Looking for suggestions.

[Licensed to kill]

I chose to go with fuel tanks mounted between the cab and rear axle and will be making storage/battery boxes/steps. I was considering making the boxes out of the original fuel tanks as I want the rounded edges. However, aluminum or SS would be better than painted to go with the rest of the truck. Am considering cutting the ends out of the fuel tanks and making the rest from SS so I get the roundness and only the ends would require paint and I can paint the end caps on the actual fuel tanks to match. The battery box/steps on my 379 Pete’s would work but the edges are too sharp and would look out of place on a rounded truck like the B model. Would love to hear suggestions for under cab boxes, whether available or even design suggestions that I could just make. Thoughts?  

[mowerman]

got nothing except start checking google for truck tool boxes polished aluminum sound like what ever you decide,,,you going to have to modify something

[mowerman]

i would just put a nice looking polished aluminum step under both sides,,,but since you want tool boxes there,,,,,thats all i got.lol.bob

[mowerman]

[Big R]

You could use stainless elbows to form the ends 

[mowerman]

I think these are made to bolt to  the frame you could even mount a step underneath these boxes to get into the truck polished aluminum step might go good with the black boxes. I don’t know. Just an idea I actually like the design and priced pretty fair

[Vladislav]

On 10/18/2024 at 10:46 PM, Licensed to kill said:

I chose to go with fuel tanks mounted between the cab and rear axle and will be making storage/battery boxes/steps. I was considering making the boxes out of the original fuel tanks as I want the rounded edges. However, aluminum or SS would be better than painted to go with the rest of the truck. Am considering cutting the ends out of the fuel tanks and making the rest from SS so I get the roundness and only the ends would require paint and I can paint the end caps on the actual fuel tanks to match. The battery box/steps on my 379 Pete’s would work but the edges are too sharp and would look out of place on a rounded truck like the B model. Would love to hear suggestions for under cab boxes, whether available or even design suggestions that I could just make. Thoughts?  

Sounds like an interesting idea. I personally am not a fan of relocated fuel tanks as it takes away trucks originality. But that's a matter of taste and the owner's decission. We sure like to add something "from ourselves" to make our job special but my approach is modifying removable items keeping possibility to get back to the original shape if ever wanted.

The idea of using bottoms of factory tanks for tool boxes worth considering indeed. SS wrap around with contrast painted bottoms would look cool. And SS requires less care in the future with less need in refreshening polishing in relation to alu. What also gets on my mind is use of diamond plate SS to correspond with the style of tanks. And what is the most important point I was going to note you should separate SS skin (or alu for the same matter) from steel tank bottoms to avoid halvanic corrosion which occures in the contact areas of SS with common steel really hard. So my way would be sandblast/paint bottoms, bend new SS skins of diamond plate sheet (a hard to bend stuff!),wrap it over insulating the mating areas with rubber stripe of paper gasked with liquid seal or poly film you apply on car panels to prevent stone chips and attach the skin by screws or bolts or blind rivets. No weld between steel and SS if you don't want to see rust leaking out from the seam after every rain or wash for the rest of the service life.

Back to the original matter. I don't understand your plan completely so far but if I were you doing something like that I would use a set of factory square fuel tanks as actual tanks, maybe removed to the back for better weight distribution and a set of the modified tanks with SS skins as tool boxes installed in stock places with stock step weld ins. Right on the factory tank brackets. Than of color combo's you may paint both complete actual tanks and "false" tanks bottoms into chassis color having bare SS skins at the front. Or for example... Ok, say actual tank's skins into the chassis color with bottoms of all tanks into another color such as a cab or wheel hubs or what else. With bare SS skins at the front. 

Or all bottoms into the chassis color with front bare SS skins and rear black skins or cab color skins or so on.

[mattb73lt]

There are several manufacturers that make under cab step/tool boxes. Merritt Aluminum products comes to mind. A style of saddle boxes my help get you in the ball park of what your thinking. The Mack LT series had something along the line of what you're talking about in a step/storage box. An internet search for images might help with ideas, too?