Carrying a diesel jerrycan on the truck

I know this has been brought up before but I couldn’t find a solid answer.

I load/unload my flatbed trailer with a piggyback forklift. It is a bit of a pita to fuel the forklift at the pumps, especially when it’s mounted on the trailer. The filler neck is high up and it’s on the wrong side, and it only takes a few gallons so it seems like it takes me longer to climb onto the trailer and put the nozzle in there than it takes to actually fill the #### thing.

So I was thinking I’d get a 5 gallon diesel can to carry on the truck and then I could just top the forklift off anywhere. Can I use a small ratchet strap to secure the can to my catwalk or maybe even the deck of the trailer? I also have a couple tool boxes on the trailer I could stow it in, but no good way to secure it in there so it could potentially tip over.

Any thoughts on a safe legal way to do this?

 

As far as i can tell, it is legal but must be in a special type of DOT-approved can, which I am guessing your average plastic menards lawn mower type can is not DOT approved.

Regardless, I would probably be better off stowing it in the box, so yeah I think I will put my non-carpentry skills to the test and see what kind of blocking I can come up with. As Homer Simpson once said, “It’s not illegal if I don’t see it.”

 

Yes. Not that I am lazy, I don’t mind climbing onto the trailer, I do it several times a day. But still, it seems like there ought to be a more sensible way to do it.

It’s not really that big a deal, it was just an idea I had. Just don’t get mad at me if you get stuck behind me in the fuel line and you have to wait for me to fuel my forklift lol.