SMC70A - 70 Gallon Side Mount Aluminum Hydraulic Reservoir

The Side Mount Cylindrical Aluminum Reservoir Cylinder from Buyers Products is a versatile, lightweight fluid storage option for many different applications. It is available in 35 gal, 50 gal, or 70 gal capacities. The cylindrical design and aluminum construction can match your truck's fuel tank for a clean, coordinated appearance. It features a durable 11 Ga aluminum shell and 12 Ga heads. The reservoir features 2 in. NPT suction return/ports on each end of the tank and a 1/2 in. NPT port/drain on the tank's bottom. The included mounting brackets wrap under the tank to give added stability and support. Rubber-insulated stainless steel straps are also included to keep it secure. Each unit includes a quarter-turn filler breather unit with a basket strainer for keeping contaminants out of the fluid.

Specifications

The 70 Gallon Side Mount Aluminum Hydraulic Reservoir: Precision Engineering for Demanding Applications

The 70 Gallon Side Mount Aluminum Hydraulic Reservoir from Buyers Products offers a high-performance, robust fluid storage solution for demanding hydraulic systems. This cylindrical reservoir, precisely designed for heavy-duty mobile and stationary equipment, has a substantial 70-gallon capacity. It is optimized for applications requiring significant fluid volumes, ensuring superior thermal management, efficient de-aeration, and prolonged fluid life—critical factors in maintaining peak system efficiency and preventing premature component wear across various industrial and commercial sectors.

Advanced Construction and Material Science: The Aluminum Advantage

At the core of this reservoir's design is its premium aluminum construction, featuring an 11 Gauge shell and robust 12 Gauge heads. This material and gauge selection delivers strength, reduced weight, and superior thermal performance. Aluminum’s lightweight nature significantly reduces vehicle tare weight in mobile applications, directly enhancing fuel efficiency and increasing payload—a vital economic advantage for vocational trucks, refuse vehicles, and utility equipment. Aluminum also offers outstanding corrosion resistance, forming a protective oxide layer that safeguards against environmental degradation, road salts, and chemical exposure. This extends the reservoir's operational lifespan and mitigates fluid contamination from internal corrosion. Furthermore, aluminum's superior thermal conductivity is critical for hydraulic systems. Fluid generates heat during operation; the reservoir's aluminum body acts as an effective heat exchanger, rapidly dissipating heat into the ambient air. This helps maintain optimal fluid operating temperatures, paramount for preserving hydraulic fluid viscosity, lubricity, and additive package integrity. Consistent temperature control directly prolongs the service life of pumps, valves, and cylinders. The cylindrical geometry further optimizes thermal exchange, offering an advantageous surface-area-to-volume ratio. Precision welding techniques ensure a leak-proof, high-pressure-resistant vessel, capable of withstanding dynamic stresses and vibrations typical of heavy-duty operational environments. This meticulous attention to material science and manufacturing quality ensures professional-grade durability and reliability for demanding applications.

Optimized Capacity and Hydraulic System Dynamics

The substantial 70-gallon (approximately 265-liter) capacity of this side mount reservoir is a cornerstone feature, tailored for hydraulic systems requiring significant fluid volume for efficient operation and thermal stability. Proper reservoir sizing is critical; a generous volume ensures adequate fluid residence time. This allows for effective de-aeration, permitting entrained air bubbles to escape, and facilitates the settling of suspended contaminants before fluid recirculation. Such extended residence time is vital for preventing pump cavitation—a destructive phenomenon caused by insufficient fluid supply—and preserving fluid integrity, thereby prolonging component life. Moreover, the large fluid volume acts as a substantial heat sink. Coupled with the aluminum’s excellent thermal conductivity, it provides greater thermal mass and surface area for heat dissipation. This reduces reliance on auxiliary oil coolers or significantly augments existing cooling system efficiency. Maintaining fluid temperature within specified limits is fundamental for preserving hydraulic fluid properties, as overheating is a primary cause of fluid degradation and system breakdown. By effectively managing thermal loads, this 70-gallon reservoir extends the service life of both the hydraulic fluid and its expensive components, leading to reduced maintenance costs and increased equipment uptime. The specified 70-gallon usable capacity ensures a consistent, ample fluid supply under varying system demands, safeguarding against pump starvation and ensuring uninterrupted, reliable hydraulic power.

Precision Port Configuration and Seamless System Integration

The thoughtfully engineered port configuration of this hydraulic reservoir ensures versatile and efficient integration into diverse hydraulic circuits. It features two 2-inch NPT (National Pipe Taper) suction/return ports, strategically positioned on each end of the tank. This dual-end porting provides considerable flexibility for system designers and installers, enabling optimal hydraulic line routing based on specific chassis layouts or equipment architectures. The 2-inch NPT size is carefully chosen to accommodate high flow rates characteristic of 70-gallon capacity systems, minimizing pressure drop in the suction line and ensuring an unrestricted return path. Adequate suction line sizing is paramount to prevent pump cavitation, while a properly sized return line minimizes back pressure, which can generate heat and accelerate component wear. For maintenance, a 1/2-inch NPT port/drain is conveniently located at the tank's bottom, facilitating complete fluid evacuation during routine servicing. A significant enhancement is the inclusion of a magnetic drain plug. This feature actively attracts and captures ferrous metallic particles—microscopic fragments from worn pump gears, cylinder linings, or valve components—that circulate within the hydraulic fluid. Periodic inspection and cleaning of this magnetic plug offer invaluable, early diagnostic insight into potential wear issues, allowing proactive maintenance before minor wear progresses to catastrophic failure. This magnetic filtration prevents recirculating abrasive particles from damaging sensitive components, extending the overall lifespan of the hydraulic system. NPT threads ensure a secure, tapered seal, crucial for leak prevention in demanding hydraulic environments, provided correct sealing practices are applied.

Robust Mounting System: Stability, Vibration Control, and Durability

Engineered for heavy-duty operation, the mounting system supplied with this 70 Gallon Aluminum Hydraulic Reservoir prioritizes stability, vibration dampening, and long-term durability. The included mounting brackets are meticulously designed to wrap securely under the tank, forming a robust cradle that evenly distributes the reservoir's substantial weight—over 500 pounds when full—across the vehicle chassis. This comprehensive under-tank support is critical for mitigating stress concentrations that could lead to fatigue cracking, ensuring the reservoir remains rigidly fixed even when subjected to dynamic forces, impacts, and constant vibrations inherent in vocational truck or heavy machinery operations. Complementing these sturdy brackets are high-quality, rubber-insulated stainless steel straps. Stainless steel provides exceptional tensile strength and superior corrosion resistance, guaranteeing strap integrity in harsh, exposed conditions. The rubber insulation serves a critical dual purpose: it acts as an effective vibration isolator, dampening resonant frequencies from the chassis to the reservoir, reducing mechanical stress and minimizing hydraulic system noise. Secondly, the rubber barrier prevents galvanic corrosion. By electrically isolating dissimilar metals (aluminum and stainless steel) in the presence of an electrolyte, it prevents accelerated aluminum corrosion, ensuring prolonged structural integrity of both the reservoir and its mounting hardware. This assembly ensures straightforward installation, unparalleled security, and reliability, underscoring the reservoir's professional-grade engineering.

Comprehensive Fluid Management and Contamination Control

Effective fluid management and stringent contamination control are fundamental for maximizing hydraulic system longevity and performance. This 70 Gallon Aluminum Hydraulic Reservoir addresses these critical aspects through its integrated quarter-turn filler breather unit, equipped with a basket strainer. The filler breather facilitates fluid introduction via its quarter-turn design for quick, secure access. Critically, the breather component maintains atmospheric pressure within the reservoir as fluid levels fluctuate, allowing air to enter and exit, preventing vacuum or overpressure. The breather element incorporates an air filter to prevent airborne contaminants—dust, dirt, and moisture—from entering the hydraulic system. Contamination is a leading cause of hydraulic component wear, making this breather a crucial first line of defense. In conjunction, the integrated basket strainer provides preliminary filtration during initial filling or top-offs. Positioned within the filler neck, this coarse strainer captures larger particulate matter that might be present in new fluid containers or introduced during pouring. While not a fine filtration system, it is indispensable for preventing immediate, significant contamination that could instantaneously damage pumps or obstruct smaller orifices. It acts as a mechanical barrier, ensuring only reasonably clean fluid enters the main reservoir volume. It is important to note that, as specified, this reservoir does not include an integral diffuser, return line filter, oil level gauge, or temperature gauge. This deliberate design offers significant flexibility to the end-user or system integrator, allowing for independent selection and installation of external, application-specific return line filters, diffusers, sight gauges, or temperature sensors. This modularity enables custom filtration strategies, advanced monitoring solutions, and system tuning optimally matched to the precise requirements of the hydraulic system, fluid type, and operating environment, providing a highly adaptable foundation without imposing a fixed, non-customizable solution.