Mounted 5# Powertank (pics)

5608 Views 17 Replies 11 Participants Last post by OregonX, Jul 29, 2006

OregonX

Discussion Starter · Jul 15, 2006

I ordered a 5 pound bottle package from Powertank last week. I also ordered the "Power 5" bracket and a Tire inflator tool.

I was sold on these things long before I bought the Xterra (jeep buddy has a 10# bottle). After seeing the cubby hole on drivers side of the rear cargo area, I thought that it would be the perfect place for a bottle. The only issue was that the cargo pocket recess in the sidewall doesn't allow you to screw the back of the bracket to anything. So, my dad help me cut up a piece of aluminum and I sanded and spray painted it. Then bolted it to the back of the bracket to form an extension. I was able to drill sheet metal screws through the top of the aluminum bracket extension plate to the plastic sidewall just above the cargo recess.

I was a little concerned that the heads of the sheet metal screws used to screw down the bottom of the bracket might scratch up the bottom of the bottle (it's too pretty...). I tried to find some rubber pieces to put on the bottom. My dad threw out the idea to cut up an old mousepad. Worked awesome. Here's the finished product;

Before I get flamed too much, let me tell you why I went with a 5# bottle instead of a 10# bottle. Ultimately it came down to the space and weight savings. According to my calculations, using my tire size and the bottle capacity, I should be able to air up all of my tires from 20psi down three times. That means a $9 tank fill should be good for 3 trips to our local dunes OHV park.

Even though I didn't hit any metal with the sheet metal screws, only plastic, this bracket is still pretty solid. I'll let you guys know if I have any problems with it.

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OregonX

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 17, 2006

dynamix said:
the first hole is the doozie, after that it gets easier.

He's absolutely right.

And yes, the hose reached all four tires no problem. The hose should reach 25 feet at full stretch.

I got to use the tank on Saturday after playing around at the State Dunes OHV park in Florence, Oregon. I was able to air up all of my tires from 20 psi down, as well as a TJ that was running 33x11.50s on a 15 inch wheel, and 3 of 4 tires on another TJ that was running 32x11.50s on 15s. There was another person there with a 10# bottle who was able to get the remaining tire in addition to his own rig.

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OregonX

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 17, 2006

Oh yeah... one more thing. If you're going to pony up the money for one of these things, get the package with the tire inflator/gauge tool. It's worth it.

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OregonX

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 19, 2006

FrankB said:
Looks good. The 5 lb. tank may have less capacity, but there is something to be said for not having it take up as much space. The lighter weight is probably easier to secure, also.

How well is the mounting holding up. Did you drill into the floor or just the side panel? Now that you have had it out, are the screws into just the plastic still holding. I'm still trying to figure a solid way to mount my 10 lb. tank.

There were 5 mounting holes on the bottom of the bracket which I used to drill 5 sheet metal screws through the plastic. The top is mounted to the sidewall with the 3 sheet metal screws that you can see in the picture, for a total of 8 scres.

When driving on rougher roads I can hear a little tiny bit of a vibration in the back. It appears to be the bottle vibrating within the bracket, and not the bracket itself. I'm going to try and add some small pieces of rubber to the inside of the metal bottle strap that runs across the middle of the bracket to see if that helps...

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OregonX

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jul 19, 2006

armandov99 said:
Looks awesome...is it possible to still use the sliding cover?

I'm not sure. I don't have the sliding cover.

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OregonX

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jul 29, 2006

OregonX said:
When driving on rougher roads I can hear a little tiny bit of a vibration in the back. It appears to be the bottle vibrating within the bracket, and not the bracket itself. I'm going to try and add some small pieces of rubber to the inside of the metal bottle strap that runs across the middle of the bracket to see if that helps...

**UPDATE**

It appears that vibrations I spoke of earlier (from bumps, rough roads, etc) were travelling up to the bottle/bracket and on to the weakest mounting point, which was of course, the plastic sidewall behind the top of the bracket. I was able to recreate the vibrations by pushing or pulling against the powertank handle and moving my hand real quick.

I think the vibrations were travelling to a spot in the plastic that was closer to the rear hatch, because I was able to muffle the vibrations if I put pressure against that spot with my hand.

I went to a local upholstery shop and had them cut some pieces of grey colored foam (almost match the color of the plastic) to play around with. I cut a pieced to fill in the cubby hole behind the bracket. I thought that would help, but it really didn't seem to do a whole lot.

What finally stopped the vibrations was this...

Yup, a big piece of foam wedged between the handle and the bracket. Luckily, I don't think it's too much of an eye sore.

Regardless of the vibrations, this thing is still pretty sturdy. I've had it over some rough terrain and jarred it pretty hard. The bracket hasn't budged.

That being said, however, I would have my doubts about mounting a 10# tank in this manner. I'm not even sure it would fit in this spot. Plus, the 10# bottle will add 7 lbs. in empty weight, and an additional 5 lbs. in C02 when full (that's not even taking into account the additional weight from a larger bracket). I think it needs to be mounted to something more solid than the plastic. But, there are some creative people on this board and I'm sure someone can figure it out.

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