My truck has a 26 gallon tank and averages about 17mpg... Highway is a bit better, almost 20mpg if I'm not climbing mountains. I have a 400-450 mile range, typically.
I'd like to have a 1000 mile or greater total range. Why? Long camping or hunting trips in the AZ back country can take me 2+ hours from the nearest gas station, and I've run into situations where I've had to ration gas while driving forest roads during those trips. I have a pair of 5gal gerry cans for trips like that which I typically use, but I'd like something a bit more graceful than that... and just 10 gal makes me nervous... I ran pretty low on gas last time I used this technique and was HAPPY to pay the high markups at Hannigan Meadow (probably the most expensive gas in the State of AZ) when I pulled in on fumes. I'd also like to be able to drive all the way through AZ and rural NV to friends in northern CA or central OR if I wanted to, independent of gas concerns. The SHTF-value of 1000-1500 mile range in a truck, or the budgetary value of a month's worth of gas to ward off price fluctuations, also has value to me.
Been looking into aux tanks. Seems to be a predominantly diesel product. There are a few gasoline ones. I'd prefer not to have a "transfer" tank. Much rather have a true aux tank, with its own fuel pump and fuel filter independent from the main tank's fuel pump and filter, plumbed into the truck's fuel intake system.
One that is also camouflaged as a tool box would be nice.
My caveat: I have a camper shell over the top of my truck bed. This greatly complicates refueling and makes a transfer-type tank (the ones with the gas pump handles and hoses for filling bikes/ATVs/other vehicles) impossible anyways, even if I wanted one. It complicates refueling because the tanks are typically mounted against the back wall of the truck cab in the bed, and gas station filling hoses aren't long enough to go inside the enclosed truck bed to fill the aux tank.
Is it legal to put an aux tank in an enclosed truck bed with a camper shell?
Can the fiberglass be cut and a locking door fashioned, to give easier access to the filling port on a bed mounted aux tank?