Great Experience - RDS Aluminum

[wolfman00hd]

Just wanted to pass on the great ordering experience I had with RDS Aluminum. I have been in the "research" stage for a while for an auxiliary toolbox/fuel tank combo but couldn't swallow the $1500 and up tags I was seeing everywhere I looked. As much as I wanted a Transferflow setup, just couldn't swallow the cost. After researching the tanks offered by Northern Tool, I figured I'd go w/them. Snafu #1, Northern Tool couldn't offer the tank I wanted in a powdercoated form. I called RDS directly and dealt w/Ray Veal. What a great guy. I ordered everything I needed from him, w/the powdercoat option and the shipping was 1/3 the cost of what Northern wanted to ship the same tank. Now I just have to count the days till the tank arrives. Just wanted to pass on the great experience and say that Ray is the guy to talk to if you need something from RDS.

 

[LightmanE300]

Well I hate to bring you down from your cloud, but you that you should have just ordered from northern tool. I went the same route you did with RDS getting the black powdercoated 51 gal tool/tank combo. Well their 'powdercoating' is a total joke. It's nothing more than some really easy to chip black paint. ANYTHING that bumps into the tank is gonna chip the black powdercoat, and you'll see the silver diamond plate showing through. I didn't have mine long before it was looking like crap, and I didn't like always having to be careful around it.



My first RDS tank was defective, the welds broke on the tabs that hold the tank down, which they replaced under warranty, and changed the design. There used to be two tabs up front. Now there is one up front and one on each side for more stability.



Wolfman if you can I'd cancel your order or have them charge you less and sell you the silver one. Since I originally bought a black powdercoated box, they replaced it with the same. Well before installing I took it right down to my local line-x shop, and had it stripped and line-x'ed. I'm happy to report it's fantastic, and matches the bed perfectly. NO more worrying about bumping/chipping , or having to wash it with the truck so it looks nice. I highly recommend this - they charged me $100 out the door.



A word of caution - RDS does NOT clean their tanks - they simply hook them up to a high pressure vacuum. I've talked with them a few times about it and they don't seem concerned. Well let me tell you, I have a 2 micron racor filter plumbed between the RDS and my main tank, and both times I installed the tanks I plugged the filter to the point it wouldn't even flow. The second tank clogged 2 filters... both full of dark metal shavings etc. . Disgusting.



Let me know if you need any tips on installation or plumbing it. Overall I'm really glad I went this route. Including line-x, racor, tank, and all installation fittings, I was under $600.



Hope this info helps!

 

[wolfman00hd]

Thanks for the heads up. I emailed them and they said they'll just ship the aluminum one and credit me for the pcoating. I can't believe I didn't think of that. I would just as soon do this any way since I got my bed done right up the road. What type of install did you do as far as feeding your main tank? After some thinking, I went w/the gravity feed Northern sells but I do like the idea of filtering out of the aux tank. But if I gravity feed, won't my normal filter take care of anything as long as I give it a good cleaning/flushing when it gets here before I install to take care of any initial crap? Also, what did your install consist of timewise and R/R wise? I was gonna try and do the install when I had my tank out for the vent bomb anyways to make it as painless as possible.

 

[robertyoke]

I can't say about the powder coat as I got the silver one, but it was made well and it was clean on the inside enough to not require frequent filter changes unlike the stock dc tank which has turned the filter black after 7500 miles on both my trucks. I did have a problem with the pick up that was in the tank, it fell off and was a ***** to get it out of the tank. but that was easy to fix once out of the tank.

-robert

 

[LightmanE300]

Thanks for the heads up. I emailed them and they said they'll just ship the aluminum one and credit me for the pcoating. I can't believe I didn't think of that. I would just as soon do this any way since I got my bed done right up the road. What type of install did you do as far as feeding your main tank? After some thinking, I went w/the gravity feed Northern sells but I do like the idea of filtering out of the aux tank. But if I gravity feed, won't my normal filter take care of anything as long as I give it a good cleaning/flushing when it gets here before I install to take care of any initial crap? Also, what did your install consist of timewise and R/R wise? I was gonna try and do the install when I had my tank out for the vent bomb anyways to make it as painless as possible.

Glad you could change your order in time! Seeing that you have a spray in liner already, and the box is flush with the bed rails, it'll blend right in.



I have mine set up via gravity feed. I didn't buy any kit, there really aren't many parts necessary. You just need a ball valve for the drain, some hose, and the T to tap into the 3/4"ID overflow tubing. Basically I go from the ball valve to a 90 degree fitting straight down thru the bed to the racor filter (model 120b), then from the filter to the T in the overflow tube. Simple and very effective. To be honest I don't think the stock filter will catch all the stuff the little 2 micron racor will, but flushing and cleaning it out beforehand will probably take care of anything in there to be honest. I should have done that the second time, but I was lazy and relied on my double filtration. I will say that my stock filter did become clogged as well - although those without a fuel pressure gauge probably wouldn't notice as the truck ran fine... but moderate acceleration was pulling me down to 0-1psi, and immediately upon changing the filter I'm back up to 7psi and maybe 6 under accel. Point made - they are dirty how they ship from RDS.



The install was easy - it took about an hour. It won't make any difference at all if your tank is dropped or not, you really aren't hindered by it in any way when accessing the filler neck vent tube.

 

[Ron Civita]

I have the 51 gallon Tool/Fuel combo tank. I also got the RDS kit. I know there's not much to it - just made it easier for me to get the kit.

I used one of those clear plastic fuel filters from Discount Auto. Put it a few inches after the ball valve in bed.

I covered the ball valve and filter with a half piece of 4" plastic 90* elbow. Did that just to keep the sun and weather off.



The sealant RDS puts between the tool/fuel boxes was sloppy. There were gaps. I had to re-do this. Also, the latches were poorly aligned so I re-aligned the latches.



The right small aluminum piece used for bolting the box down was not positioned equally with the one on the left. The right one was about 3" farther back than the one on the left. I planned my drilling off the left piece (assuming the right side was the same). When I drilled thru for the right side, I was on top of a cross piece. under the bed. So I had to re-drill the hole which is now near the front edge of the bolt down piece. The hole just misses the cross member and I was able to bolt it down.



All in all I am satisfied with the RDS tool/fuel combo. It's the best value I could find.



Lightman, where did you get the Racor filter (120B) ???



Thanks, Ron

 

[LightmanE300]

Ron, the racor 120AS filter (s=2 micron) setup is widely available on the internet, and the B replacement filter is just longer with a better flow rate. I didn't realize I had as much room as I did after installing, and was easily able to accomodate the larger 'b' filter. It's next to impossible to buy a 120B from the start unless you special order it. West Marine and a lot of marine places sell 120A's online.

 

[Ron Civita]

Lightman:



Thanks for the info.



Ron

 

[LightmanE300]

Ron - no problem. Here's a pic of my Racor installed. FYI the filter in the pic is the smaller, 120A. You can see the shorter element the r12as in the pic. The 120B filter fits the same head as mentioned, however is longer with a 20gph flow rate compared to 10. The 120B filter element is a R13AS instead of 12.



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Here's a pic of the T into the overflow tube.



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[Ron Civita]

Lightman:



Great photos. I made copies. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Thanks much. I hope to be able to tackle this project within the next three weeks.



The RDS kit plumbs into the 1 1/2" filler rubber tube.



Thanks again, Ron.

 

[LightmanE300]

No prob Ron happy to help.