building a fuel caddy

   / building a fuel caddy #1  

castiman

Silver Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
132
Location
oswego,ny
Tractor
jd 2520,jd x530
I'm thinking on making a fuel caddy for diesel for my tractor. There has been more cons than pros on the 15 gallon blizz, northern's caddy and todd's look like they are what i need. however they are a little pricey. i have a piece of sch. 10 20'' stainless pipe 2' long i'm thinking on using,I'll set it up for gravity feed or to hand pump, is there anything i should be aware of or carefull of on this. it should hold 33 gallons full i don't know how much it will weigh.
 
   / building a fuel caddy #2  
33 gallons will weigh around 264 lb. (roughly 8 lb. per gallon) plus the weight of the stainless container. How will you seal the stainless pipe sealed on both ends? It might be better to obtain a 15 or 30 gallon plastic drum and buy a 12V electric pump to fit the bung. Then build a rolling base to sit it on.
 
   / building a fuel caddy #3  
1*I'm thinking about making a fuel caddy for diesel for my tractor.
2*There have been more cons than pros on the 15 gallon blitz, northern's caddy and Todd's look likes they are what I need. however they are a little pricey.
I have a piece of 10 20'' stainless pipe 2' long I'm thinking on using,
3*I'll set it up for gravity feed or to hand pump,
4*is there anything I should be aware of or careful of on this.
It should hold 33 gallons full
5*I don't know how much it will weigh.
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1*Funny you should bring this up.
Just a few minutes before I read your post I was just thinking about my set up & came up with a way to build a smaller version of it for those who use less fuel than I do.
2*The caddy's are to costly and offer very limited features for the high price.
3*the big draw back to a hand pump is you can't be at the pump cranking it and over by the tractor & watching that you don't run the tank over at the same time.
For not much more than a good hand pump you can get a great electric 12 volt diesel fuel pump.
4*You will have the problem of getting it unloaded off your vehicle once you get back from getting it filled.
My set up eliminates that problem completely.
5* The 33 gallons of fuel weighs about 250 pounds.

I've built 2 of these out fits in the past 8 months.


____________ L . B ._______
 
   / building a fuel caddy #4  
33 gallons will weigh around 264 lb. (roughly 8 lb. per gallon) plus the weight of the stainless container. How will you seal the stainless pipe sealed on both ends?
1* It might be better to obtain a 15 or 30 gallon plastic drum
2* and buy a 12V electric pump to fit the bung.
3*Then build a rolling base to sit it on.

1*The plastic drum would be much better.
2*The 12 V pump is the only way to go.
But I don't like putting the pump on a drum cause then you have to take the pump filter and the hose with the drum to get it filled.
Makes the drum top heavy and awkward to handle.
3*Build the rig rite and you won't need a a rolling base to sit it on but you can use one if you wish.
L . B
 
   / building a fuel caddy
  • Thread Starter
#5  
33 gallons will weigh around 264 lb. (roughly 8 lb. per gallon) plus the weight of the stainless container. How will you seal the stainless pipe sealed on both ends? It might be better to obtain a 15 or 30 gallon plastic drum and buy a 12V electric pump to fit the bung. Then build a rolling base to sit it on.

I'm welding plate on both ends,with lifting eyes on one end to unload it I have a overhead cable lifting hoist in my garage. I'm also planning to make a cart to roll this around if i decide to pump from it. I would like to set it up for gravity flow with a gas nozzle but i might lack the head room in my garage.
 
   / building a fuel caddy #6  
I had a 25 gal plastic drum that I mounted on a hand cart using a car seat belt to keep it in place.
I then bought one of those 'harbor frt' type of hand crank pumps for about $10-15. or so and shortened the suction tube to fit.
Filling is a mere 40 or so slow cranks (fast and I overflow as filter can only handle so much)
Filled the tank is about 200lbs which I can unload by hand (note I said unload as gravity sure helps) and on the cart it is easy to manouver.
The only trick part was to fabricate an adaptor to fit the pump to my drum as the drum had a different threading than 55 gal drums for which the pump adaptor was designed.

The ideal solution would be a smallish drum with the standard barrell bung thread, but I had what I had.

I always figured that with a small DC motor and right pullies I could easily convert the hand crank pump into a 12v dc powered unit--another project for another day--meanwhile what I have works just fine.
 
   / building a fuel caddy #7  
Just curious, are you set up to get air/liquid tight welds in stainless?

Going to put fill ports in etc? I would do the fill ports with 2" NPT and vent ports with 3/4" NPT like a drum then you could use the standard and readilly availble stuff to work with it if needed.

Would it not be simpler to get a 35 gallon or 55 gallon metal drum and add appropriate fittings to do what you desire? Drum grabbers are readilly available to handle them at fairly inexpensvie prices.

Sounds liek a neat project though.
 
   / building a fuel caddy #8  
I would like to set it up for gravity flow with a gas nozzle but i might lack the head room in my garage.
One concern that bothers me with a gravity flow deal is if the hose or fittings develope a leak it will drain the entire 33 gallon of diesel right out into your garage./
 
   / building a fuel caddy
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Just curious, are you set up to get air/liquid tight welds in stainless?

Going to put fill ports in etc? I would do the fill ports with 2" NPT and vent ports with 3/4" NPT like a drum then you could use the standard and readilly availble stuff to work with it if needed.

Would it not be simpler to get a 35 gallon or 55 gallon metal drum and add appropriate fittings to do what you desire? Drum grabbers are readilly available to handle them at fairly inexpensvie prices.

Sounds liek a neat project though.

I'm going to tig weld every thing with 308 stainless weld wire. I'm going to have a 2'' fill port 3/4''vent and whatever size the hand pump takes. The only other port would be for some sort of fuel gauge if i can come up with something.IN case i decide on a gravity system i'm going to have a 3/4'' port on the bottom, where i could install a ball valve.
 
   / building a fuel caddy #10  
I gather from the way you talk that you don't plan on getting fuel delivered-May I ask why?
I'm going to tig weld every thing with 308 stainless weld wire. I'm going to have a 2'' fill port 3/4''vent and whatever size the hand pump takes. The only other port would be for some sort of fuel gauge if i can come up with something.In case i decide on a gravity system i'm going to have a 3/4'' port on the bottom, where i could install a ball valve.
How long do you figure 33 gallon will last you?
 
 
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