That does look like a lovely truck!

Personally I don't see any point carting a winch and the gas tank around. You've spent some dosh which ended up being on the wrong thing, o well! Sell the winch, buy a tirfor or high lift and chains for the justincase!
Have you still got the jerry can rack you took off? If you left the plumbing for the gas tank in place but blanked off, with fittings altered for easy refitting, and put the rack plus jerries back on would the first part of the trip be easier on your mind?
Can you leave the tank somewhere in the UK or closer to the first place you know it'll be handy? Taking the 101 back to bolt the tank back on would cost a bit, but hiring a small cheap hatchback to drive back and get it would perhaps be cheaper?? And with the added bonus of seeing family/getting a takeaway/eating cadburys? ;)

We had a slight discussion at the channel ferry regarding jerries, two newbie officials said they need to be empty, then that engine oil was ok but petrol wasn't, then asked their boss who said if they're properly mounted then full or empty, petrol or orange juice no problem. He said what they don't want is multiple plastic cans bouncing loose in car boots, but if he wasn't available the lady newbie would still be insisting I empty the petrol into the trucks diesel tank!?!
I seem to remember theres a maximum projection from the vehicle body sides regardless of the actual width, ruling out most things in the UK including jerries, but may be wrong.

Good luck and happy travels!! :D

for jerrys , remember that you cannot store a full can of petrol in the UK , you cannot store more than 10 litres of petrol i believe.

Diesel is fine in larger quantities

theres a big difference between the flamability of engine oil and petrol

you should be fine out in the wilds of africa carrying cans but i really don't like them, rear end shunts etc.

i put a cover over the can holder to hide them from ferry officials :-) you can see it in this photo http://www.jamesuk.net/images/IMG_0567w.jpg (tank to front, bedford can holder to back)

Eightpot - a tdi is fine for a heavily loaded 101, drove one for 10 years, most of that time pushing 38 inch tyres

Couple more thoughts!

Store the empty lpg tank where the winch is till you need it. Would the spare tyre and wheel stored in front of the rad affect the cooling too much?
If leaving the tank in the UK or wherever, it may be cheaper to ship it (and some Cadburys) strapped to a pallet to where you are? I don't think a takeaway stored in this way would be suitable however ;)
If the weight of the winch is that crucial to the handling then although you may be under the GVW your rear axle could already be overloaded? Add lightness! (Or a swap for a heavier duty truck!)

A marketing point for the 200tdi when it came out was its output matched an untuned 3.5l V8 with twice the mpg, so it'll only struggle as much as the V8 would?

Propane cylinders are usually at 250 psi ,the hoses are rated for a much higher pressure.Hoses popping would not be an issue .The pressure in the cylinder normally drives the propane to the vapouriser .If the cylinder were to be converted ,it would have to be vented to be able to pump petrol out of it . The pressure inside the tank would be then similar to atmospheric pressure .

Jerry cans are far more dangerous ,when strapped on the outside of a vehicle .Exposing them to the heat of the sun is never a good idea .

Diesel conversions and expensive alloy tanks are always an option .

Lugging around a full tank of propane for thousands of miles AND carrying extra petrol ,seems an incredibly bad idea .

Update on a saga....

Sticking with the V8. Love the sound, not enough cash or time to change it.

Definitely getting a custom 160l tank made as a main.

As was suggested, wanted to take off the LPG tank, fit a second petrol tank and ship the LPG out to Turkey to meet us on the way back and put it back on again for when it is needed most - euro expensive fuel stage. Not really an option though. Was under there today measuring up and I realised I had completely forgotten that there's a water tank in that side attached to the chassis just where the second petrol tank could sit. Could get a custom second tank made but with that the cash maths of this option looks bad.

So decided we will keep LPG tank. Have looked closely into using it as a temp. second petrol tank but not really an option for several reasons. Final decision on LPG is that we will just ensure that the tank is filed up at the last station on the way south so it becomes an emergency reserve.

Buying a transfer pump so that if we do see any LPG bottles in Africa we can extract the gas and top up the tank if necessary.

So when it comes to petrol reserve, I didn't want to have to do this, but will get a 3 jerry can rack made to sit under the chamfer at the back of our truck. Will fill them as little as possible as will mess up the trim - already back heavy thanks to very over-engineered extension I inherited when I bought the truck. Also as warned, not a big fan of having those tanks full of petrol for longer that I really need to.

As for weight, when full, the extra petrol in the bigger tank and jerries will put on about 120kgs at a rough guess. Going to take the winch off and loose one of the wheels to help with the weight. Spare wheel carriers to be adapted to mount single spare centrally. Not sure where we will mount the spare tire, but possibly in the front allowing for good air flow to the rad... obvious but ugly... with a wheel on the back and a tire up front we'll look like a bloody bumper car!

Suspension will be upgraded. Will fully assess after all the weight changes have been done. Been ringing around breakers for vauxhaul combi springs - looking like it should bear fruit soon. But, as pennies are getting very tight (only so many times you can remortgage your house!) and I have a single pair of front springs and a single pair of rear spings just taken off the truck and not too badly sagging, I am still thinking about the option of using 101 leaves... If there is any cash left....(Ha!) want to ideally fit Timbrens too. Or is this an option - fit the Timbrens and forget about the extra leaves....?

Cheers for all the input. Very much appreciated.Thanks also for taking to time to look at the website and the compliments about the truck. So, anyone fancy joining us for a trip south early in the new year??

We're doing a similar route and taking a year over it, but not setting off till April (we didn't want to get back home in winter).
Don't suppose we'll catch you up, but I'll keep an eye out in case we pass you on the way back up :Beach:

i'd love to but have a date with a surgeon on 16/1 :helpsmilie:

looks like a plan, good luck

havn't used the timbrens, from the photos i've seen of them on a 101 the truck had an extra leaf aswell (piccis in 6 stud, can't remember which issue and i sold my back issues so can't check)

if going for timbrens i'd be inclined to go for proper air suspension that you can adjust by increasing or reducing pressure (talk to roger h c who has them - think his are cab adjustable)