The iron gate look comes from wanting it to withstand any angle impact. At first I was not all that thrilled with the look but have since gotten used to it. I still think in the back of my mind that a piece of metal welded on to cover all the structure up would look as good if not better. I have indeed tested out the strength of the tank and to this day you can not tell where I made contact. After that contact I found another weak point which Patrick has also addressed, the oil pan. He has a skid plate that protects the oil pan and transmission. I am now fairly confident that some of the major items on that side of the truck are protected.
I looked at several of the tank guards and even considered building one myself. The problem is that the tank still hangs low and the guards just did not look as if they would hold up to any serious contact. Some of the guards are made of round tubing while others were from square or rectangular tubing in any case they did not look very durable (IMHO).
The weight issue really did not concern me. The whole unit sets relatively low on the truck and really is not that heavy, until filled will gas. You are really only carrying 7 more gallons in that location than a stock truck so really not a big deal. I don't know what the exact tank weight is but I put the tank in by myself without much difficulty.
just checked CWR's site and the tank is pictured with the fuel tank not painted. It does not stand out as much with the tank and the frame painted the same color.
gas tank, larger
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