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Not sure what guage, but I would incorporate some rubber isolators in the mix somehow. I'd say the aluminum one would be fine with some isolating, but you might be out of room and need to fab a whole new one
 
I cracked mine a couple times. Murrah motorsports put a nice cell with a bladder in it in the back or mine. Mine was mounted exactly like yours and only thing I could come up with was chassis flex
 
This is an 8 gallon cell with a bladder and rollover valve. So far so good
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Just had mine replaced after 6 years and 3 leaks fixed. I will be watching this post because I don't know a fix. My new one built by a different person is welded inside and out I believe. Maybe it will be better??
 
I ride with 3 Smith buggies, no issues with them. And one (redline diesel) has a huge cell.
 
I see it happen all the time and it is chassis flex (sometimes, depending on the rig) and other times it is definitely fuel crushing around inside. If using aluminum make sure it's 1/8" and fully welded inside and out. This has been the fix I've seen that is the most common and I have yet to hear that any have failed from guys I know that have done it. If you can afford it, get a bladder made while you're at it and you'll be good to go. I honestly don't think the rubber isolators will do much good. If your Smith chassis is like most others I've seen I seriously doubt it is seeing much if any flex back there unless you pogo off the top off a cliff in which case you're probably screwed no matter what.

edit: I follow Motobilt on Instagram and I saw where they replaced the cell in the back of a Smith chassis. I remember thinking they did a great job with very little room to work with. I'm sure they could make it as beefy as you wanted and would even send it out for a bladder if you wanted.
 
Waffle said:
Hmmmmm, looks like this is much more common than I thought. I haven't looked at the welds inside mine to see if it was welded there too however I doubt it was though. Mine definitely feels thinner than 1/8" when I removed the filler plate. Since I can't weld aluminuin, the end it's a poor material choice for me.
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I had mine re welded and it just cracked in other spots. Pete deck did tell me the material used to build my cell was the problem but I'm much happier with the back of my buggy now compared to before.
 
In a bouncer style rig, I use no less than 3/16 aluminum. Haven't seen any crack yet. But yes an 1/8" or less aluminum cell will more than likely crack if it's just a butt joint. An overlap joint will strengthen it greatly
 
Waffle said:
If I build a new one (steel or stainless) I'll definitely be shipping it off to have a true race bladder made. Pyrotect told me their test standard is a phillips screwdriver with 800lbs of force behind it. I know ATL has different levels of bladders up to ballistic self healing skins. I won't go that far, but it's nice to know that companies exist that are more than willing to do business with the little guy.
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Why not just send off the one you have for a bladder and move on? Also could have someone fix the cracked weld while you're at it. But with the bladder it shouldn't really matter.
 
Instead of mounting with bungs, which gets shock and flex transferred to the tank, how about mounting it in a "Tray" and using insulated straps to retain it.
You would have to pick the furthest place from camp to do that. LOL. Good luck.
 
Mounting in a tray with aluminum is exactly what I would and am doing on current build . I built mine the same way but with stainless as the ones breaking . Ive had zero issues but have seen many aluminum cells with pucks welded cracking . Tray is the only way in my opinion with aluminum
 
I used 1/8" aluminum. Welded inside and out on the front, back, top and bottom. No access to weld the inside of the side pieces. I used 1.5 x 3/16 aluminum angle on the bottom sides to cradle it and let them hang past about 2". Those rest on tabs on the chassis and I used big rubber washers in between with oversized holes to allow for any flex should it occur. Only been on a couple of trips so far but it's been good.
 
truckbroke said:
I had my cell rebuilt out 1/4" aluminum and have never had another problem.
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That's what I would do

Or 11ga steel.

If budget is a concern.


If you got the coin and the time get a bladder made also.

Fuel containment is a bad place to skimp on a big money toy


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Had same issues welded it back up then puck split rewelded everything on tank no more issues mine was built out of 1/4" aluminum and inside wasn't welded it is now minus very top section Luckily both times this has happened a bar of soap got me through
 
Made mine out of stainless and plan to rubber mount it.. the big hole on top is so the pump and sending unit can drop in as one unit like a factory setup..
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