Carrying Jerry Cans

Hi Dave,

I would think they would be fine inside the canopy if they are diesel.

Trick is to put the contents in the fuel tank as soon as there is room for them, like when you get down to 3/4 or thereabouts.

Then you could put the empty's on the roof.

I regularly carry 20 liters of diesel in the canopy, securely strapped and use it to top up the main tank whenever we stop.

Will two be enough?

Hi ,a trick with Jerrycans is to wraps carpet around them and put some tape to hold it on this will save them from rubbing. It amuse me when you see Jerrycans on roof racks with no carpet I would like to the mess after traveling rough roads.You will have heap of fuel to cross the Simpson.

G'day David

On my last trip across the Simpson my friends in a 100% stock MQ Triton went from Oodnadatta to Birdsville on the standard tank plus one 20 litre jerry can. My way overloaded Ranger with a 140 litre tank took 125 litres at Birsdville for the same route straight across.

The main reason people should have extra fuel is in case of unexpected detours due to weather or whatever.

Enjoy your trip

Cheers
Gazz

if you get your self an air pump to fit your jerry can, no heavy lifting then saves your back, cant remember the name at the moment, somebody will know

I’ve carried up to 4 jerrycans full of diesel in my canopy, during numerous trips across the Simpson, as well as a Canning trip. The only leakage was with human intervention!

On our last trip into the Simpson, I also carried 4 Penrite 10L oil bottles, that I filled in Kulgera. These were for an extension on the trip that didn’t eventuate. Certainly easier to handle when full and being square, are easy to tie down, and together.



Bob

1) Consumption (petrol not diesel): We used our Montero 3.8 L. Because this engine is not sold now in Australia, and because few people seem to use this model (equivalent to a Pajero) in Australia, we found it tough to get insight into the probable fuel consumption. Experience in deserts elsewhere in the world led us to conclude that we would need to plan on 25-50% higher consumption than on tarmac. We saw advice online ranging from 50-100% higher consumption. At Mount Dare the advice was to plan on 50% higher than "normal" and to plan on the possibility of taking the longest route (770 Km), since the shortest route was badly chopped up when we were crossing.

So, we calculated needing around 195 L of petrol. The tank holds 88 L, and we had cans for another 100 L, so we bought one more and left Mount Dare with 208 L. We ended up finding that the French Line wasn't as bad as we had expected, and ended up on the French Line, Rig Road, WAA line, Knoll's Track, French Line, and then QAA line. 610 Km in all. We filled from cans once and when we arrived in Birdsville found that we had used 135 L, so a lot less than we thought we might need.

2) Where to carry fuel cans? We carried the reserve cans on the roof rack, if they’re positioned well you can then drain directly to the main tank, which avoids having to lift them down. We had no problems in the Simpson, HOWEVER, in East Africa we had one can spring a leak through fatigue. This was travelling with our LC80 and was diesel, which is messy when it leaks. The cans were well-secured and protected with carpet, so this didn't help. Most of the “roads” were not bad although the main tracks in the Serengeti are atrocious (the leak occurred earlier in the trip, and we had seen relatively few bad corrugations to this point). I agree that you should drain the reserve cans as early as you can. On the Australia trip we had reservice cans which were empty until the first point we needed extra fuel (GRR) and once we had completed all of the bits of the trip on which extra fuel was needed we gave them away to the fire service in NSW.

David, you have a crossing covered with 120 litres, Do not overload the triton canopy, especially if you have air helpers, the walls of Mt Dare are full of repair photos. I passed one fellow with 4 ratchet straps from his bullbar to towbar, holding the chassis together.

David : we did it ranger straight across french line carried 180L used around 110 /120 l travelling pretty light . I think keeping weight as low as possible.. i think the comment in a tube in the back is a good idea , hold them tight & catch any spilling of fuel .

One of, in fact the primary, reason I have a ute is for the loading of fuel containers in the back (under a canopy). Fridge is sealed, don't worry about that. I actually bought a square cork board tile from Bunnings to put under mine - just as a little bit of shock protection. Was surprisingly useful - got one under the water tank, the fridge and have a couple spare just in case you want to soften anything going over rough terrain.