Fuel Cell Mounting (YJ)

Dawnpatrol

Jesse Higgins
Joined
Apr 25, 2016
Location
Raleigh
I picked up a fuel cell from motobilt with their mounts. The base mount is 1/8" steel plate. I plan on bolting it to the back of my YJ behind the back seat. Is it best to hard mount the base plate straight to the floor of the jeep, or would it be beneficial to use rubber isolators between the mounting base plate and the floor?

Also is there any concern with not using a rubber liner/buffer between the aluminum fuel cell and the steel mounts? (similar to how the factory uses a rubber liner between the plastic tank and the skid)
 
Mine has rubber isolators, no rubber between the tank and cradle. I would say you really need the isolators.
74E3065C-1DA4-4C50-B33F-EA9B7413A055.jpeg
 
If the tank cradle is snug: rubber mount the cradle with a flexible rubber. I like the bolt in studded one's. If the cradle has any slip: shim with a higher durameter rubber (stiff) and still isolate the mount.
You don't want the tank to distort. And you don't want stress on the cradle that would in turn distort the tank.

I associate a fuel cell like mounting drive train. Its all got to be exceptionally rigid....dang near impossible....or it has to have well planned forgiveness.
 
I didn't isolate mine from the tub but I added foam gasket material where the mount touched the cell. Not saying it's right but there's quite a few of his cells out now that are bolted straight to the floor, mine included. I did weld in some 1/8" flat bar to the floor for reinforcement, can sorta see it in the pic.

F1w-pFIMf5AqQ-X9Q4bB9Vm6XRTNH0qUKSxBezlU4ryzkB2y8DqgWXmvRp91q3kuh7TGMAGrDZj_IxNF_tpjGsFVuMTbmEUKt2lw3NtC4yQnI70mBRfLdIFsfG_E71slewlvrpZOPpraPhPSC0Ax5kn6Km4pZQG0-Fy1D33DSZ9supoBCqc1-V-wdJ_ZGF09OWrr0INBdOEbWgokt-3veJvFL8vaQV1KAclZjmAn9enUDO6C3IGFsuYYryV7myMUMdjul-QEmFdwnjVaffvmAeelsRXnTYCBS5fwpHSZiHwnWh0RNr5EhbVny5frK1cEBDTGRDKgkL9BN5zem_6Yx0937MWMDjwGgjFywvHxloqSal5xnqltKdsdDFnqEbTB3UsSRTcbchKvnzXdw6tmMLTY4CjOaz1uANYUqu-BW3nMu9KWaDjqsGs1saBqT56W7qqLwuOlDWENpwWtiVF9r0f4lXZwJHQlOTuaThIo7brsATUMusg2qhWwFu9CxD2Pp0vEKr4n8PTOHK9IQl96gTwh5XJsdf55baCxFucUjDyD4JuXNt_OIm-scYi_CYP-F2sp5-mB1QtlK-jRaoWVCFKgV4bCl8-jEFghYqF1oo454Ni6kR2CwNqWEgthaupiELmPBThUQxC-bBVqhqSU-ORT5-AtVT0=w1680-h818-no
 
Chris_Keziah said:
I didn't isolate mine from the tub but I added foam gasket material where the mount touched the cell. Not saying it's right but there's quite a few of his cells out now that are bolted straight to the floor, mine included. I did weld in some 1/8" flat bar to the floor for reinforcement, can sorta see it in the pic.

F1w-pFIMf5AqQ-X9Q4bB9Vm6XRTNH0qUKSxBezlU4ryzkB2y8DqgWXmvRp91q3kuh7TGMAGrDZj_IxNF_tpjGsFVuMTbmEUKt2lw3NtC4yQnI70mBRfLdIFsfG_E71slewlvrpZOPpraPhPSC0Ax5kn6Km4pZQG0-Fy1D33DSZ9supoBCqc1-V-wdJ_ZGF09OWrr0INBdOEbWgokt-3veJvFL8vaQV1KAclZjmAn9enUDO6C3IGFsuYYryV7myMUMdjul-QEmFdwnjVaffvmAeelsRXnTYCBS5fwpHSZiHwnWh0RNr5EhbVny5frK1cEBDTGRDKgkL9BN5zem_6Yx0937MWMDjwGgjFywvHxloqSal5xnqltKdsdDFnqEbTB3UsSRTcbchKvnzXdw6tmMLTY4CjOaz1uANYUqu-BW3nMu9KWaDjqsGs1saBqT56W7qqLwuOlDWENpwWtiVF9r0f4lXZwJHQlOTuaThIo7brsATUMusg2qhWwFu9CxD2Pp0vEKr4n8PTOHK9IQl96gTwh5XJsdf55baCxFucUjDyD4JuXNt_OIm-scYi_CYP-F2sp5-mB1QtlK-jRaoWVCFKgV4bCl8-jEFghYqF1oo454Ni6kR2CwNqWEgthaupiELmPBThUQxC-bBVqhqSU-ORT5-AtVT0=w1680-h818-no
Click to expand...
Can you elaborate on the "foam gasket material"? Was it just a sheet of gasket material that you cut into the shape you needed, and did you do it to prevent the wear of the softer aluminium against the steel?
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
If the tank cradle is snug: rubber mount the cradle with a flexible rubber. I like the bolt in studded one's. If the cradle has any slip: shim with a higher durameter rubber (stiff) and still isolate the mount.
You don't want the tank to distort. And you don't want stress on the cradle that would in turn distort the tank.

I associate a fuel cell like mounting drive train. Its all got to be exceptionally rigid....dang near impossible....or it has to have well planned forgiveness.
Click to expand...
I think I'm going to try and find some of the studded ones like you mentioned, if not I can grab some simple rubber spacers similar to the ones used for shocks.
 
Dawnpatrol said:
Can you elaborate on the "foam gasket material"? Was it just a sheet of gasket material that you cut into the shape you needed, and did you do it to prevent the wear of the softer aluminium against the steel?
Click to expand...

It was some foam gasket you can get off McMaster Carr. It came in sheet form with adhesive on one side. We had some left over at work. Mainly did it to prevent the steel from gouging into the aluminum.
 
They are just two different ways to do the roughly the same thing, if you're just worried about the mount damaging the tank. Either you isolate the motion of the tank within the compliant mount with something that prevents them fretting against each other, or you rigid-attach the tank to the compliant mount and just shift the relative motion of the heavy ass tank/mount into the AV mounts so it all moves as one unit.

Both of those bent sheet metal mounts (posted above) are fairly flexible, relatively speaking.. Flexible enough to allow the tank to potentially be damaged without something to solve the relative motion problem, at least in certain contact areas. Heavy tank and flexible mount means that something is going to move.

For that type of sheet metal mount, you can also bond the mount to the tank, if the mount and the tank are both inexpensive enough to replace at the same time if that's ever needed.
 
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You definitely want something in between the tank and the strap/floor to prevent abrasion over time. Rigid mounted or rubber mounted. Tar paper would be sufficient if you are rigid mounting. Something just so that the two metals do not directly contact each other and eventually friction wear a hole. All factory tank straps I've seen have either a plastic or rubber liner where they contact the tank, and the top side against the body had a similar material, or coating.
 
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