Gravity feed auxiliary fuel tank? Possible?

[bt24]

Is it possible to rig up a Gravity feed auxiliary fuel tank on the IS somehow?
I'm fixing to do a 2000 mile trip in September and would like to hook up something temporary and not to expensive for this trip. I Look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas!

Thank you
Bryan

[WintrSol]

It would have to be fairly high up, like a TourTank in place of the trunk. I can't think of any other place to put a tank that will work without a pump.

[bt24]

It would have to be fairly high up, like a TourTank in place of the trunk. I can't think of any other place to put a tank that will work without a pump.

I was thinking maybe on the back seat, I'll be gong solo on this trip. I gonna have to think on this one a little more...

[bt24]

It would have to be fairly high up, like a TourTank in place of the trunk. I can't think of any other place to put a tank that will work without a pump.

I was thinking maybe on the back seat, I'll be gong solo on this trip. I gonna have to think on this one a little more...

I'm using a Pingel petcock, if I ran a T into the main fuel line from the petcock, is there enough vacuum to pull fuel from a auxiliary tank on top of the passenger seat?

And would it just suck air when the auxiliary tank ran out? Or use a Shut off valve for auxiliary tank?

[Chrisj CMA]

If you want it temporary.  Just strap a 5 gallon tank ( like you were thinking) on the back seat and bring a siphon hose long enough to reach the main tank.  When you need it you will have to stop and transfer the gas, but if you are still between gas stations it beats walking.

[Steel cowboy]

I would not mess with the fuel line unless your installing a belly tank. With the amount of gas the I/S tank holds you should be over 200 ml. To a full tank. I'm getting 35 mpg with stock jets, but I'm not a throttle smacker. You could go with 2 spare plastic gas cans one in each saddle bag, A 1 gal. can is small enough to fit in the bags and easily removed too.

[bt24]

Thanks Chrisj CMA, WintrSol and Steel cowboy, yes I have a small 2gal that will fit on the back seat and yes I want to keep it simple, not really a fan of splicing anything into factory lines or wiring.
Thank you for your replies!  

[allanbegg]

We did a gravity feed tank on my son's Shadow Tourer last summer, for an Iron Butt ride.
We put a Tee just below the main tanks petcock and fed the third side of the Tee from the Aux tank.

Switch the Petcock to the Off position and the bike drained the Aux Tank first.
As soon as the bike started sputtering, switch the Petcock to the On position.
Bike then pulled fuel from the main tank.
As soon as the bike started sputtering, switch the Petcock to the Reserve position.

This allowed him to ride 250-275 miles without needing to stop and buy gas.

When filling back up, he just had to remember to switch the Petcock back to the Off position, to fill both tanks back up and not have the Aux tank back-feed the Main tank.

[Firefighter]

Brew1brew did it, rode with him and he had a neat tank set up on the rear rack. Could look him up (PM) him to find out how he did it. Haven't seen Les in here lately. Look him up in the members section.

[Grandpot]

With a 2,000 mile trip, your bags and trunk will be full of clothes and supplies.  Carrying another few gallons up on the seat will make the I/S even more top heavy than it is now.  I wouldn't do it.

[sandy]

In 5 cross country trips on a tourer, I never needed extra fuel except for once when I was towing a tent trailer getting 25 MPG. There is a 1 gallon spare tank that fits right in the rear of a saddlebag. Do a search on Amazon for it. Desertrefuge just bought one.

[ridingron]

The only time you have too much gas is when you're on fire.   

[97BLKVALK]

Theee was a Valk rider at Inzane Spearfish that had a tank on rack, i believe he was from Florida, didnt see him in WV or Billings this year.  Will try and find his name

Michael

[bt24]

Thank you everyone for all the comments and advice!

Bryan

[DarkSideR]

One more reply. RM Works makes a belly tank for the valkyrie (http://www.rmworksinc.com/Information.html) This pretty seamlessly adds 3 gallons of fuel down low for a better center of gravity. The only downside to this with the belly tank you will then rely on a fuel pump to feed the carbs. Which isn't much of a downside because the fuel pumps are very reliable. And you can do a roadside re-plumb back to gravity feed if the pump does quit.

MarkT did a conversion of the belly tank to pump fuel back up to the main tank, so that the plumbing remained gravity fed to the carbs from the main tank. Here's his write up (http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,84264.0.html)

Hope this helps.

DarkSider 

[bt24]

Thank you Darksider for your reply. I'll look and read into both of those links!
Thanks for posting those.

Bryan

[cheeseman1969]

I was at Inzane this year and have a extra tank on my standard. I can get 250+ out of it. I have it on a rack just behind the seat. I have it connected to a T in the main line. It was east to do. The fuel line loops under my seat too. It is gravity feed for about the first 2-5 gallons then I have a pump to do the rest. That is at 60 and above mph only and flat. Any hills and I have to turn the pump on. I have rigged up a switch for that and a switch for a dan marco too. When I run out of gas, I just flip both of them and the gas from my main tank does not run into the aug tank. I can post pictures if you want.  This whole setup was built by students at a local High School with the supervision of the teacher. He is a good friend. They are always looking for projects for the students to do and have built alot of things for me. I then got it painted by someone else. Oh the tank is made out of Aluminum too.

[bt24]

Thanks cheeseman,
I basically hooked a 2 1/2 gallon fuel jug up the same way you did but without a fuel pump. I also added into the line a quick disconnect and a inline fuel filter.
I used it yesterday for a trial run and it worked great, drained down to about four cups of fuel then turned that valve off and then turned the Pingal tank valve on!

I'll try and figure out how to post some photos on here soon!
Thanks for all the replays and suggestions,
Bryan

[bt24]

Thanks cheeseman,
I basically hooked a 2 1/2 gallon fuel jug up the same way you did but without a fuel pump. I also added into the line a quick disconnect and a inline fuel filter.
I used it yesterday for a trial run and it worked great, drained down to about four cups of fuel then turned that valve off and then turned the Pingal tank valve on!

I'll try and figure out how to post some photos on here soon!
Thanks for all the replays and suggestions,
Bryan