Propane tank Mount question - Page 2

carringb · 10-07-2013, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhally

It looks like one side of the mounting brackets are supported from the frame, and the other from the body? The body is mounted on the frame with rubber, is there any concern that the body might move different than the frame and put stress on the tank brackets?

I was thinking the same thing. I already have that problem on my tire carrier to door hinge bracket. Next upgrade is replacing the broken bracket with a piece of old tire.

86Scotty · 10-07-2013, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhally

If you have rear air conditioning I don't think the tank can be mounted here because the AC piping goes through the same area.

I don't think 2 horse has rear air, so I bet that won't be a problem. My 95 has aftermarket rear air (installed by SMB) and they made it work somehow with a propane tank, but I agree with you for the most part. I also have a 2002 van with factory rear air and the lines run along the inside of the body right where the hole for the propane door would be cut.

almathison · 10-07-2013, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhally

It looks like one side of the mounting brackets are supported from the frame, and the other from the body? The body is mounted on the frame with rubber, is there any concern that the body might move different than the frame and put stress on the tank brackets?

Well I didn't have that concern, but now I do. Honestly that never even occurred to me. Thanks for pointing that out. Maybe I could attach the tank to the brackets on the body side differently. Rather than use bolts just tie them on so they float a bit?? Back to the drawing board....

Thanks,
Al

coyotearms · 11-23-2013, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhally

I got the Sportsmobile tank, which appears to be custom made to fit on the driver's side of a Ford van. The mounting ears are designed to hang the tank from the floor with through-bolts.

I was going to start a new thread about mounting the SMB propane tank but ran across this fairly recent post. I was going to name it "Do you know where your propane tank is tonight?" Mine was mounted by SMB Indiana and simply hung from the brackets like the ones shown in your photo with bolts through the floor. After about 25k miles it started penduluming after the top brackets were no longer making firm contact with the underside of the floor no matter how much I tightened the bolts. I concluded that the tank with a full load of propane is just too heavy to resist rocking from side to side given how narrow the brackets are.

The photo below shows one end of the tank as it was installed. With one bolt (sans lock washer!) on each end connecting the tank to the angle bracket both the angle bracket and the tank relative to the angle bracket were penduluming enough that the bolt loosened and the tank dropped down enough to hit the body. The sound that made alerted me of the problem.

The fix was to make aluminum L-brackets out of bar stock and mounted as low as possible at the tank and still use existing holes in the vehicle frame as shown below. I also added a washer and lock washer to the upper carriage bolt. I could not find a 1/2" carriage bolt with a head that would fit into the slot on the tank at the new bracket, so I used 3/8" instead. The bolts used at the frame were 5/16". All new fastener hardware was S.S. These mods were done on both ends of the tank.

Edited on 11/26/2013:
OPPS! I just realized that what I did might not be the best way to stabilize the tank because that fixes the tank to both the frame and the chassis. But the chassis is mounted onto the frame via rubber bushings so they can move relative to each other. I hope the incredible level of knowledge that exists on this forum might be able to address this. The fix, if needed, would be to mount a donut-shaped bushing between the bracket and the frame and use a lock nut instead of the lock washer at that point. The same bracket could be used by simply drilling a new hole where the bracket attaches to tank since the bushing would move the bracket outboard a bit. Now where to find such a bushing? Or scrap the whole idea and laterally support the tank somehow to the chassis and not the frame.

dhally · 11-25-2013, 11:38 AM

Good fix! I was sorta worried about the same thing, but honestly haven't crawled under the van to see how they mounted it.

**daveb** · 11-25-2013, 07:04 PM

Here is my install (5.5 Gal)

coyotearms · 11-26-2013, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coyotearms

Edited on 11/26/2013:
OPPS! I just realized that what I did might not be the best way to stabilize the tank because that fixes the tank to both the frame and the chassis. But the chassis is mounted onto the frame via rubber bushings so they can move relative to each other. I hope the incredible level of knowledge that exists on this forum might be able to address this. The fix, if needed, would be to mount a donut-shaped bushing between the bracket and the frame and use a lock nut instead of the lock washer at that point. The same bracket could be used by simply drilling a new hole where the bracket attaches to tank since the bushing would move the bracket outboard a bit. Now where to find such a bushing? Or scrap the whole idea and try to laterally support the tank somehow to the chassis outboard of the tank. I looked at that for quite a while without finding a good plan.

I edited my last post with the above paragraph and posted it here too hoping it would be better seen. Any ideas? I do know that before the fix the top brackets that SMB used as the only support allowed the tank to sway back and forth about an 1/8" or so by the time I decided something had to be done. That being the case, the relative movement between the chassis and the frame might not cause additional problems at those top brackets, but that is difficult to know.

luked · 01-27-2017, 11:33 AM

Totally old thread but daveb is this the sportsmobile 5.5 gallon tank or sourced somewhere else?

Thank you

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveb

Here is my install (5.5 Gal)

**daveb** · 01-27-2017, 02:20 PM

SMB purchased the tank for me. Not sure if it's in this thread but somebody posted a site that carries all sorts of different sized tanks. Syncro or westy site might have something.

larrie · 11-15-2017, 05:14 PM

Glad I found this thread. Am getting ready to mount a propane tank on the drivers side between the frame rail and the rear HVAC piping. Was looking at the sizes of the GoWesty tanks. Am looking at either the 23 inch, 4.6 gallon, or the 30 inch, 5.9 gallon. Both are 8” diameter.

To verify that an 8 inch unit would fit I stopped by Home Depot and bought a 8 inch piece of ductwork and cut it to length. There was about a half inch of clearance on each side of the duct to the HVAC piping and the emergency brake cable.

Since the van has rear AC an access door is out of the question. Will wind up with the fill valve slightly below the body similar to what Boy Wonder has.

My question to the group is should the tank be mounted off the frame? There are lots of holes in the frame that can be used. The problem is that the gas tank needs to come out to access them from the back side of the frame. Has anyone ever tapped the existing holes in the frame so that bolts cann be screwed into them?

The other option would be to hang the tank from the van body by drilling into the floor supports shown below? This location allow more tank movement but may be an easier install.