fuel capacity

[Danford50]

I have a 2017 freedom elite fe29. today i took it to fill it up with gas , my gauge show i had about 1/4 , so when i got my gas it took 32.90 gallons my gauge show it was on the full mark. when i purchased this unit i was told it held 55 gallons of gas, but when i look at the capacity chart in the ford manuel it said it could be either 40 gallons or 55 gallons, so how do i know which size i have? I am think it is probably a 40 gallons, but would like to hear from any freedom elite owner who has the fe29 floor plan, who can tell me what size of a tank they have.

[Bob Denman]

It sounds a lot like a 40 gallon capacity...
But NEVER trust just one (or even five...) measurement.
Try filling it at the half, and three-quarter marks, and then hit the spots in--between.
Happy Math!

[dkoldman]

Get your VIN and call Ford, or drop by a Ford dealership, tell them you thinking about replacing the tank and you want to know how much the OEM part cost.

Or is you are not travel and local to home, just drive it down to where is 50 miles remaining or it alerts you that you are low on gas. If you had 55 gallon tank you would get well over 40 gallon tank capacity.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Ford used a 55 gallon tank on both E-350 and E-450 cutaway chassis in 2017. The 40 gallon tank was likely used on Econoline vans and smaller box vans.

[Danford50]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

Ford used a 55 gallon tank on both E-350 and E-450 cutaway chassis in 2017. The 40 gallon tank was likely used on Econoline vans and smaller box vans.

well if that is correct, why did my tank only take 32.90 gallons to fill it up know when the gage is at 1/4, there is not 22 gallons in my tank when the gauge is showing 1/4 the math doesn't add up.

[kwplot34]

By my figures you have a 50gl tank. You said it took 32.9gl to fill up from a 1/4 tank, I rounded up to 33gl to fill up so 33 divided 3 is 11, for the 3/4you were down, now if that last 1/4 was truly right at a 1/4 that is 44gl, 6 more gallons and you are at 55.
Next time run down below a 1/4 and see what you get to fill up.
I had a 2016 31L and it was a 55gl tank, made the mistake a time or 2 running it down past a 1/4.
Now my new Omni XG32 has 2 tanks for 70gl, I try not to let it get to a 1/4.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Danford50

well if that is correct, why did my tank only take 32.90 gallons to fill it up know when the gage is at 1/4, there is not 22 gallons in my tank when the gauge is showing 1/4 the math doesn't add up.

Here's some math:

What's the difference between a 40 gallon tank and a 55 gallon tank when they ARE 1/4 full?

10 gallons vs 13.75 gallons. Now take gauge/float accuracy and reading error (was it on the line, just below the line or just above the line?) as well as true fill capacity and do you think your 53 gallon capacity tank may have actually had close to 20 gallons in it (1/4 = 14 gallon plus errors)?

VS

a 39 gallon tank only having 6 gallons in it when reading 1/4 full (vs 10 gallons) which is closer to 1/8 tank.

You can rant about what you think may be, or you can follow the suggestions to determine what you really have.

The answer is probably on a build sticker inn the glove box.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Sorry to be blunt... but the straight forward answer is to first know what spec your chassis is, and who manufactured it. Unless a previous owner swapped in a different capacity fuel tank, you should trust published capacity specifications from that source... which is simple to find.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

Sorry to be blunt... but the straight forward answer is to first know what spec your chassis is, and who manufactured it. Unless a previous owner swapped in a different capacity fuel tank, you should trust published capacity specifications from that source... which is simple to find.

I did similar when I was newbie with my propane tank. It was before I understood about the 80% fill limitation. I had run it empty and when I had it filled; I was under the specifications (18 gallons).

The RV Mfg had me contact Manchester Tank directly. I will never forget not being able to read the tank model number and they told me to get a white sheet of paper and pencil & mark across the tank I thought they were nuts but it worked. Turns out while my Mfg specifications said 18 gallons it was actually 17.6 capacity and then 80% of that. They were so intrigue with my persistence they actually sent me the engineering drawing of my tank So it is kind of like when you think the bank has something wrong, you can spend hours or days to learn what you are missing or why they were right.

I have 80 gallon gas tank and never come closer to actually buying 80 gallons to fill up. I normally buy about 50 gallons per fill-up and I complain about that. When I use that Gas Buddy thing, I can never tell them the actual miles per gallon I burn; because I would never drive as long as they recommend without getting fuel. One day I will do the math and load a smaller size tank to get the same outcome. Ironically as I think about it, I may just say I have 55 gallon tank and see what it does; and the OP may need to use 40 gallon tank

[Sappy2]

The owners guide from Ford may have a "capacities" page somewhere.

[JimOIB]

Download your coach schematics from the Thor Owners Resource website. The specs for your coach will be in there. Just as a data point, the FourWinds companion model to the Freedom Elite shows a 55 gallon fuel tank. And the Thor product brochure for your year also shows 55 gallons. Hope this helps.

[Lt Keefer]

Don't worry about the fuel tank capacity, it is whatever it is. Just use you camper and enjoy it.

[Chance]

E-350 comes standard with 40-gallon fuel tank.

E-450 comes standard with 55-gallon fuel tank.

E-350 is available with optional 55-gallon fuel tank (with exception that doesn’t apply here).

E-450 is available with optional 40-gallon fuel tank (smaller than standard).


Having stated above, what matters most is that practically all E-350 and E-450 E-Series Cutaway or Stripped chassis with RV package come with 55-gallon fuel tank as part of the RV package. The exceptions are E-350 with Single Rear Wheels and DRW E-350 with wheelbase other than 158-inch. RV manufacturers normally purchase chassis with 158-inch wheelbase when they plan to stretch to build longer motorhomes, so the 55-gallon tank is most common by far. There’s that, and also that larger motorhomes built on E-Series normally use the E-450 chassis and not the E-350 anyway.


Regarding fuel gauge reading, it’s normal for gauge not to be perfectly linear. I normally get greater driving range with bottom 1/4 of fuel readings. Not only that, but the very most I have filled is 31 gallons out of 35-gallon capacity from my E-350 when reading empty. Normally I fill +/- 27 gallons at 1/8 reading which also doesn’t add up correctly.

For clarity, the 35-gallon tank was used only for “vans” (discontinued after 2014) and is very different than Cutaway fuel tank. The 40- and 55-gallon fuel tanks on cutaway and stripped E-Series chassis are located behind rear axle. Vans had fuel tank between front and rear axles.

[Chateau_Nomad]

So, the OP stated they have a 2017 freedom elite fe29. What size fuel tank comes on that?

[atreis]

https://www.rvguide.com/specs/thor-m...lite/29fe.html

55 gallons FTW

[Chateau_Nomad]

Well... we've finally come full circle on this one.

[Danford50]

First I would like to thank everyone for there’re assistance, I now know without a doubt that it is a 55 gallon size tank.

[Danford50]

Originally Posted by 16ACE27

Here's some math:

What's the difference between a 40 gallon tank and a 55 gallon tank when they ARE 1/4 full?

10 gallons vs 13.75 gallons. Now take gauge/float accuracy and reading error (was it on the line, just below the line or just above the line?) as well as true fill capacity and do you think your 53 gallon capacity tank may have actually had close to 20 gallons in it (1/4 = 14 gallon plus errors)?

VS

a 39 gallon tank only having 6 gallons in it when reading 1/4 full (vs 10 gallons) which is closer to 1/8 tank.

You can rant about what you think may be, or you can follow the suggestions to determine what you really have.

The answer is probably on a build sticker inn the glove box.

I was not ranting but thank for your assistance

[Chance]

Other than rare Single Rear Wheel Class Cs, the only E-Series Class C or B+ motorhomes I have seen with 40-gallon fuel tanks are very short ones built on 138-inch wheelbase. Ford specs indicate that larger 55-gallon fuel tank option IS NOT available on 138-inch wheelbase E-350. And most Ford Class Cs as short as 23~24 feet in length are built on 158-inch wheelbase.

A 40-gallon fuel tank would suck on a motorhome that may only get 8 MPG.

[chunker21]

Originally Posted by Chance

Other than rare Single Rear Wheel Class Cs, the only E-Series Class C or B+ motorhomes I have seen with 40-gallon fuel tanks are very short ones built on 138-inch wheelbase. Ford specs indicate that larger 55-gallon fuel tank option IS NOT available on 138-inch wheelbase E-350. And most Ford Class Cs as short as 23~24 feet in length are built on 158-inch wheelbase.

A 40-gallon fuel tank would suck on a motorhome that may only get 8 MPG.

I did a move from Tucson to Tacoma years ago and got stuck with a gas uhaul truck. Got about 5 or 6 MPG with a 30 gallon? tank. As I recall I had about 110 mile and I better be pulling into a station. Horrible trip. So yes a 40g on a motorhome would be a bad idea.