Tuesday, Nov 08, 2005 at 04:05
Melissa.
I hope you are still reading replies. I have replaced both main and sub tanks on my 3l Patrol- 159 main 81 sub. Both were purchased from 4wd systems in SA. A mate fitted the same tanks to his Patrol at the same time. My advice to you is to
shop somewhere else. The rear bracket on my sub tank cracked (had it reapired by very helpful people at Metaland in
Kununurra) after the
Canning Stock Route. We continued our trip heading along The
Gibb River Road, about 250k's in the sub tank fell out of my mates Patrol. 81 litres of fuel sitting in a useless tank on the road. The tank itself is quite strong, it wasn't pierced by the rear axle riding over it and only showed a small dent on the top. It took a nice chunk out of the control arm bracket on the diff. The problem is with the rear brackets. We had a design engineer look at it when we got
home and he said the bracket was just strong enough to hold the tank when empty. The real insult was dealing with Tom Hewitson the proprietor. First he refused to accept that there could be a problem, then tried to blame fitting (one motor mechanic, a mechanical fitter and myself followed his intructions), then he had trouble contacting his suppier, the maker of the tanks. Eventually (4 weeks or so after returning
home, 6 weeks after first contact) he decided he would like to see the tanks. Nearly 3 months later we received new sub tanks from Tom, who had told us during the delay that he had other things to do so we would just have to wait. The new tanks use the factory rear bracket just like the other tanks on the market.
The new tanks are in and havn't fallen out yet. But we've only been on
the beach at
Esperance since.
The price seems right at the time (I paid 650 each) but with the resistance to any kind of after sales service I recieved I wish I had paid a little more and bought something a lot better. Tom Hewittson had almost no interest in backing his product, he couldn't even return a phone call. Don't do it to yourself!
I have been told that K&N in
Perth make a good tank at around the same price, they make the Strongarm wheel carriers that seem to have an excellent reputation. I've got one and have had no problems
Not that I want to be, but to be fair we have had no problems with the main tanks. They fit
well and stay in(so far). The guage reads full for 400km then seems to drop as fast as it did with the standard tank. The fuel light comes on at 1/4 tank, and 1/4 drops to empty within 60km. I get 1000km from this tank driving in 4th (5th blew up) but haven't tested since repair.
I would not recommend 4wd Systems.
AnswerID:
138389
Follow Up By: Leroy - Tuesday, Nov 08, 2005 at 09:17
Tuesday, Nov 08, 2005 at 09:17
I think it's hard to find anyone that will back up their product with good customer service. Here is my experience with my long range tank.
I had a Long Range Automotive tank installed in my Rodeo. I bought it for my
Cape York trip and it was good because of the extra capacity but on the way back down around Musgrave the factory tank mount snaped and the tank dropped down almost dragging along the ground. The front mount was only just supporting it but fractured the tank when it dropped. It also ripped out the wiring to the fuel pump. For the rest of the trip I couldnt fill my tank to more than half (it leaked out the fracture) and I had to use ratchet tie downs to support the tank. I spoke to LRA upon my return and they reckon I abused the tank (there were scrapes on it's belly but according to their dealer in
Cairns I saw they said that was nothing compared what they'd seen) and didn't warrant the tank. I had to pay $200 to get it all repaired and apparently that was a special price. In
Weipa I was talking to a local mechanic and he said nobody uses them up north only us down south.....go figure!
Leroy
FollowupID:
392016