So, I got my Jeep all decked out with the AEV bumper, tire carrier and fuel caddy... Only problem is things aren't quite working...

1) Has anyone tried to use the "shaker siphon" that came with the fuel caddy? I tried for 10 minutes various combinations of shaking up-and-down, shaking and then letting it flow downhill, shaking continuously... I never got enough into the jeep fuel tank to even register on the fuel gauge... Is there a trick to this?

2) Has anyone actually attempted to use the AEV water tanks and tried to see how much water they could get back out? I filled the tanks up until water was at the neck and then attempted to pump it back out. All I got out was about 2.5 or 2 2/3 gallons. Certainly not close to the 5 gallons it's advertised as. I even drove around and up and down some hills trying to work all the water over to the left tank, nadda. I'm going to ckeck the vent line, but I've seen other people complaining about the exact same thing with the exact same amount on the AEV forums which makes me wonder...

Thanks,
Ryan

 

Bump. Anyone?

 

I have the AEV bumpers and tire carrier. i dont have the fuel caddy, but was saving up for it. I know i had some install questions with my bumpers and contacted AEV. They have a great customer support dept. i'm sure they will help with your questions.

 

Kind of an aside, and don't mean to derail, but other than the siphoning problem do you have any other issues? Like with the install, fit/finish, leaking, etc..? Let's assume you a good siphoner "is that a word?", would you be happy with it otherwise? This is on my short of things to drop money on...

 

I have the AEV rear bumper. It's a PITA to install. On mine one of the nutserts on the passengers side water tank was in crooked. This prevented me from putting the bolt in it for more than a couple of turns before it started to cross thread. The only way to replace tank is to completely remove the bumper. Not something I wanted to do. Since installing the bumper and tire carrier, i have strange little rattles that I can't for the life of me figure out. They only seem to occur when I'm driving extremely slow (like through a parking lot) but thats probably the only time I hear them. I've checked everything on the damned thing and everything is to specs according to their install instructions. If i had it to do over again, I definitely would have chosen a different bumper.

As for the water tank. I got just about 3.5 gallons out of it. No more. So I'll always have 1.5 gallons of stagnant water in the tank? If you look on the AEV boards thats a common complaint but AEV doesnt really do anything about it. Honestly if you look at the design I think it's easy to see why. You would think for $1800 they would give you something other than a few off the shelf HomeDepot PVC home plumbing pieces to connect the tanks? AEV is a bad joke...

 

I have both the caddy and the water tanks, the only issue i have is with the hose on the water pumper falling off while trying to attatch it to the tank. other than that install took a bit longer, but overall the product was great.

 

I just received my front tubeless bumper waiting for the rear with tire carrier , I was tempted to buy the fuel/water tanks but when I thought of the price decided not to go with it , rather buy 2 standard steel fuel tanks cheaper....

 

hmm, their site says it's one of the only ones that doesn't rattle. My main attraction is the 10 gal fuel caddy. I'm considering just the tire carrier and fuel tank. I'm guessing should I ever get a rear bumper, I would have little choice at that point.

 

I have the AEV rear bumper, tire carrier, and fuel caddy installed on my 2012. I'm extremely happy with all three products which I installed about three weeks ago. The install took a while - the only challenge I had was hitting the bottom nut inside the frame rail for the tire carrier base. I ended up just threading the hole and using a larger bolt - probably stronger anyway. Everything fit tight on the install. I live on dirt roads with lots of washboard and have not heard one sound or rattle. I haven't had a chance to use the water tanks yet, so I can't comment on how much water is pumped out. However, I think the problem is associated with the pump sold by AEV. Just use a valve underneath the bumper to drain the tanks rather than trying to pump the water out. In my opinion, AEV is has given Jeepers innovative products. Storing 5 gallons of water in otherwise unused space is something no other manufacturer has offered.

As for the fuel caddy, I filled it up with 9.8 gallons. When I got home, I filled two five gallon gas cans that I use for the lawn mower. I probably shook the super siphon 5-6 times to get it going for the first can. I stopped the siphon to switch cans and another 5-6 shakes for the second can. I'm sure there will always be a little residual fuel in the caddy because you're using a siphon rather than pouring the fuel out. However jerry cans will never look as good as the fuel caddy. It's a great design which utilizes unused space inside the spare tire.

Like I said before, AEV is making unique, innovative products. People like to gripe about the price of their products which I agree is a little high. However, their quality is outstanding and I have been very happy with AEV products.

 

Good to hear. One thing I like is that I can do things in stages, and don't have to shell it all out at once. Tire carrier+fuel caddy for sure. I'm glad I can get several sides regarding this product.