Cruiser Brothers 12.5 LRA Aux Tank Install in LX570 (2 Viewers)

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I was thinking that the LRA tank will save money on gas but in Chicago suburbs the price for 87 octane has been $2/gal. So even if I save 20 cents of gas by fueling on cheaper days it would take 150k miles to pay for itself at 15 mpg. I'm assuming a cost of $400 to install it. I hate filing up every other day but it seemed like too long of an ROI for me. I don't forsee gas prices going up with all the electric vehicles gaining traction any time soon.

I wouldn’t propose anyone add the tank merely for fuel savings. But...it is a legitimate, positive side effect I enjoy.

Main benefits are lower center if gravity, range, skipping the mess, delays and hassles of jerry cans, and freeing up space for water and other gear. But the fueling selectivity is one of many side benefits that keep popping up. This is just a killer mod with really no downside save for cost.

Here’s one more:
With the up-armored tank option...I actually feel it makes the likelihood of being hooked by a rock or sand less likely, as the 24 gallon’s tank bottom runs back toward the rear bumper without a major gap as is present without it (especially with no spare).

In short, the LRA is a win-win-win-win-win.
 
Tank raised into position. Seemed to have missed a step that the that the instructions don't identify. The video install seems to ignore it too?

There's a raised part of the coach/body rail that sits on top of the tank. I would think that these two pads should be cut-off? As the frame moves somewhat independently of the body. What do you think @orangefj45?

lxlra9.jpg


lxlra8.jpg
 
While you have it apart might as well put a rear bumper on:bounce:

While I like the idea and style of it, I just can't justify the trades it would invite. I also need all the payload capacity possible to tow.
 
I'm assuming a cost of $400 to install it.

I wonder what others have paid to have it professionally installed? I'll say this install isn't a walk in the park with some good labor hours. I believe it's quoted to be an ~8-10 hr install.
 
Tank raised into position. Seemed to have missed a step that the that the instructions don't identify. The video install seems to ignore it too?

There's a raised part of the coach/body rail that sits on top of the tank. I would think that these two pads should be cut-off? As the frame moves somewhat independently of the body. What do you think @orangefj45?

View attachment 1868337

View attachment 1868338


I installed my 12.5 last week and noticed that after the fact too. Didn't have the time to pull everything back out, so I left it for now. Will be interesting to see what @orangefj45 and @wardharris say. The instructions definitely need some help. The video by @OTRAMM was very helpful given the lack of details on the install instructions. But, as you mentioned, the video by Ryan didn't say anything about cutting those off. I did notice after that fact on the linked Long Ranger video below that they cut them off (about 4:00 minute mark).

 
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I wonder what others have paid to have it professionally installed? I'll say this install isn't a walk in the park with some good labor hours. I believe it's quoted to be an ~8-10 hr install.

My quote to have it installed locally was much higher than $400 and they've done some already. It's not a cheap installation.
 
What is the typical shop rate these days? $100 per hour? That would lead me to expect an install cost closer to $800 than $400.
 
I wouldn’t propose anyone add the tank merely for fuel savings. But...it is a legitimate, positive side effect I enjoy.



In short, the LRA is a win-win-win-win-win.
Aw, c’mon. Your wife must be more gullible than mine because I tried that line and it was pointed out to me that carrying around all that extra weight would easily negate any “savings” on purchases. And we never got into the $1000 install cost. I think this is merely a win-win-win-win install for me.
 
Aw, c’mon. Your wife must be more gullible than mine because I tried that line and it was pointed out to me that carrying around all that extra weight would easily negate any “savings” on purchases. And we never got into the $1000 install cost. I think this is merely a win-win-win-win install for me.

Heh. :)
 
Aw, c’mon. Your wife must be more gullible than mine because I tried that line and it was pointed out to me that carrying around all that extra weight would easily negate any “savings” on purchases. And we never got into the $1000 install cost. I think this is merely a win-win-win-win install for me.

Hah, my wife was appalled by the tank price. Which means it cost me double. She got a purse of like cost.
 
Hah, my wife was appalled by the tank price. Which means it cost me double. She got a purse of like cost.

:rofl:

Baubles from a jewelry store serve the same purpose. When unsure of which bauble to buy, I have twice bought the Mrs. another jewelry box to organize her existing set of baubles.
 
I installed my 12.5 last week and noticed that after the fact too. Didn't have the time to pull everything back out, so I left it for now. Will be interesting to see what @orangefj45 and @wardharris say. The instructions definitely need some help. The video by @OTRAMM was very helpful given the lack of details on the install instructions. But, as you mentioned, the video by Ryan didn't say anything about cutting those off. I did notice after that fact on the linked LoneRanger video below that they cut them off (about 4:00 minute mark).



Perfect! Got confirmation from Georg that it's necessary to chop. Prob brackets for the stock aux tank.

Seems a critical missing step that would have saved me wasting at couple hours as it's not easy to mount with the fitup of the tank filler I already installed.
 
Hah, my wife was appalled by the tank price. Which means it cost me double. She got a purse of like cost.

Maybe spill jerry can fuel on her favorite purse? :hillbilly: Then you point out how the LRA would have prevented it? ;)
 
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Perfect! Got confirmation from Georg that it's necessary to chop. Prob brackets for the stock aux tank.

Seems a critical missing step that would have saved me wasting at couple hours as it's not easy to mount with the fitup of the tank filler I already installed.

It’s necessary to chop them? Damn, not looking forward to pulling the tank. Very critical missing step.

@OTRAMM - did you cut them? Didn’t look like they were gone in the last frame before you had the tank in.
 
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Rome wasn’t built in a day .......

We Cruiser Brothers ( Ward and myself ) started bringing in these LRA Tanks from Oz about a year ago.
We’ve always been impressed with the quality of the tanks but knew that the instructions would require some work, as well as a number of the tank kits requiring modifications to work on our US vehicles.
These tanks ( along with others from Oz ) have been brought into the US by other companies and plenty of individuals before Cruiser Brothers ever did. And NOBODY EVER wrote up proper “domestic” instructions or put much effort towards getting a number of these tanks reconfigured/modified to work on our domestic vehicles.
We have put a lot of time and effort into making these tanks available to our fellow cruiser enthusiasts and for other brands.
Are the instructions perfect? No. They’re not. Will they ever be? No. Because there’s no such thing as perfect when it comes to instructions.
But we’re constantly updating the existing instructions to make them better and more user friendly.
So if anybody out there who has purchased an LRA kit from us runs into an issue, please get in touch with us so we can figure out a fix and make sure that others won’t run into the same challenges.
In this case, Paul is the first one ( that we’re aware of ) to install an aux tank into an LX. Overall the install should be very similar if notidrntical to the 200, but until the install is complete we can’t guarantee that the instructions ( and tank fitment ) will be accurate.
The added body tabs mentioned above certainly appear to be for the factory aux tank ( not available in the US ) but we’re not sure if all 200/LXs have these or not. Either way, we will include this step in the instructions going forward.

Please keep sharing your info/input/issues with us and we’ll do our best to continue to make things better and bring more products like these to the US market.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids & Cruiser Brothers

Ps: just today we installed the FIRST LRA tank into a 4th gen 4-Runner. Plenty more “firsts” in the works.

439E968F-32AD-4E2B-8FC0-075A235E53B4.jpeg
 
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Rome wasn’t built in a day .......

We ( Ward and myself ) started Brothers being in the LRA Tanks from Oz about a year ago.
We’ve always been impressed with the quality of the tanks but knew that the instructions would require some work, as well as a number of the tank kits requiring modifications to work on our US vehicles.
These tanks ( along with others from Oz ) have been brought into the US by other companies and plenty of individuals before Cruiser Brothers ever did. And NOBODY EVER wrote up proper “domestic” instructions or put much effort towards getting a number of these tanks reconfigured/modified to work on our domestic vehicles.
We have put a lot of time and effort into making these tanks available to our fellow cruiser enthusiasts and for other brands.
Are the instructions perfect? No. They’re not. Will they ever be? No. Because there’s no such thing as perfect when it comes to instructions.
But we’re constantly updating the existing instructions to make them better and more user friendly.
So if anybody out there who has purchased an LRA kit from us runs into an issue, please get in touch with us so we can figure out a fix and make sure that others won’t run into the same challenges.
In this case, Paul is the first one ( that we’re aware of ) to install an aux tank into an LX. Overall the install should be very similar if notidrntical to the 200, but until the install is complete we can’t guarantee that the instructions ( and tank fitment ) will be accurate.

Please keep sharing your info/input/issues with us and we’ll do our best to continue make things better and bring more products like these to the US market.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids & Cruiser Brothers

Ps: just today we installed the FIRST LRA tank into a 4th gen 4-Runner. Plenty more “firsts” in the works.

View attachment 1868909
Wat Georg said. If you have a problem, bitch, suggestion or question, call us - we are both workaholics.

Georg is nicer and more technically competent. I am older and grumpy.

Current 200 instructions are attached. If you have a specific edit or addition to recommend, please email to us at info@cruiserbrothers.com.

This is a team sport and we cannot do this alone. Tomorrow, Georg and I will review the comments above and do what we can to make things better.

Thanks.
 

Attachments

  • 200 Series Tank Installation 8-x-18.pdf
    1.9 MB · Views: 211
@orangefj45 and @wardharris , thanks for being there for the support. Having been on the support end, I know it's not an easy task with the various configurations and variations in the model years out there. The after sale support is what makes all the difference.

The spirit of this thread (and forum), is to share and build a technical knowledge base on the install. So the next guy down the road will have knowledge and confidence. Perhaps even to tackle this as a DIY. Hope these pics posted can help with further instruction development.

That said, it wasn't too bad to lower the back end of the tank and zip them off with an air saw. Added a bit of paint after this pic.

lxlra10.jpg
 
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And onto the next challenge...

Being the first to do this in an LX, I expected some challenges (I'm up for it!) As already mentioned, around the dual filler neck is really tight. Lots of extra plumping, wiring, and an AHC reservoir/pump.

Found another minor issue where the aux-tank 5/8" vent line fouls the AHC resevoir, causing the line to kink. Other than being a tight space to work, it shouldn't be too bad. Will need to replaced the provided NPT 5/8" straight barb with a right angle barb. Hope I can find one in town tomorrow.

lxlra11.jpg
 
Thanks for taking the time to post your progress in such detail Paul!!!

Our partners at LRA sent us an assortment of fittings. If you can’t find any in locally, let me know and I’ll be happy yodig thru my stash and send the needed fitting your way.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids & Cruiser Brothers
 

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