Well, I may have lucked out!! I pulled the tank out Sunday night in anticipation of having a new bung put in at the front of the tank as close to the top as possible so that I don't have that aggravating fill procedure. The picture that I posted previously shows that the filler goes into the rear of the tank about in the middle. After the fuel level goes above the filler, the diesel will foam back up the filler hose and cause a very slow fill rate.



What I found when removing the tank there IS another bung on TOP of the tank, near the rear but at least it is on the top, so I removed the street elbow from the rear center and moved it to the top of the tank.




There will be plenty of hose to connect to the new location and because the tanks is mounted on rails, the top of the tank is about 5 inches lower then the bottom of the floor, enough room for the filler hose to go over the top of the tank. I could have rotated the tank 180 degrees and gotten the filler near the front to shorten the hose but the I would have had to redo all the other connections so this will be a trial first and if it works-- no cost other then the labor to take the tank out and put it back in. If it isn't much better I will rotate the tank as mentioned and try that, that will cut about 4 feet off the hose.

It has been over 100 degrees here so no work is going on at this moment. more after I get it back in and do a trial fill.

The tag on the tank did confirm that it is a 60 gallon tank.

Just Curious, What is the tank made of, steel or aluminum. I was surprised to find both of mine made of aluminum.

Neil.

Made of steel, got some sore muscles to prove it!! The tank is back in but I am now into some mission creep stuff, so I haven't been able to test the filling to see if it is fixed.

Will post more after I finish.

I wonder why the factory wouldn't have used that one to begin with??

I am finding a lot of "I wonder why the factory didn't do it this way to begin with"!! After market stuff, sure, but things that were indeed installed by Barth or was part of the Spartan chassis--!

I have a VERY long list of things that I have changed and IMHO for the better. ( and could have been done from the factory with no addition cost)

Tank is back in now and almost filled. I have been filling with 5 gallon cans and recording what the fuel gauge reads for each 5 gallon increment. I have stopped with 45 gallons and that reads exactly 3/4. As might be imagined, the gauge is very non-linear up to this point, but good to know anyway.

Being a flat bottom tank, I don't think is wise to run below 15 gallons remaining because of the possibility of sucking air going up a grade or around a corner. There are baffles in the tank but that will not effect the fuel movement at low levels.

I have done some rework on the steering system (report on that later) as well as cooling system and will take it for a test drive in the next day or so.

"Why the factory didn't do it right."
Barths are not Toyotas built of standardized parts, by robots on an assembly line, untouched by human hands. A Barth worker sees he needs a gas tank, he goes to the stock room, picks one out, & installs it. He's not paid to modify it to the most efficient configuration, he's paid to put it in & hook it up. If it takes a little percussive persuasion to do so, he gets a bigger hammer.