{"id":1685,"date":"2026-01-05T14:33:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/?p=1685"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:33:46","slug":"adding-tip-tanks-to-a-pa-28-cherokee-or-pa-28r-arrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/adding-tip-tanks-to-a-pa-28-cherokee-or-pa-28r-arrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Adding tip tanks to a PA-28 Cherokee or PA-28R Arrow?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I receive many questions about the fuel systems of Piper PA-28 Cherokees, Arrows, and PA-28-235 Pathfinders. A common question is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can I modify my PA-28 to add tip tanks from the PA-28-235?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for the question. You have a good point, as the PA-28 Hershey bar wing chord is common across the PA-28R Arrow and PA-28 Cherokee variants prior to the tapered wing. Plus, the PA-28-235 and the Cherokee 6 have two 17 gallon tip tanks for a total of 84 gallons.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Yet, for all of the advantages of these tip tanks, I’ve never seen or heard of them being retrofitted into a non-235 Cherokee or Arrow. I suspect that there are three primary reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) This modification is a major change and will require substantial engineering and flight testing work. I’m not aware of any STCs available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) The plumbing and fuel management systems are substantially different between the tip and non-tip PA-28 variants. Plus, the tip tanks significantly increase the fuel management decision making. The tips have capital and maintenance costs too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) The aircraft endurance\/range performance in the stock aircraft is equal to or exceeds the normal endurance performance of the pilot and passengers. Additionally, adding 34 gallons of fuel effectively removes 1+ passenger, as you are unlikely to increase the certified gross weight for climb and structural performance reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given these negatives, how would I approach the installation of more fuel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Sell the Arrow and buy a Bonanza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Selling the Arrow and buying a Lance won’t work, as the larger engine burns substantially more fuel. I burned 9 gph in an Arrow and 14 in a 235. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Add the PA-28-235 tip tanks but *don’t* <\/strong>copy the -235’s fuel system. Rather use a gravity or electrical pump into the existing fuel line, such that you one-way transfer fuel into the mostly empty main tanks. This has the potential to be an easier and safer certification path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now for the lawyer statements: 1) I am not advocating this process. Buy the Bonanza and be done with it. 2) I have not and will not indicate the legal, structural, or performance suitability of this process except under contract. 3) I am not presenting myself as a Designated Engineering Representative DER.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer really is no unless you have unlimited funds and time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I receive many questions about the fuel systems of Piper PA-28 Cherokees, Arrows, and PA-28-235 Pathfinders. A common question is: How can I modify my PA-28 to add tip tanks from the PA-28-235? Thanks for the question. You have a good point, as the PA-28 Hershey bar wing chord is common across the PA-28R Arrow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[158],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charles-oneill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}