Carrying jerry cans on roof cage ???

Everyone says 'don't carry cans of fuel and water on your roofrack". Something to do with increasing the height of the centre of gravity. I can understand why they say that. On a 2 week trip to the NE corner of SA a couple of years ago when we had a Patrol with a full length rack. We had cans of diesel and water right across the back of the roof rack. We laid then on their back edge to get the overall height down and always had the empty ones on the outsides though. I made sure they all had new seals before we left.

Never caused me a prob.

G day Warren

Good to see you out and about !

The only problem I see with this, is just how awkward, or accessable is it. I would tend to carry any fuel at the rear, for a couple of reasons.

1) you may find it easier to climb up onto the racks/basket from the back of the vehicle.
2) if by chance there is a leak, which is unlikely, then the fuel is not gunna be too close to the people, in which everyone can get out ( safety thing I guess ) and probably will get blown back away from the vehicle, and not contaminate everything else, up on the basket
Not too sure what the legal side of things are. ( if any )
Hope this makes sence?

Cheers Mate
Bucky

G'day Chef ol' mate.......

What Bucky said sounds pretty-well on the money to me.

Are you wanting to carry the fuel because you're concerned you may run out (lack of fuel stops?) or are you just wanting to carry the extra cos it's a bit cheaper back down this way?

If the answer to that is the latter, I would respectfully suggest you forget about carrying the jerrys...... The additional weight and potential danger (both fuel volatility and the increased center of gravity) would, to me, outweigh the benefits of saving a few cents on the purchase price of topping-up your tank up the Stuart Hwy somewhere.......not to mention the extra weight you'll be carting will increase your fuel consumption slightly anyway and the physical hassle of lifting the jerrys up/down on/off the roof rack etc.

If you're doing it because the size of your tank does not provide enough range then I guess you have no alternative but to carry the jerry/s. If so, I would suggest you stop and decant the fuel into the tank as soon as it has dropped enough for you to fit the fuel in the tank. Also, I would carry the jerry/s empty for as long as possible and only fill them up at the last servo before you head out into the zone where fuel supply is going to be a problem. That way you're not carrying the fuel in the jerry/s any longer than you absolutely need to.

Hope this all makes sense.........

Cheers and have a good trip mate

Roachie

I would carry the jerries empty for as long as possible. It is true that they increase the hieght of the centre of gravity and can produce something that I can only describe as a pendulum effect. Most of the time you will only notice it as extra weight, but in any situation where there is a sudden change of direction (blowout, swerve to miss animal, tyre catches a rut etc) you will see exactly what I mean.

This is on top of the centre of gravity issue where travel on a sloping track may produce a tip over even at slow speed. This is only my opinion of course but after experiencing this with a heavily loaded rack I now just leave some stuff at home.

If you are dead set on taking them, take as few as possible, keep them empty as long as possible and keep them as low as possible. If you are just trying to save a few dollars, I'd leave them at home.

In the end its your choise.

Steve

Accross the front is where I carry them when needed as the back of the car is already heavily loaded and any weight transfer forwad is a bonus. As the fuel is used transfer it to the tank meaning at most, the additional fuel will be up there for no more than a day or two and just lower your travel speed accordingly. To make the transfer easy use 25L plastic boat tanks instead of jerry's, click the hose on, a few squeezes on the pump and it will all gravity feed directly into the tank with zero lifting.
Cheers Craig............

Gday Warren,
Weight distribution is better if you put it forward on the roofrack.
On the map, it looks to me like last fuel will be Glendambo.

I'd only put ULP into decent jerries with good seals. And wrap them with carpet or something to stop chafing on the dirt roads.

Warren, I carry mine at the back of the roofrack on my Patrol...easier to get down, and I have 10ltr jerries which are easier for an old fart like me to put up/down when full!

mate of mine uses the 20 lt marine boat tanks thers are low, flat base,and seal good use a marine hose and boat fitting to trans fer fuel no leak no need to lift down BUT MAKE SHORE YOU EARTH safe driveing mal

Have a good trip Warren and don't work too hard up there............ your on holidays remember :).

I hope the Nissan doesn't give you any troubles

Say hello to Warren Jr. for us

Cheers Luke

in the landcruiser we have carried them on the roof rack at the back with them on their side but the spout up th top so no leaking, we only had to fill them twice and use them twice so it wasnt too hard....we had 2 x 20lt jerries.....

Laura