Fitting a fuel tank guard

[jcwcooper]

I bought a fuel tank guard from Paddocks last week and surprise surprise no destructions so I’ve made some for people to read if they get stuck, It was a little more time consuming than I originally thought but that’s life so here goes.

First job is too remove the sill/rock slider I have a pair rock sliders so its just a case of removing the bolt that goes through the front outrigger. Use a hammer to tap the rock slider out of the rear part of the chassis.

once removed it should look something like this.

Next job is too take the long bracket that fits along the side of the fuel tank and offer it up, I had tones of Wiltshire stuck to the side of the tank which needed to come off to get the bracket to sit square. This bracket is held on with 2 bolts (picture above under the landy)…….and is held here.

God knows how you are supposed too attach the second bolt because I couldn’t get my fingers in let alone a spanner.

Pop a bolt in with a washer as the pic above

Tighten the bolt up and line up the little loop which the bolt for the out rigger goes through (far right under the door hinge) If you have rocksliders/treesliders don’t forget to leave about 2-3mm for the rockslider mounting.

Next job is too fit the bracket with the big hole in it. It attaches at the rear where the rockslider slides into, just under the fuel filler. I applied plenty of cooper slip too the back to stop it sticking if it ever needs to be removed, offer the bracket up and then get another bolt nut and two washers and pop it though the small hole at the top.

Next job is too attach that bracket to the one we bolted on first. Just too nuts to do up here using a 17mm spanner, thankfully they are welded in on the one side to stop the slipping.

That’s the one side done. Now we need to undo two of the bolts that hold on the gearbox mount don’t remove them! Just slacken them of so there is 5mm play on the outer side to slip the next bracket on. They are here.

Next slide the bracket over the bolts and tighten them back up, we now need to take the long bolt with the steel sleeve.

This goes through here. It’s the large hole just too the side of the Transmission brake.

Tighten this bolt up and it should look like this.

Next we get too fit this! My god its heavy when you are trying to do 10 things at once.

Cooper slip the 4 allen key nuts that secure the guard to the first bracket we fitted.

Then tighten them up and it should look like this.

Plenty of cooper slip on the rockslider tube to help aid fitting and removal in the future.

Line it up. This is where we left that 2-3mm gap earlier…..this should make it a little easier to line up.

Been as I did this with just the one pair of hands I used the Highlift to hold up the rockslider…….You don’t need to jack it up far, its only holding the sill up, I also found I had no room too work if I used the jacking point on the sill.

Now we need to line up the bolt that goes though the outrigger, I gave up putting the bolt in the way it came out so I put it in backwards……from the wheel though as opposed to fuel tank to wheel, this made it a lot easier although it still took best part of 10mins with a Hammer and plenty of swearing! Tighten this up once you have it through.

Almost done now just two more bolts. Nether of which lined up for me which im guessing is because the rocksliders mounting points are in the way, I drilled two new holes and used the remaining two allen key nuts and two nylock nuts to hold the bottom of the guard on.

Now your finished

[western]

nice job, but reckon the holes will fill with more mud quickly, you'll need to give it a good clean after any playing in muddy stuff just to give the tank half a chance of further life.

[jcwcooper]

I looked at a gwyn lewis one too, its supposed to fold down to make it easier to clean, but that was another £40 or so, pleanty of space to get the hose in this one.

[Mo Murphy]

Good write up jcwcooper These guards with holes are much better than the closed ones because you can get in with the hose afterwards. The others fill just as quick but you can't get in to clean them.

Mo

[Oxide]

I know this is an old thread but in case others are looking for info (like I was - this is a really useful post - thanks JCW), I have just done this with a Rebel 4x4 guard.

Again, no instructions, but it is identical, from what I can see.

The two allen screws that hold the bash plate to the inner bracket are a b'stard to align.

Those horrible little M6 ones in the second picture were about my easiest fix. I made two square nuts out of some 25x6 flat bar and wound M6 hex screws up from underneath.

Of course, this would have been easier if I had remembered to do it before I put the bash plate on...

[jcwcooper]

I couldnt get them to align at all in the end I drilled a couple of new holes.

Dave.

[90MAD]

i have the same gaurd from paddocks and i can say it is a right b******d to fit but look great and do the job great info will be a big help to any one whos fitting one

[jackmac]

Just fitted a paddocks tank guard, thought I would add a few things....

The holes for the first bracket did not line up, so be prepared to drill out some new holes. In fact literally nothing has lined up, lots of drilling... and half the fixings were missing as well

I managed to get the 2nd bolt for the first bracket in by bending a spanner to around 75 degrees and glueing the nut to the spanner. I can't see how else you would get to it, just don't apply too much glue otherwise the spanner's there for good!

Without having an x-brake, it's impossible to put the anti crush tube and bolt in from the inside side of the chassis (as shown above). Instead, it has to go in from the outerside but before the bracket goes on. It won't go on after the bracket unless you enlarge the hole in the bracket significantly, in which case it won't work as an anti crush tube!