Folding tank holder help

[bjlffire]

We would like to add some type of swing/drop down holder for or folding tank.

Any ideas, makers?

Thanks

[todd3603]

Try these

http://www.ziamatic.com/3000-pts.html

http://www.ziamatic.com/3000-HPTS.html

Just a couple solutions.

[npfd801]

Zico makes decent stuff, but they are not cheap. Keep that in mind.

Are you retrofitting an existing unit? I would check with the original builder to see what they can do. Carriers can be as simple as some welded and bent tubing to hold the tank, and are often cheaper and lighter that way, which is good if you aren't going to have a hydraulically operated unit to swing the unit up and down.

How big of a tank are you needing to carry?

[bjlffire]

Retro, adding 1800 gal to the side of our 2400gal 6x6.
We have a 12 inch shelf on both sides of the tank to mount/build the holder.
We would like to have it swing down, does not have to hydr/electric.

[Catch22]

Retro, adding 1800 gal to the side of our 2400gal 6x6.
We have a 12 inch shelf on both sides of the tank to mount/build the holder.
We would like to have it swing down, does not have to hydr/electric.

You might check and see if a local metal shop or fabrication shop could build you one cheaper. You might even have a guy or two on the department that can weld one up. Just find some extreme duty hinges (or make them) and get some measurements off your tank and what some department's around you might have.

That is, if you're looking for a cheaper way out.

[bjlffire]

We are deffinatly looking to build our own.
Just looking for some good examples.
We have some air actuating cylenders and were hoping to set up somthing like that zico swing down.

[Catch22]

We are deffinatly looking to build our own.
Just looking for some good examples.
We have some air actuating cylenders and were hoping to set up somthing like that zico swing down.

Just be careful with your cylinders. One aspect is are they strong enough to handle the weight of the tank. Another is syncronizing them. Everytime I think of cylinders I think of an incident that involved us changing over our electric cylinders (never did work right, not synced) over to hydraulic. One was hooked up right, the other wrong. Tested it with our bat cheif standing under it. Had it not recoiled half way down (bounced back up a few inches on its way down) he would have been hurt bad.

Like I say, look at some neighbors or some pictures of some available out there. Shouldn't be too hard to draw up a scetch of one and assemble.

[chiefengineer11]

One problem that you may find with air cylinders is the speed at which they act. It's almost instantaneous. I learned this when I converted the transfer valve on a Hale QLD pump from water pressure operation to air operation. It changes like - right now!. I tried putting various orifices in the line to slow it down, but they either didn't improve it, or it wouldn't work at all.

Maybe the fact that you'll be moving a larger amount of air and more weight will be factors in your favor. But it may also want to operate quickly going down and slowly going up.

I'd be interested to learn how this plays out for you.

Stay safe out there, everyone goes home!

[HSFDChief600]

We have a homemade rack built on our 2 1/2 Ton Tanker as seen in this picture. It is made out of square tubing. We used industrial hinges at the bottom and welded them to the edge of tanker body.

1977 AmGeneral 2 1/2ton Tanker 1250 gal tank with 2300 gal tank.