Titan Fuel Tanks: An Easy Way to Spend More Time Driving and Less Time Stopping for Diesel

Most of the company’s lineup, which covers three dozen direct-fit replacement tanks for most popular modern diesel pickups (with four more on the way soon) nearly doubles stock fuel capacity. “We joke,” he continues, “although it really isn’t a joke because it’s entirely accurate, that with one of our tanks, stop range is determined more by the driver’s bladder than the tank capacity.” Titan has no official plans for an in-cabin urinal, but DeFord’s chuckle when we asked about it showed that this clearly wasn’t the first time someone pitched him the idea.

If replacing the stock tank with one twice the size sounds daunting, frustrating and fabrication-rific, Deford says not to sweat it. “All of our tanks are drop-in–well, technically lift-in–replacements. Drop your old tank, switch over any sending unit or pump, and our tank bolts right back into the same location with no fabrication.” Titan simply uses the unused space under the chassis or between the frame rails and fills it with more tank capacity. 

Using all that extra space is easier than ever, says DeFord, thanks to laser scanning devices. “Back in the day, we had engineers crawling under trucks for days, even weeks” he explains. “But now, with laser scanning, we can map out the exact fit in CAD and have a prototype—a better-fitting prototype, even—in a fraction of the time we could before. And you can even see that more streamlined development cycle reflected in our pricing.”

Indeed, most of the Titan lineup is in the $1200-$1600 range, depending on size and configuration. “And your factory warranty is unaffected,” adds DeFord. “We have a bunch of dealers that offer our tanks as options on brand-new trucks. If dealer service departments are willing to install and service them, and manufacturers are willing to not let them affect any additional warranties, I think that says a lot about what we’re building.”

Titan stands behind its tanks as well, offering a lifetime replacement warranty against damage to your tank. “If someone breaks a tank, we replace it, no questions asked,” DeFord explains. 

“Okay,” he continues, “there was one we didn’t honor, though: It had a couple of bullet holes in it. I think that falls outside normal use parameters.” 

So if you’re just doing normal truck stuff, or even outside-the-norm truck stuff that doesn’t include discharging a firearm into your fuel tank, DeFord concludes, you’re covered.

While most of Titan’s lineup is centered around replacement tanks for diesel trucks, it also includes a couple of universal options that are suitable for carrying gasoline. 

“Because of legal restrictions on EVAP systems and the like, directly expanding the capacity of a gasoline tank is tricky,” DeFord explains. “But we have products like our Sidekick, which fits over the wheel arch in the back of a truck, or the Trail Trekker, which mounts on Jeep spare tire carriers, or the Spare Tire tanks, or the cross-bed transfer tanks. 

“These are all sort of universal products that don’t connect directly to your fuel system,” he continues. “So they can be used as transfer tanks to extend your range—basically by putting a gas station in your truck bed.”

There’s another use for these add-on fuel tanks, he adds: “We’re really seeing a lot of interest from the motorsports community in using these tanks as race fuel carriers. We’ve seen racers adding auxiliary tanks to their truck beds, or to their trailers, and being able to carry all the race fuel they need for a weekend without having to constantly fill or carry 5-gallon jugs around.” 

It’s a safe, easy way, DeFord explains, to haul race fuel to the track. “Even if you’re just using it to haul pump gas. Maybe you can get 93 octane locally but are heading somewhere where all they have is 91,” he continues. “Or you run E85. Or you just don’t want to constantly be lugging jugs all over the place. We’ve seen some really cool integration by racers into their rigs—in enclosed trailers, open trailers, truck beds. The cool thing about these universal transfer tanks is they give you a lot of options.”

And every Titan tank—whether it’s custom-matched to your truck’s dimensions and nestled right in the OEM location or it’s a universal-fit auxiliary model—carries the same lifetime warranty and undergoes the same rigorous process of torture testing before it’s available to the public. 

“Even though we can go from a scan to a prototype in about five days with the laser setup we have, the testing process still takes a while,” DeFord notes. “Tanks get dropped from every angle, hit, speared—any way they can get damaged during normal use—and we duplicate, analyze and tweak the design if necessary. So the customer is getting something that’s built beyond the standard of what any state DOT requires and that’ll be able to take whatever punishment they can throw at it safely.”

Well, maybe almost every possible type of damage. “Okay, maybe not a bullet,” he adds. “Please don’t shoot your tanks.”