corners that weren't rounded enough, and a child could get hurt if they bumped into it. I can look around my house right now and see LOTS of furniture with semi-sharp corners. I'm sure those same "complainers" have the same, as do the parents of the kids in the day care centers. When I was coming up, it was just, "...if they get hurt on it, they'll only do it one time, then they'll know better..."