Def tank

chrislcrews · January 5, 2017

Is this thing really hanging down that low like the pics suggest on the web or is that photoshopped??

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

revrnd · January 5, 2017

Yes it is. I remember the year DEF was added to the GM pickups. Someone posted that GM was going back to "side saddle" fuel tanks when talking about changes for the upcoming model year.

newdude · January 5, 2017

It is roughly level to the frame rail. The 2017 trucks look even stranger because they now have a legitimate skid plate on them that angles out towards the doors. Plus they are a 7 gallon tank for 2017 now.

KMGZ400 · January 5, 2017

people make it a bigger deal then it really is.. unless you are doing heavy offload it might be a problem but an overwhelming majority do not heavily offload a diesel truck.

Adamrg · January 5, 2017

people make it a bigger deal then it really is...

This is the internet, man. This is the place where people come to bitch about things that are a non issue, and unlikely scenarios.

KMGZ400 · January 5, 2017

This is the internet, man. This is the place where people come to bitch about things that are a non issue, and unlikely scenarios.

Amen to that

jerryw1000 · January 6, 2017

This is the internet, man. This is the place where people come to bitch about things that are a non issue, and unlikely scenarios.

Agreed.

revrnd · January 6, 2017

people make it a bigger deal then it really is.. unless you are doing heavy offload it might be a problem but an overwhelming majority do not heavily offload a diesel truck.

A person may not scrape the bottom of the tank when offroading, but I imagine logging "slash" could make short work in emptying a tank. Years ago I was driving down a forest access road & ran over a limb w/ the RF tire. It kicked up & hit the passenger door hard enough to dent it.

Hard to say how that impact would've affected an unprotected plastic tank, but you can add me to the list of people who thought it was dumb of GM to not protect the tank. An optional skid plate for the fuel tank(s) could be ordered on C/K trucks in the late 70s & early 80s. Back then the tanks were metal, not plastic.

sdeeter19555 · January 6, 2017

A person may not scrape the bottom of the tank when offroading, but I imagine logging "slash" could make short work in emptying a tank. Years ago I was driving down a forest access road & ran over a limb w/ the RF tire. It kicked up & hit the passenger door hard enough to dent it.

Hard to say how that impact would've affected an unprotected plastic tank, but you can add me to the list of people who thought it was dumb of GM to not protect the tank. An optional skid plate for the fuel tank(s) could be C/K trucks in the late 70s & early 80s. Back then the tanks were metal, not plastic.

I would have peeled the bottom open with the piece of metal road debris I hit in Chicago on I80. Doesn't have to be offroad...

I don't know why they don't tuck it up under the large void between the box and the bedside, under the rail, in front of the passenger rear tire...out of sight, out of harms way. Maybe it's because they offer a chassis cab, and that wouldn't be an option without the bed? I mounted a Gulf Coast bypass filter there on a Dodge and it made good use of that wasted space.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Cowpie · January 8, 2017

Makes one wonder why a 7 gallon tank. Not like they use a lot of DEF. Heavy truck doing OTR work have 21 gallon DEF tanks, but they go thru a gallon of the stuff every 300-500 miles on those bigger engines that use a lot more fuel. Seems a bit of overkill to have a 7 gallon DEF tank on a pickup. Not like DEF is hard to find. Considering the off road use that many of the HD pickups do in construction, farm/ranch, etc, having a DEF tank hanging down there is pretty stupid. Cut it down in size and it will not stick out like a sore thumb in both function and looks.

And it really can be had easily at a pretty decent price. I stopped in to my local Mack truck dealer lube shop to get the oil changed in my semi, and they had DEF for $1.89 a gallon. They will fill any vehicle that pulls in from their bulk tank. Don't even have to drive in the shop, they will run the hose out the door and fill up a pickup DEF tank just outside the shop door.

redwngr · January 8, 2017

A person may not scrape the bottom of the tank when offroading, but I imagine logging "slash" could make short work in emptying a tank. Years ago I was driving down a forest access road & ran over a limb w/ the RF tire. It kicked up & hit the passenger door hard enough to dent it.

Hard to say how that impact would've affected an unprotected plastic tank, but you can add me to the list of people who thought it was dumb of GM to not protect the tank. An optional skid plate for the fuel tank(s) could be ordered on C/K trucks in the late 70s & early 80s. Back then the tanks were metal, not plastic.

There may be a risk, but the active diesel forums started talking about this when def was introduced with the LML for the 2011 MY.

There was someone making a metal plate for under the '11 (which originally didn't even have the current plastic cover.) Might still be available, but don't seem to be posts about installing them anymore.

Despite the doom and gloom internet predictions failures are not being reported. (if they are, they are rare)

Probably better that cover and tank are plastic so they can deflect rather than dent/puncture.

X25 · January 8, 2017

As far as I've seen from the review videos, '17+ models now have a metal cage and a plastic cover on the top of it. It's still sticking out, but at least it's now protected.