New in-cab fuel tank woes

[Mike J]

Ok guys, can anybody give me any suggestions... Im trying to put in the new fuel tank i got- and it aint fitting, plain and simple. The old one came out pretty easy so I can't figure out why I can't get this one in- unless it's just stamped really wrong. arrrgh, im pissed and frustrated

[BAGNDRAGIT]

what year tank into what year truck? i had an issue with the neck seal on my 67 when i put in a 71-72 tank.

[Mike J]

it's a 68 truck- tank just said 67-72 without EEC - every catalog I looked it up in said the same thing so it should be right, just doesn't want to sit back against the rear cab wall right and bolt holes dont seem to want to line up right and the neck isn't centered in the hole in cab if I try to shove it over to line up bolt holes- I just wanna make sure it's not just me messing up lol

[cdowns]

i've heard of guys that got new repo tanks and the boltholes dont line up

me i'd drill to make fit

[BLACK AND BLUE 67-72]

I agree with cdowns, I have heard the same thing from several people about the new tanks. Original I know first hand will work fine swapping 67 to 72 or vice versa, the necks are different and some had evap tubes, and the sending units are different.

[Mike J]

i think im gonna have to, dont know what else to do

no wonder i was getting stuff in the fuel filter, I found a stick about a foot long, a 2 foot section of garden hose, and about 1000 pine needles in the old tank- if i knew it would be ok, i'd just put it back in

[LockDoc]

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Does the new tank have a serrated neck on it? If so I would just bend the neck until it fits...

LockDoc

[eagleuh1]

Don't do it. Sounds like you need to replace it if it has that much crud in it. Mine looked perfectly fine inside and out. Was driving with it until started doing rocker and cab corner replacement. Started leaking after finished body work and I put sound deadener in. Melted it pretty good. It didn't leak the whole time I had it setting against my back tire while doing body work, welding, grinding....Good luck.

[eagleuh1]

x2 on what Lockdoc said. I bent my neck to center it in the cab hole after bolting new tank in. Used a wooden broom handle. Mine had the corrugated, serrated whatever ripples in it, so it bent easy enough. Good luck again.

[Mike J]

ok, got 3 bolt holes lined up so far after grinding on it forever! and bent the neck easily with a jack handle. Im giving up for tonight but looks like with a bit more grinding I can get 2 more bolts in it. whew! that certainly didnt go as planned. thanks for the help and insight guys! (also the mounting flange all around the tank was straight up and down, and I bent on it with some flanging pliers until it was more like a 45 degree angle and that helped some as well)

[PatrickGMC70]

I got my replacement from LMC and it was a major PITA to get it to fit. Like you, it didn't want to seat properly against the back cab wall, and the holes didn't line up. On top of that, when I could get most of the bolts to line up, then I found that it covered the seat belt bolt hole! I eventually got 5 out of the 7 (or how ever many bolts there were) to fit, and I had to file the crap out of the bottom edge to get the seat belt bolt back in.

If it wasn't so big, and would have cost so much to ship back, I would have. I'm still holding on to my original tank in the event that some day I'll get it reconditioned and get something that fits.

I found that coating the neck in dish soap helped to get it through the rubber grommet, which was a whole 'nother story all together...

[Clutch442]

I got one of the Spectra premuim tanks from O'reillys. It fit very well. Had to bend the neck just a little bit, but all the bolt holes lined up well.