Cruiser Brothers 12.5 LRA Aux Tank Install in LX570

[TeCKis300]

Ordered the elbow fitting from Amazon and it should get here tomorrow. In the mean time, been working on mounting the electrical and it's coming along nicely. Not too bad. 4 wires for the aux tank controller - 12V, Gnd, Aux sender, transfer pump. Will have more pics of that when I put things back together.

On the topic of hoisting up the tank. I initially used a transmission jack. Found it much easier to use nylon rope at each of the 3 mounts. This allowed good control to position it where it needed to go. I doubled the rope over each frame rail twice for added mechanical advantage to hoist and tie off safely.

 

[orangefj45]

That’s a cool idea! Gives you plenty of control and you can easily handle it as a one-man-band.

 

[TeCKis300]

Everything's now in place. A problem and this one not so easy to solve.

I had someone clue me in to check the clearance against the charcoal canister. It's definitely contacting. I've shimmed the whole tank down by 1/4" with some aluminum stock. That's about as much that is possible with the length of the U-bolts. Still, it's contacting but probably just barely. Which means there's still inadequate clearance for general movement.

Any thoughts?

 

[grinchy]

Put something squishy in there, like felt furniture feet or rubber bumpers?

Have you pulled the charcoal canister to see if it can be mounted more tightly to the body?

 

[TeCKis300]

EDIT: new tanks from LRA have been updated to avoid this issue - Cruiser Brothers 12.5 LRA Aux Tank Install in LX570

Thanks grinchy. Bumpers won't help as there's just simply no clearance. Even to slip something in-between.

This is what it looks like shimmed 1/4" already. Full contact.

Tank down, 3rd time. I was able to work the stock charcoal canister bracketing to move it within the body rails and raise it up 1/2". Will have pics of that tomorrow. Hopefully that's all the clearance I'll need.

 

[TeCKis300]

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.

View attachment 1868994

Here's the breather line from the aux tank reworked with an elbow 5/8" Barb x 3/8" Male Pipe fitting. Much better and resolved all clearance issues. LRA might as well replace the straight fitting with the elbow as it'll then work for LC and LX.

 

[TonyP]

I wonder if the LX's carbon can sits lower than the LC, a special scenario, or if everyone's carbon can is rubbing.

 

[TeCKis300]

Transfer pump location is tight with all the AHC plumbing. Here's where I mounted it. Just clears everything in that spot.

All plumbing around the filler neck in. Snakes nest anyone? Took some effort but it's all there.

 

[TeCKis300]

I wonder if the LX's carbon can sits lower than the LC, a special scenario, or if everyone's carbon can is rubbing.

Unfortunately, I believe it's the latter. Someone with an LC clued me into checking it as they were experiencing issues.

 

[MTKID]

Would a 1” body lift alleviate the conflicting spot or is height not the issue. Or is the CC connected to the frame instead of the body?

Just thinking about both of these upgrades.

 

[Markuson]

Would a 1” body lift alleviate the conflicting spot or is height not the issue. Or is the CC connected to the frame instead of the body?

Just thinking about both of these upgrades.

The tank doesn’t attach to the body.
Just the frame.

 

[MTKID]

The tank doesn’t attach to the body.
Just the frame.

Right, I know the tank attaches to the frame. I was referring to the charcoal canister. Just thought a 1” BL would eliminate this from touching the tank as noted above.

edit: I certainly wouldn’t do the BL just for this but thought it may eliminate the issue if these two mods were both done on the same truck.

 

[TeCKis300]

Would a 1” body lift alleviate the conflicting spot or is height not the issue. Or is the CC connected to the frame instead of the body?

Just thinking about both of these upgrades.

That would most definitely do the trick and I have toyed with the idea. Not just for the tank but as a better "lift" for my AHC vehicle while keeping the center of gravity low and while getting some of the body elements higher.

 

[TeCKis300]

Thanks grinchy. Bumpers won't help as there's just simply no clearance. Even to slip something in-between.

This is what it looks like shimmed 1/4" already. Full contact.

View attachment 1871462

Tank down, 3rd time. I was able to work the stock charcoal canister bracketing to move it within the body rails and raise it up 1/2". Will have pics of that tomorrow. Hopefully that's all the clearance I'll need.

Declaring success. Not that it wasn't a battle though. 5 tank drops later... ~.5" clearance underneath and added a .25" neoprene bumper.

Clearances are very tight so it took multiple iterations to get it just right to my satisfaction. I was able to move the charcoal canister up by ~.75". Which involved moving the whole canister over to the drivers side by ~1.25" to better clear the body rail above the canister. Also have to be sure not the move it any further aft and preferably ~.125" forward.

Bad picture, but this is how I reworked the bracket on the driver side. Star marks where I re-drilled a hole in the upper body bracket and added a bolt and nut.

Wasn't able to get a final pic of the passenger side mount but this will give you an idea. Remade stock bracket out of angle stock. Then used a horizontal bar to support the mount that was moved over 1.25" and shimmed up 1/4". This was an earlier effort but the 1/4" stock and 1/4" bolt head was too thick and would contact the tank. So remade it out of 1/8" stock and a low profile bolt head. Yes, clearances are that tight.

 

[TonyP]

Hopefully .5" clearance is enough. The amount of body vs frame flex, through the body mounts, over rough roads like corregations can be suprising.

 

[TeCKis300]

Hopefully .5" clearance is enough. The amount of body vs frame flex, through the body mounts, over rough roads like corregations can be suprising.

I think so as general clearance of the tank is about .5" everywhere else. I suspect that relative body to frame motions are more minimal within the core of the car, vice at the extremities like bumpers. Somewhat like a seesaw where verticle displacement is more extreme at the ends.

 

[TonyP]

That's a fair point. The deflection at the center (where the canister is) should be nominal.

 

[TeCKis300]

The deed is done. Install finished and everything tidied up. Went for a short drive and no noise or codes to speak of. Will try to get gas and fill her up tomorrow to see how that goes.

Here's what the interior aux tank controller looks like. A nice piece that is small and compact, that integrates aux tank level readout and the transfer pump switch. There's no blank switch spots to speak of in the LX. I hate drilling into the dash, especially one as nice as the one in the LX, but it's nice and discrete here.

 

[Markuson]

I hate drilling into the dash, especially one as nice as the one in the LX, but it's nice and discrete here.

View attachment 1874202

Drill baby drill!

 

[TeCKis300]

Tank filled. So weird being able to fill over 26 gallons!

The dual filler neck is pretty awesome. Skew the nozzle towards the tank you want to fill. Then re-position and fill the other tank.

Filling the main tank does seem a tad more sensitive, at least at the Costco pumps I always use. It clicked off twice. But there's occasions it does that with the stock setup too.

Aux tank fills great. Perhaps makes sense as it's a straight shot with a much larger breather line?

Aux tank controller level showing full now. It has a built in delay as it updates slowly within a couple minutes after fill. It's a feature to minimize fluctuations in the readout off-road. I like that the lighting responds to ambient lighting. All too often aftermarket controllers/lights have grossly bright illumination. Not this one.