Keep a close eye on those fuel tank straps

Cnsper beat me to it .
Kw and Ws both have heavy steel J brackets that bolt to the frame. This supports the whole tank and the straps just keep it all from not moving around.

Unlike other truck manufacturer , the whole tank and the weight of the fuel hangs from the straps. Just takes 1 strap to break going down the freeway and you got a potential fire ball .

For off road, logging and construction kw and Ws are far superior in that aspect.

 

Guess I never paid attention to it seems like a good argument. I've never had a problem with my tanks aside from some idiot welding a sleeve to one of the bolts on my pete which I replaced the strap.

I don't know I don't care for steel and aluminum touching due to corrosion but I can see why you'd want a bracket supporting the tank if you run an area that hard on trucks. I don't do much bouncing around in rough areas so I never though about the brackets.

Im surprised western stars are still made that way after freight shaker bought them out.

 

GM owns Cadillac and they are not made the same as a Chevy. They are still run as separate companies.

 

Yes westernstar is still all westernstar.
Only thing they kinda adapted is the airliner rear suspension. But only because they never had there own air ride system , they always used Hendrickson.

 

I had two aluminum Peterbilt straps break on separate occasions. I couldn't have peace of mind with the Pete set-up so I looked around and picked up 4 extra frame brackets and 4 straps, took the tanks off and drew a layout grid on the frame evenly spacing the new brackets from the originals, bored holes in the frame with a mag drill bolted the new brackets on with new grade 8 hardware, torqued them down. Now I have 4 stainless straps per tank with new webbing and feel a lot better.

 

^^^ that looks almost like Pete's 4 strap option that Ive seen on some trucks.

 

That's what I was going for. I can only assume that this option was for off road use.

Through Peterbilt it would have cost me $2400 just for the parts. I found great deals on used brackets with straps on ebay and bought all the webbing and hardware new, I have $350 into the whole project.

 

It looks good and can't complain about the savings.

 

Just too bad Daimler shut down their Kelowna Western Star plant. They used to give tours of the assembly line and IIRC they'd actually let you see your truck get built if you ordered one.

 

My Ford has the same heavy duty Brackets as the KW/Star

Love it because I already been through 3 straps that corroded..Thank Goodness for the Brackets..

PS- Keep an eye on the mounting hardware on those J-brackets.(The bracket itself will last forever,Its the Bolt going to the frame...Make sure their tight next time your working on the tank.

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