2 Door Bronco- small gas tank annoying?

[Tex]

did any of you ever ‘wheel’ a vehicle before this? I’m curious because most of my 4x4’s had worse milage and or smaller tanks of course this is not my first or even 10th 4x4. Also there was less development and less fuel choices 30 years ago. It’s not a nostalgia post as much as I’m not sure what people ‘expect’.

The problem is that most older rigs are easily modified to hold more fuel, and now it's getting difficult to find a company that will make extended range tanks for new vehicles. My last rig was a 2006 JK with 39gal of fuel onboard (19 gal stock plus a 20gal aux tank), and that was enough to make a full weekend of camping and wheeling combined with enough fuel left over to not worry about range. Before that it was a CJ5 with a 26gal tank and an extra 10gal under the seats, and I still had to bring two cans thanks to the horrible economy of the V8 (the side pipes looked slick though, worth it).

With the Bronco, I don't have the same range that I did with previous rigs, and as of yet my only options are to bring a ton of cans with me if I want to make the same kind of trips. Currently I'm sitting at 27gal total capacity factoring in two cans, with 35gal being the target. I'd much rather have that capacity in an actual fuel tank rather than half a dozen cans hanging off my rig, but another 8gal in the tank would get me there if I settled for two cans. I think it would be possible to refit the jack storage area with a pass-through tank of 8gal or more, I don't need the jack and the storage isn't that important to me. Fill that space up with a tank, hook that sump to the OEM fill tube and then the fill tube of the pass-through tank connects back to the fuel door. When you fill up, the fuel passes through the 8gal tank to the OEM tank until it's full, then the 8gal tank fills up. The 8gal tank will keep the OEM tank topped off in a manner of speaking until you burn through that 8gal, at which point it'll stay empty until you fill it again. Probably some sheetmetal and welding work would need to be done to get it secured, might have to move the muffler in front of the axle on the driver side. I had a setup similar to this on my duramax...I needed a 100gal transfer tank for work and decided to plumb the bottom of that tank into my filler neck so the truck was always topped off and ready to go. It had enough range onboard that I could drive anywhere in the continental US nonstop, and possibly reach the southern edge of Alaska or Panama if I didn't waste fuel. It was absolutely ridiculous and completely unnecessary, I miss that truck.

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[JerryC]

My 88 Bronco II has a 23 gallon tank. The 96 we had held somewhere around 30.

My EB on the other hand had two tanks and it seemed like I was always switching between them. I don't remember ever calculating the mpg on that one, but 4.10 gears, a three speed auto and mildly built 302 did not get good gas mileage 40 years ago.

 

[mcinfantry]

The problem is that most older rigs are easily modified to hold more fuel, and now it's getting difficult to find a company that will make extended range tanks for new vehicles. My last rig was a 2006 JK with 39gal of fuel onboard (19 gal stock plus a 20gal aux tank), and that was enough to make a full weekend of camping and wheeling combined with enough fuel left over to not worry about range. Before that it was a CJ5 with a 26gal tank and an extra 10gal under the seats, and I still had to bring two cans thanks to the horrible economy of the V8 (the side pipes looked slick though, worth it).

With the Bronco, I don't have the same range that I did with previous rigs, and as of yet my only options are to bring a ton of cans with me if I want to make the same kind of trips. Currently I'm sitting at 27gal total capacity factoring in two cans, with 35gal being the target. I'd much rather have that capacity in an actual fuel tank rather than half a dozen cans hanging off my rig, but another 8gal in the tank would get me there if I settled for two cans. I think it would be possible to refit the jack storage area with a pass-through tank of 8gal or more, I don't need the jack and the storage isn't that important to me. Fill that space up with a tank, hook that sump to the OEM fill tube and then the fill tube of the pass-through tank connects back to the fuel door. When you fill up, the fuel passes through the 8gal tank to the OEM tank until it's full, then the 8gal tank fills up. The 8gal tank will keep the OEM tank topped off in a manner of speaking until you burn through that 8gal, at which point it'll stay empty until you fill it again. Probably some sheetmetal and welding work would need to be done to get it secured, might have to move the muffler in front of the axle on the driver side. I had a setup similar to this on my duramax...I needed a 100gal transfer tank for work and decided to plumb the bottom of that tank into my filler neck so the truck was always topped off and ready to go. It had enough range onboard that I could drive anywhere in the continental US nonstop, and possibly reach the southern edge of Alaska or Panama if I didn't waste fuel. It was absolutely ridiculous and completely unnecessary, I miss that truck.

The utmost absolute fringe use of a bronco.
Where would you fit another 20 gallons?
I can get stainless tanks made around me and plumb it in, I shut don’t see where I would PUT 20 gallons onboard

it’s not the dr who tardis with space

why not do that? Jane a tank made and plumb it in??

 

[Tex]

The utmost absolute fringe use of a bronco.
Where would you fit another 20 gallons?
I can get stainless tanks made around me and plumb it in, I shut don’t see where I would PUT 20 gallons onboard

it’s not the dr who tardis with space

why not do that? Jane a tank made and plumb it in??

You asked why I wanted more fuel, that's why. Not everyone who owns a Bronco is going to need as much fuel, but it's certainly not unheard of...aftermarket fuel tanks exist for so many vehicles for a reason. It's not like I'm exploring Antarctica or my commute takes me across the Empty Quarter...that would be an utmost absolute fringe use. I'm simply going out for a weekend away from the world, is that not one of the typical use cases of an offroad vehicle?

There's room in several places underneath, driver's side of the driveshaft and where the massive OEM muffler is are the two most likely candidates that maintain the same levels of safety as OEM, not to mention the original tank isn't going to be completely filling the space that it occupies, one could likely get an additional 5gal or more by making the most of that space. It's not so much a matter of one place to fit 20gal but rather filling the empty places and tying them together...a little here and there will add up. Exhaust would need to be re-routed, different muffler, maybe cutting some sheetmetal or relocating brackets, but all of it is certainly within the realm of reasonable.

Neither was my JK or CJ5, but I still managed to save the universe on numerous occasions with my copious amounts of fuel. Good times.

I'd much rather buy a kit that could be installed in an afternoon, instead of tearing it apart, sourcing parts that work, then fabbing over the course of a week or more. While I would probably get exactly what I want with my own fab work, it's also my daily driver, so something a little more expedient is the obvious choice. I've been waiting for anything to come out for over a year now and nothing, word is there probably won't be any due to regs and whatnot, so having to fabricate my own is probably inevitable.

 

[Brnzbronc]

Base manual transmission on 33’s here I get over 400 miles to a tank

 

[mcinfantry]

You asked why I wanted more fuel, that's why. Not everyone who owns a Bronco is going to need as much fuel, but it's certainly not unheard of...aftermarket fuel tanks exist for so many vehicles for a reason. It's not like I'm exploring Antarctica or my commute takes me across the Empty Quarter...that would be an utmost absolute fringe use. I'm simply going out for a weekend away from the world, is that not one of the typical use cases of an offroad vehicle?

There's room in several places underneath, driver's side of the driveshaft and where the massive OEM muffler is are the two most likely candidates that maintain the same levels of safety as OEM, not to mention the original tank isn't going to be completely filling the space that it occupies, one could likely get an additional 5gal or more by making the most of that space. It's not so much a matter of one place to fit 20gal but rather filling the empty places and tying them together...a little here and there will add up. Exhaust would need to be re-routed, different muffler, maybe cutting some sheetmetal or relocating brackets, but all of it is certainly within the realm of reasonable.

Neither was my JK or CJ5, but I still managed to save the universe on numerous occasions with my copious amounts of fuel. Good times.

I'd much rather buy a kit that could be installed in an afternoon, instead of tearing it apart, sourcing parts that work, then fabbing over the course of a week or more. While I would probably get exactly what I want with my own fab work, it's also my daily driver, so something a little more expedient is the obvious choice. I've been waiting for anything to come out for over a year now and nothing, word is there probably won't be any due to regs and whatnot, so having to fabricate my own is probably inevitable.

That’s the only solution I see

not enough ROI for anyone to make I don’t think

 

[BroncoAZ]

Base manual transmission on 33’s here I get over 400 miles to a tank

So you’re averaging more than 23.67 mpg with 4.46 gears and 33” tires? What’s your highway cruising speed?

On 4.70 gears with 34” tires the best I’ve seen was 22.5 mpg on the computer with a 65 mph cruise speed, hand calced mileage was 21.2 mpg or a max theoretical range of 358 miles if I drove it to empty.

 

[mpeugeot]

So you’re averaging more than 23.67 mpg with 4.46 gears and 33” tires? What’s your highway cruising speed?

On 4.70 gears with 34” tires the best I’ve seen was 22.5 mpg on the computer with a 65 mph cruise speed, hand calced mileage was 21.2 mpg or a max theoretical range of 358 miles if I drove it to empty.

Best I have managed is 23.5 mpg @ 75mph cruise with 32.1" tires. I won't get anywhere close to that on my 33.5" tires. (4.27 gears 2.7 v6).

 

[Tex]

That’s the only solution I see

not enough ROI for anyone to make I don’t think

There were several companies doing pretty well just making extended range tanks for vehicles a decade ago, but their offerings generally only covered the most popular of vehicles that would make use of it...primarily trucks from the big three and a jeep or two thrown in. Gas vehicles seem to be the more stringent of the two as far as meeting regulations go, and it sounds like the regs became more difficult to meet recently. While I do believe a lot of Bronco owners would upgrade to a larger plug and play tank if there were one available, I just don't know if it would be worth it at this point to a company that specializes in them. If considerable modification would be required, a lot of Bronco owners wouldn't step up so early in their release. Maybe in five years we might have an option, maybe not.

Best I have managed is 23.5 mpg @ 75mph cruise with 32.1" tires. I won't get anywhere close to that on my 33.5" tires. (4.27 gears 2.7 v6).

I can manage 18mpg with 35's at 78mph in calm conditions. I noticed the speedometer on mine is fast, at 78mph I'm actually doing 75.5mph, so that probably drops my mpg down even more since that also affects the odometer.

 

[LCW]

I'm starting to thing the small tank is done on purpose. To get us used to the crappy range of EVs. lol

 

[mpeugeot]

The utmost absolute fringe use of a bronco.
Where would you fit another 20 gallons?
I can get stainless tanks made around me and plumb it in, I shut don’t see where I would PUT 20 gallons onboard

it’s not the dr who tardis with space

why not do that? Jane a tank made and plumb it in??

Remove the rear muffler, use a centrally located muffler, stuff that extra tank where the old muffler was. I bet that you could easily fit a 20 gallon fuel cell up there.

 

[JT58Bronc]

One 22 or 25 gallon tank would have been sufficient. Or two 15 gallon tanks. At least offer one of these two options given how much gas it burns. Geez, it's not like its rocket science either, the Gen 1 Broncos some had two tanks and even my 1987 V10 4 X 4 pick up has two tanks, one on each side. It's so convenient to fill both and go such a long way before having to gas up again. Just flip a switch and you have another full tank. Granted I don't drive it much since it's a classic but I gas it up like every two months. And if I did opt to drive the Bronco daily I'd have to gas it up every other day. That's too much stopping for gas.

 

[Aztec1382]

would definitely purchase the larger gas tank

 

[stickshifthappy]

I’m getting about 300 + or - a tank it’s not a big deal. There are worse issues one could have.

 

[Bmadda]

Remove the rear muffler, use a centrally located muffler, stuff that extra tank where the old muffler was. I bet that you could easily fit a 20 gallon fuel cell up there.

I already have the straight out exhaust on mine, and I did some measurements. an 8-10 gal racing fuel cell would fit pretty nicely. If you remove the storage tray in the rear floor you could fill it through the rear floor w/a little hatch. I was thinking of doing this, then plumbing it to a transfer pump that just pumps the fuel to the main tank to refill...still a little idea I'm just chewing on ATM

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