Side-mount Jerry can holders

[Black Dog]

Exactly - my notes say the upper Dalton was 240 miles without a gas station. There is one enormous mountain pass where you'll be burning lots gas, but other than that it's a wide, flat gravel road. The speed limit is also only around 40mph, so you'll get good mileage.

As for camping - I would highly, highly, highly recommended it. The whole reason to be up in Alaska is the amazing scenery, and being "out in it" is the best way to experience it. You'll see a lot more cool stuff, and save a ton of money. Also, you won't have to stay in towns, which is always my preference.
Also remember the sun will be up from ~4am to ~1am, depending on what time of year you come and how far north you go.

That being said, be prepared for horrendous mosquitoes - at least a thousand times worse than you can even imagine.

-Dan

I'll bet gas is expensive out there just because its the middle of nowhere, so you might save some money by bring cheaper gas from Fairbanks. When you think about it, you'll have 10 gallons on the sides, 10 gallons on the back hatch, and 10+ gallons on the trailer. 30 gallons or more of spare fuel plus your full tank should take you a long way. Is an LJ a 20 gallon tank or is it smaller? That should get you close to 600 miles at 12mpg.

 

[Dan Grec]

I'll bet gas is expensive out there just because its the middle of nowhere, so you might save some money by bring cheaper gas from Fairbanks. When you think about it, you'll have 10 gallons on the sides, 10 gallons on the back hatch, and 10+ gallons on the trailer. 30 gallons or more of spare fuel plus your full tank should take you a long way. Is an LJ a 20 gallon tank or is it smaller? That should get you close to 600 miles at 12mpg.

I paid $3.99 USD/Gal up at Prudhoe Bay, but that was back in 2009. Its more than that right now here in Whitehorse (Canada).

Also, they have their own refinery in Prudhoe, so I doubt it's insanely expensive anyway.

After my 40,000 mi drive I thought long and hard about bringing extra gas to save money when swapping countries etc.
The more I think about it, the more I know it's not worth it. For all that extra hassle, gas on your hands, the added weight, securing the jerries etc. etc. You might save $20 or $40 max.

Even if you saved $100, that's a fraction of your entire lower 48->AK and back trip, which takes minimum 2 weeks, more like a month or two.

It's easy to spot tourists on the Alaska highway - they're in the vehicles heavily loaded with at least 2 jerries of water and 2 of gas. Completely unnecessary.

-Dan

 

[jscherb]

I don't care about the cost at all, but I don't want to be stranded somewhere without gas. If it was only to save money I wouldn't ever bother carrying extra gas, it's only about not having to worry about getting to the next gas station.

 

[Howski]

I don't know what kind of wheeling you do but I would not feel comfortable with that thing hanging out there like that. As others have mentioned it seems like it could easily get tagged on a rock and if you got in a side-impact collision it would not be a good situation. You mentioned you didn't want it on the roof because of parking garages. Do you carry your jerry cans around with you all the time?

 

[jscherb]

I don't know what kind of wheeling you do but I would not feel comfortable with that thing hanging out there like that. As others have mentioned it seems like it could easily get tagged on a rock and if you got in a side-impact collision it would not be a good situation. You mentioned you didn't want it on the roof because of parking garages. Do you carry your jerry cans around with you all the time?

I only carry them when I'm on a long trip where gas stations might be harder to find and I might need the extra range. I do not want cans on the roof. The off-pavement driving I do is mostly things like forest-service roads, Colorado mountain pass trails (see the photo at Tincup pass I posted earlier), I don't do any rock-crawling or difficult trails, so the risk of the cans getting hung up on something is very small. I know that mounting cans on the side wouldn't be for everyone, but for my usage it is a good solution.

Since there seems to be a lot of objection to this mounting position why don't we end this thread now, sorry I brought it up.

 

[Jim K in PA]

Jeff - nice work as always. I have a similar design planned out for mounting my two scepter water cans. However, I want to stabilize the top of the can to reduce vibration and inertia induced movement. That will require an upper mounting bracket and drilling into the tub. I am curious to see how your support system handles the load of a filled water can. I am sure it will be fine for 90% of your intended use.

Dan - how many of the "tourists" are actually carrying anything in those cans? LOL - tough to tell the posers from the real travelers sometimes.

Jeff-one other point I STRONGLY agree with you on - I would rather carry one extra 5 gallon jerry can 1000 miles on my Jeep than have to carry one full can 1 mile by hand.

 

[brushogger]

Hater's gonna' hate man! Keep the ideas coming. You have an amazing imagination and the fab skills to back it up. I like the way it matches with the safari type top, and the fact it is easily removable. It's just another option for carrying fuel. There is no one Best way to carry extra fuel. It depends on how the vehicle is used and where. It wouldn't work well for me, but it would be great in a desert environment.

 

[brushogger]

Jeff - nice work as always. I have a similar design planned out for mounting my two scepter water cans. However, I want to stabilize the top of the can to reduce vibration and inertia induced movement. That will require an upper mounting bracket and drilling into the tub. I am curious to see how your support system handles the load of a filled water can. I am sure it will be fine for 90% of your intended use.

Dan - how many of the "tourists" are actually carrying anything in those cans? LOL - tough to tell the posers from the real travelers sometimes.

Jeff-one other point I STRONGLY agree with you on - I would rather carry one extra 5 gallon jerry can 1000 miles on my Jeep than have to carry one full can 1 mile by hand.

THIS! Even in the lower 48 there are times extra fuel will save your bacon. Finding fuel can be an issue at 1:00 am in Wy, Mt, etc. I have been surprised at the number of small towns in Arkansas with stores that have no pumps. Then there are those that close early and don't have card enabled pumps.

 

[Dools]

Carry fuel. I have gone to towns in the Yukon where I knew there was a gas station and they were out or closed. Heck, I have had this happen in BC.

I did close to 5,000 km though AK from the Yukon this summer and I was required to put gas in 3 times and one time I came very close to getting caught with two cans empty and none in the tank cause the gas station not being where I thought it would be.

For comparison, I was in a 03 Rubi on 33's pulling a M101 with RTT. You should take Grecy's proposal to explore around Whitehorse, endless mining roads to explore with some great end locations! I have seen folks doing the round the world or north to south adventure and thought about inviting them to go exploring cause I bet alot just go through the Yukon on the AK hwy.

Also, love your fabrication skills, if it works for you post it up, cause there is someone else thinking of the same idea but maybe not as far along!

 

[Black Dog]

I second (third...fourth) the carrying of at least one or two cans of fuel. This was my own dumb fault, but I came this close >< to having to walk not long ago up here and that was just because I kept procrastinating stopping for gas on my work commutes. My truck holds 32 gallons of fuel and I put in just shy of 32.5 gallons at the station nearest to my house about 8 miles away on the day I finally decided my low fuel light was on long enough (I'm suprised my truck even started and made it to the gas station). Imagine if you were somewhere even more remote in northern Alaska or Canada or somewhere, those extra 5 or 10 gallons could seriously make the difference.

 

[onebowtiedguy]

FWIW on the holder version of this project

After owning both blitz holders(almost 100% sure that is the one shown for this build commonly red in color) and real mill-spec holders(commonly olive drab in color) there is very little in common as far as quality and steel thicknes goes. Blitz is very thin. The military ones are " BETTER" but at times more expensive and harder to locate. Both new surplus ones,& older vintage ones are stamped with numbers either on the front or bottom. Blitz has no stamp anywhere. if you plan on a lot of off highway travel I suggest spending the time and money locating real military holders especially if it is mounted using only the backside, not bottom mounts and you use a 20L not 10L military style jerry can.
Blitz Holder is 1/16"-3/64 thick
Real Military Spec is 5/64"-3/32" thick
That is a big difference. Thought I'd share this info with anyone mounting fuel cans anywhere on a vehicle that will be cruising the backcountry rough/bumpy roads.

 

[hansonian]

I'm digging the side cans. I've had a couple times in my Jeep where a few extra gallons would have come in handy. I'd be interested in seeing how they connect to the frame if you wouldn't mind showing it. Keep up the awesome work!

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

I have been considering roto-pax myself. I don't like the big swing out gates either and I am considering a fender mount. They are much thinner and lighter that the NATO cans.

Like the exogate I had not seen those before.

 

[jscherb]

I have been considering roto-pax myself. I don't like the big swing out gates either and I am considering a fender mount. They are much thinner and lighter that the NATO cans.

When I was doing the original design I did a concept photo/mockup showing a Roto-Pax container on the side mount. It would be easy to do. Apologies for the poor photo I used for the concept mockup . The Roto-Pax containers are narrow enough that they probably wouldn't stick out past the flares.

Like the exogate I had not seen those before.

It really strengthens the tailgate. Bolts into all factory holes, no drilling, includes heavy-duty hinges that are greaseable/rebuildable, and allows carrying much larger/heavier spares and other accessories, here's a shot of the basic Exogate installed on my very dirty Jeep:

And a shot of the Exogate with a cargo rack installed:

 

[jscherb]

After owning both blitz holders(almost 100% sure that is the one shown for this build commonly red in color) and real mill-spec holders(commonly olive drab in color) there is very little in common as far as quality and steel thicknes goes. Blitz is very thin. The military ones are " BETTER" but at times more expensive and harder to locate. Both new surplus ones,& older vintage ones are stamped with numbers either on the front or bottom. Blitz has no stamp anywhere. if you plan on a lot of off highway travel I suggest spending the time and money locating real military holders especially if it is mounted using only the backside, not bottom mounts and you use a 20L not 10L military style jerry can.
Blitz Holder is 1/16"-3/64 thick
Real Military Spec is 5/64"-3/32" thick
That is a big difference. Thought I'd share this info with anyone mounting fuel cans anywhere on a vehicle that will be cruising the backcountry rough/bumpy roads.

Which is why I wrote this in the first post in this thread:

Here's a view without the Jerry can. I'm not sure if I'll stick with these sheet metal Jerry can mounts or if I'll fabricate something; the sheet metal ones do flex a bit more than I'd like.