72 Gas Tank Conversion Issue

[OldYeller72]

So I pulled the bed off my truck last night to start the installation of the tank conversion.
I am using a 16 gal fuel cell and mounting straps from Summit Racing. Well, I went back out to take a look and get started on drilling the holes for the straps. I went to slide the cell up in the hole and noticed one side went in fine with plenty of clearance, but on the paasenger side, the tank was rubbing on the cross member, so much that the cell couldnt be put up in position all the way. So I measured it to find that there is one inch less room on the passenger side versus the driver side.

I stood back and looked and I can see the cross member at an angle. Its never been moved, because it still has the factory rivets in place.

I was just curious if anybody has experienced this before?
The picture below is looking down from the passenger side and its the crossmember at the top of the picture. I went ahead and removed the rivets and moved the member forward to match the driver side. I just found that strange that the cross member from the factory was installed in an angle.

One more thing, not being familiar with this year of trucks, I am curious, is there suppose to be a slight bend in the panhard bar running from the frame to the rear housing? See picture below.

[jocko]

i'm not sure if the one side is supposed to be a tighter squeeze, but if the panhard is bend (and if it's not supposed to be) then I'd expect a wreck somewheres in her past. Can you choose the 4 furtherst corner bed mounting points and measure diagonals to check for overall squareness of the frame (aft section anyway, I assume you still have the cab on?)

[OldYeller72]

Yes the cab is still on the frame. I measured from the rear going forward.
Now I thought maybe it had been wrecked, but the original bed was still on the truck. Yes there is damage on the driverside rear, but nothing serious at all. I did buy another bed to put on because the damage on the original bed was right on the corner of the bed and there is a crease there, so its just easier to repalce the bed. The rear bumper was also pushed in about 3" just as if the previous owner backed into something. Just to look at the bed and the bumper and the location of the damage, I would say he just backed up into something or he may have been lightly rearended on the corner.

I guess stranger things have happen, but if the frame is tweeked, I will need to see how far out of square it is and then determine if its worth fixing it. I bought it for 700 from a youngster who just beat the hell out of it, and like most kids they just dont take care of stuff.

So to do this accurately, I will have to pull the cab and front clip off, to do cross angle measurements? Or is there another way of checking?

Thanks for helping

[jocko]

That'd be the way to do it if you were starting from scratch, but if it were me, I'd find bed mount holes that are supposed to be the same diagonal apart (maybe check opposite corners of the bed itself to see likely candidates) and measure front right to left rear and front left to right rear and compare. If good, then I wouldn't bother removing the cab/clip. This won't rule out a bent forward section, but if the rear is square, then it's square. I thought the crossmember might have looked a little iffy also, as in received a hit from the side and slightly buckled - but I really can't tell in the pics. I don't know if I'd look for a new candidate if it is tweaked, a frame shop should be able to fix it pretty quickly.

And, keep in mind, it may not be tweaked at all - still need to confirm from someone much smarter than me on here if the panhard is supposed to have a kink in it - I don't know if it is supposed to or not. If it IS, then I might not be so worried and you may just need to do a little trimmin or something. Since you're piecing this together rather than kitting, there would be no guarantee this would fit at all. Surely someone on here has used this tank to do exactly what you're doing... I hope. They'd be able to shed much more light on this.

[PanelDeland]

Not sure about the panhard,I'm too lazy to get a light and jack to look.The crossmember being at an angle is normal.All are that way.

[OldYeller72]

Well mine is straight now...lol

[sharpmark]

as already said the cross member is angled from factory and the panhard bar should be straight.to check if its bent on purpose measure between the tyre sidewall and chassis rail on each side-mine is identicle measurement

[dbstepside]

as stated earlier the crossmember is supposed to be angled about an 1". is this truck lowered down any? my reason for asking this is i have seen trucks around here with heated coil springs and then to get the rearend straight again they just heat the panhard bar and pull it over with a ratchet strap. but also a slight accident in the rear of truck could have tweaked it enough that the bar took most of the flex instead of the frame though.

[OldYeller72]

The truck is not lowered. I can say that the suspension parts are shot on this truck. If had known, I would have offered much less for it. But I am into it already. So I might as well continue with the resurection. She will be a nice truck in a year or so. I might had waited on building the motor for it and just concentrated on the truck itself. Nice thing is, the new motor is just sitting on the stand, completed and ready to drop in when ready. It has a running motor in it now, so I can move it without having to push it.

I will measure the distance and see if its the same on both sides.
I did straighten the crossmember, and will prepare for the tank install tomorrow.

Just curious, do you think medium blast media is ok to use on these frames. Its not real dirty at all, as you can see in the pics. It just has dirt on it.

Thanks again for the assistance.