Is it time for a new gas tank?

[DirtyComanche]

Call me paranoid, but I took a closer look at my gas tank today, and it's starting to bother me. Between the lighting and my camera, the pictures don't really do justice to the depth of the rust/flaking.

 

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(Disregard the 2x4, it's just holding the tank up...)

 

That's not exactly what I call surface rust. I figure it probably has a couple years left in it at worst, but I'm not really sure. Should I just take this as an excuse to get a better tank? If so, what options do I have? I'm not a fan of fuel cells. I'd prefer a drop in replacement. There's a business on ebay that sells new ones that are identical to stock, would that most likely be my best bet? I wouldn't mind something bigger though, or even going to dual tanks. I guess I could look into custom tanks too...

 

Oh yeah, I want to cut a hole in my bed and route my exhaust straight up through it at some point, so a stock tank would only work if it was moved back a bit, I think. If I went dual tanks that is.

 

Might as well throw this one out there too, has anybody switched from the stock tank mounting style to something more sensible? I don't like having the tank hooked to my bed so I have to undo those nasty J-bolts every time I take my bed off. I figure I could cut the bed up a bit and weld some angle iron accross the uniframe, then weld the old j-bnolt pockets to it. Good/bad idea? Should I just figure this is something I don't want to fall off and not mess with it too much?

 

 

For the 89, short bed, if it matters. I have the standard tank.

[Pete M]

My tank has looked like that for 7 years now and I'm still waiting for it to leak before I touch it. I have no desire to disturb the rusty bolts before I absolutely have to. I have a short bed and I decided that going bigger doesn't look very do-able because of interference with the rear axle. Instead, I added two 5 gallon gerry cans to my truck. I like the look and I have quite a bit more range than before. cheaperthandirt.com has them for, well, dirt cheap. They even carry brand new ones now.

Jeep on!

--Pete

 

I made my own mounts for either side of the spare tire, but there are the normal military mounts out there too.