Skid Diesel Tanks

[mrutkaus]

I am too far up a ridge for an oil company to deliver, so I have a number of 5 gal cans!

I'm thinking of getting a 300 gallon skid type tank, getting it filled at the bottom of my driveway and pulling it up a distance of about 1000' with a 30hp kioti tractor. Part of the driveway is say 20 deg steep.

Does this sound like a reasonable idea?

EDIT: Maybe not, I see they are advertised as 'portable when empty.'

Mike

 

[Gary Fowler]

You didnt say what size tractor you had, so no idea if it would be possible to drag it or not. You could build a more robust skid system with wider skids than the 2" angle that is on most skid tanks and mount your tank on it or even better would be to mount it on a small 2 wheel trailer. 300 gallons of fuel would weigh slightly less than 2000 pounds so. A small 2 wheeled trailer with a single 3500# axle would handle the load easily and be much easier to get up the hill than trying to skid it up. I see those advertised all the time for $350used -500 new. Is the 300 gallon a minimum size that you need because of delivery? I have 100 gallon square tank that keeps me in fuel for quit a while with my 45 HP tractor. I got it planning to have to load it and take it in for refill, but have found that when my BIL and I are both empty(we have 100 gal. tank each) the bulk guy will come fill them. We have him fill all the tanks and the tractors. The tanks are 300 yards of so apart but that doesnt bother the guy so far and we get the dyed fuel for offroad so no taxes.

 

[Duffster]

I would mount it to a wagon running gear

 

[Gary Fowler]

Sorry missed the tractor part. You should have no trouble pulling the tank with a 30HP tractor up the hill as far as power goes. Traction may be a problem but if it is 4 WD it should do OK. But you will likely leave some deep gouges in your road and as earlier posted, you would need to beef up the tank skid platform as they are not very substantial or build one from scratch to mount the tank on. If you pulled it with a drawbar hooked on your 3 PH arms, you could slightly raise the arms to take some of the weight on your tractor (not too much, you dont want to be front end light) which would give you more traction and less friction. The wider the skid surface the easier it is going to be to pull. I still prefer the trailer option. Look for them on Craigslist and find a bargain and likely you would have any more invested in a trailer than a beefy skid. It doesnt have to be pretty or even have good deck for this use so if you find an ugly one, just modify the existing frame to accept your tank and you are good to go.

 

[Gary Fowler]

If you use a 2 wheel trailer, I would mount some drop legs on the 2 back corners. Drop them to the ground, lock in place then use the front tounge jack to lift the front up slightly to take all the weight off the tires. Then you have a stable platform to work from

 

[Gary Fowler]

Actually Winchester Craigslist right now has a home built (Ford Ranger truck bed trailer) for sale for $250 with bed liner and spare tire. Would make a perfect fuel trailer.

 

[mrutkaus]

Yes, a trailer would be best, thanks for the suggestions and craigslist reference. Maybe a cheap used trailer and a standard 275 gal tank strapped/bolted down.

Hadn't thought of the gouging factor!

Good ideas,

Mike

 

[Scooby074]

What about several 55 gal drums strapped to wooden pallets? Add a set of forks to your loader and make a few trips?

you can get tanks on skids that can take being drug when full if you want to go that way... might make a mess of the driveway though

 

[crazyal]

A gallong of diesel weighs about 7 lbs. If you got yourself 5 or 6 empty 55 gallon drums you could bring them up the hill one at a time with your FEL (less than 400 lbs).

For a little while a natural gas company was converting people over from heating oil. They didn't offer people any way of getting the old tanks out or dealing with the left over fuel. Most people who would drain the tanks would charge them (quite a bit) to do it since they had to have insurance. Since I have a 12v fuel pump I would help them do it for free and take the oil. Since I didn't charge them and I was only helping them they were liable so i didn't have to worry about insurance in case oil got spilled.

The local town garages buy engine oil and other oils by the 55 gallon drum and must store them, even when empty in a spill container so they give them away once empty. I got several empty drums from them along with a couple of empty drums from a racer. I'd fill them up then store them under an outbuilding until I needed the fuel.

If that's not something you want to try I would try and find an old 4wd truck that's not really road worthy, maybe a truck too small to be used as a plow truck. Pull the bed off of it and mount the tank to it. You would need to beef up the springs because a 300 gallon tank full of fuel is going to be close to 2000 lbs.

Otherwise I would mount wheels to the tank and turn it into a trailer. Is that 20 deg hill got any corners on it and how firm is the gravel?

 

[mrutkaus]

The hill does have two sharp curves. I'm checking with another oil company now, Southern States. Thanks for the suggestions...

Mike