Rodeo long range fuel tank

i seem to remember nissan getting into hot water over this as they stated the infamous gu patrol had a certain litre stated on all brochures but was much less when tested and they had to put an apology or that in the papers.

noted a similair thing on my navara i come up 5-6 litres less than my owners manula states every time?

please explain .

could land you in trouble if you were banking on x amount of reserve capacity in the middle of no where due to poor calculations.

Brown Davis need a good P R rep i think

Now that could be interesting!

When my Prado is delivered I expect that the dealer will probably deliver it with abou 500ml of fuel. When I fill the 180l tank at the nearest servo I'll see how much it takes!

Steven

Sails, how big is the standard tank. 90 litres doesn't seem that much bigger.

Sails,
I might be able to help here. Back in 98 I was fitting the Police Rodeo with tanks and bullbars.
What I do need to know is
What brand of bull bar is on the front
Is it a petrol or Diesel
Has it got any other aftermarket stickers on it

Wayne

Hi Sails,
My experience with Brown Davis hasn't as yet been a bad one. When I had my tank fitted - the fuel guage wasnt working properly as the float got stuck on something apparently - so it was always showing empty. Brown Davis (somewhat reluctantly) fixed the installation problem - and its been working fine ever since.

They told me that the capacity of my tank was 140 litres (2.8 diesel hilux)- and...... one day - I (accidently) ran it dry -(rolling into a servo thank god!) - Filled it up - and sure enough - it holds exactly 140 litres. - So no complaints there.

I've heard alot of negative feedback regarding Brown Davis - but nothing like you're describing!

-myfourby

I have recently had a so-called 60 litre "long distance" auxilliary tank fitted to my 4WD. I know the exact capacity of the standard tank as I did a closely watched about 100,000 km with it before deciding to add the extra tank. and upgrade the rear suspension. The best I can get out of the 60 litre aux tank before the transfer pump runs dry is about 44 litres. Don't know what I would get if I took out the drain plug, but my guess would be not much. Very disappointing $1300 worth, but I guess better than 2 x 20 litre jerry cans in the cabin. Now the minimum range I get towing a camper trailer under harsh conditions is 700km (I hope!).

My ex NSW Police Rodeo (96 model. 2.6 petrol) is fitted with an Out of Town long range tank, company advertises it as 118 litres.

The most I have ever put in it is 92 litres, but I have never ran it dry.

Fuel warning light starts flickering on and off after I have used ABOUT 70 litres, stays on most of the time after ABOUT 80 litres.

sails, my 2000 dual cab rodeo has a 'long ranger" advertised as 118 lt this tank came in my 98 vehicle and i moved it when i bought my new one. max hold is 108 lt. from 104 starts cutting out on corners. changed fuel pump when moved, same in both vehicles. fuel light comes on with 25 lt remaining. fuel gauge doesnt start dropping until 50lt used. mine petrol maybe diesel pickups are different.
regards peter

Sails,
Just a little info on tanks.
Brown Davis tanks were 110lt.
They were one of two suppliers for the Police Rodeos.
The sender unit was taken out of the OE tank and replaced back into the BD tank at tha same hight from the bottom of the tank so that when the tank was empty the gauge on the dash would read empty. The warning light would also show when the tank was near empty.
The changes.
The sending unit (a length of stiff wire with a float on the end of it) in the tank went through a certian arc, full to empty. The BD tank being higher,and the arc of the sending unit being the same, the fuel gauge on the dash would read empty when empty but would stay on full for some time.
On the diesel Rodeo a tube was screwed into the top of the tank and sat about 6mm from the bottom of the tank. This was done so that it did not pick up rubbish from the bottom of the tank. This 6mm can vary so that the amont of fuel drawn from the tank can very a bit.
On the petrol Rodeo the high pressure pump had to be droped down to sit on the bottom of the tank. This ment cutting the bracket that held the pump and adding a piece of steel to make the bracket longer. On the end of the pump was a filter and the low fuel warning light sender unit.
On the bottom of the tank there is a swell pot, this holds the fuel around the pick up so when the fuel level dropes and moves around the bottom of the tank, fuel is not drained away from the pick up or pump.
Because the filler pipe had to go into the side of the BD tank, and not on the top as in the OE tank, it was hard to fill the tank to the top. A air lock was common if the vehicle was leaning towards the filler pipe.
The brackets had a second layer of steel to stop them cracking but as you know this did not always work.
Brown Davis did start putting there stamp on the tanks as well as the date of manufactor. To check the amount of fuel that the tank holds, the drain plug at the bottom near side of the tank would have to be removed and all the fuel removed. Replace the plug and fill the tank, rocking the vehicle as the tank becomes full. This should remove the air lock if any.
I have fitted a lot of Rodeo tanks with very little problems, the Police would not put up with dodgy stuff.
As for Brown Davis, well you spoke to them and I would say you got a tipical answer to a problem, and they have not improved.
The extra fuel and the fact that a 8000lb Warn winch come with the Rodeo I still think it is a good buy.
Wayne

Not a Rodeo answer but I too have a LR Brown Davies tank and it is stated as holding 110lt. I have filled it with 108 lts so it is pretty close. I figure that the last 10 litres would be unuseable so I calculate it at 100 litres when travelling.

I have heard some bad stories about communication with Brown Davies company people but when I made enquiries they were very polite. The tank was installed by a tank supplier in Adelaide. Haven't had any problems with it.

Hi Wayne,
thanks for that info. I concur with most of what you say, with a couple of deviations regarding the inner workings of the pump mount and sender units.
I believe the original OE pump and mounting bracket was used, and it sat on the bottom of the tank, inside a swell pot as you called it. The pump assembly is mounted in the rear right corner and it is fitted into a 70mm lowered area on that corner .THere was no extension to the mounting arm, and the low fuel warning light was not on the pump assembly. I replaced the pump with a Goss unit when in Nhulunbuy, $230.00(due to the price of OE spares, $850.00,I think, which included the whole mounting bracket!!). I never removed the sender unit, but I assume the low fuel sensor was on it. As you suggest, my fuel gauge didnt move for the first 250 K's, and when the car was stationary and I was draining the tank, it had 5 litres left in it when the light came on.
There is a 300mm wide by 360 mm long by about 40mm high addition on top of the tank in the area of the filler pipe junction, and there is an air line that goes from there to the polution control circular thing on the passangers side of the engine bay. The filler pipe comes in above the chassis rail and meets the tank at the top of the main side body, running into the top side weld, and the filler breather pipe is welded in at the same spot, so there should be no problem with an air lock developing in that area,There is also an extension from the top of the tank which extends out over the prop shaft, but I've not bothered with measuring it tonight
The Brown Davis badge is marked as 02 98 B5 (i think, difficult to make out the last letter )
THe reason the front mount cracked was because where it was welded to the double skin , it was only done on the top and the two sides,leaving the bottom open and so it began cracking across thedouble skin from the lower end of each side weld, No problem since it was done properly.
As you say, the police would not put up with anything dodgy, so it was puzzlying as to why the owner of BD should go into this big defensive rap with the accusations he was making.And it was the owner of the company I was talking to, cant remember his name, but that was a question I put to him.
Did you ever test the capacity of the tanks you were fitting? Basically we believe what we are told!
THe extra fuel and the winch made it a good buy and the vehicle performed very well for us considering where we went and the load we carried. Only other problem that developed of any consequence was we bent the rear chassis, and where it bent there are two holes in the inner wall which are used to hold cable clamps. The holes are on both rails of the chassis and it bent in the same place on both sides, about 8-10 inches ahead of the bump stop. I see the factory has added a gussett to that area on later vehicles of that generation model.
I wonder if you might have fitted my vehicle??
Cheers Wayne, thanks for the input
Sails