1st project writreup on new forum- remote air tank drain

sick and tired of crouching down under your deuce to drain each tank individually? Sick of muddy shoulders and strained backs? Me too, but I wasn't keen on the remote drains I've seen, mainly because of cost. Hey, I'm REALLY cheap!




so I made my own:





I first took out each petcock (make sure tanks are drained first). Then I cleaned off all the 40 years of gunk on them, and got to work. They will need to be in line with each other, but instead of opening front to back they will now open side to side. So, be sure to drill your hole in the right spot. Grind off a flat face on each drain handle (to facillitate drilling), and throw it in the drill press, with about a 1/8" bit



Get the holes drilled, the bend up your rod however you see fit. Mine ended up a little short because I put a loopy bend on the end, so it's best to start long. It's just plain old 3/8" round stock. Grind a flat on each spot you want to drill a hole through and center punch it. The holes will line up with the tank drain holes in the off position. So, once those holes are drilled you can stick your pins through- As said I'm super cheap so I used some nails, obviously not the best choice. A machine screw with a nylock would work better, hell, anything would work better! You just want to attach the rod to each handle securely, and still allow it to pivot in each direction.



Put some new teflon sealant on the petcocks and reinstall them in the tanks, being sure they are inline with each other and not overtightened.



Put the rod on and pin it all together and figure out how you want the rod to route. Mine rests on the spare tire when not in use.



Then when it's time to drain the tanks, you simply pull the handle, and it opens both drains, push it and it closes them. Easy as pie, and cost about $2!!!



Be sure to paint it so it doesn't rust, it will get a lot of road debris.

[4][green]That was clever and resourceful. Just so everyone knows, Saturn has the kit too if you don't feel like fabricating. IIRC its about $12.00[/green][/4]

dang, $12, that's not bad! But, then I wouldn't be able to post a "writeup"

MM!

My petcocks on the air tanks are different than what you show!

My air tank petcocks point straight down and have to be turned several revolutions to open them!

I purchased the kit from Saturn Surplus, and it came with new valves that can be opened with the supplied cables!

It was a very easy installation, just remove the old petcocks and install the new valves, with thread sealer of course!

Then attach the cables and pull to drain the tanks!

hmmm... interesting, in that case I definitely would have bought the kit. I wonder if somebody added these or if they are the standard ones?

MM,
Cool idea! As soon as wife and I move to Houston we're doing it!

I've seen both types of petcocks on trucks. Even mismatched on the same truck. Who knows woth the Gov't!

Mine are mismatched. One points down and the points to the side.

I picked up some spring loaded valves somewhere, might have been Saturn. I ran a longer cable to the rear, added a loop handle and a return spring. Bleeding the tanks has never been easier. Total cost was probably close to $25.

Great idea! of course, I would lose all my air everytime i dumped the bed....

Nice work my fellow Virginian!

I have to brag about my xm757 8x8 again, it comes standard with easy to reach tank drains, of course there are 3 of them, the tanks are widely separated....they really did do a lot of things right on this truck.

Bjorn, I like the 757 and all that but I still have a difficult time dealing with the fact that it's a Ford. My saving grace is that its a military design.

Hmmm...at least it doesn't have the Ford logo, so who's to know...unless people blabber about it on a public forum.

Recovry4x4 said:

[4][green]That was clever and resourceful. Just so everyone knows, Saturn has the kit too if you don't feel like fabricating. IIRC its about $12.00[/green][/4]

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Yeah , and a year later he's gone up 50% ?? everybody trying to make a buck.

you can also get the drain kits at any semi truck shop.

I know this is an old post but still an important one so I thought I would refresh it with some new "How To" pictures I took ...

Also wanted to show why this is important to blow out the air in BOTH of your tanks ... look at the crud I had in mine building up on the far tank that no one wanted to crawl under and release ... (tank should be hollow, open and clean)

Anyway - not as fancy as some folks here but it works .. when I get time I will come back and "clean it up"

AnonymousOne is really working his search karma!

clinto said:

AnonymousOne is really working his search karma!

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Back at you - Happy to see someone noticed