Removing driver's side fuel tank?

[SeanPaintsFlames]

I've found a pinhole leak in the drivers side tank of the 86 longbed. Now I'm trying to get the tank out to either replace or repair it, but I'm stuck.

It seems like it's getting hung up on the 3 hard lines that go over the frame. Is there a coil of rubber line up in there so that the tank will drop without having to disconnect all that from the sender, or what? I'd love to not have to try to take the bed off to get to the top of the tank. What's the usual way to replace these things? I've had the single passenger side tank out of the '80 stepside a few times without a problem, but this dual tank thing is different.

[hatzie]

I did a tank on my 85 with the bed still on. It took 4-5 hours to wrangle the lines in place on the sender then not pull them off while putting the hanger bolts in place. They just barely reach from the sender to the hard lines so I pulled one or two off several times.

It only took 1.5 hours recently to do the tank on a Buddie's 79 by removing and re-installing the bed. It was more work to get the half rotten hangers off the frame than it was to pull the bed and set it on sawhorses. We cut through the bed bolts with a Sawzall and installed new ones.

[old Rusty C10]

best way to do it with the bed on is to remove the bolts on the mounts and lower it slightly with a floor jack and then take the lines off... sometimes its weasier to just cut em and replace the rubber parts

[burger]

I just did the passenger tank on my truck this weekend. It's not the same side as what you're dealing with, so this may or may not apply.

1. I cut the old rubber lines off first. New fuel hose is cheap so I cannot see why you wouldn't replace it. I also removed the fuel level sender ground wire.

2. I stacked 2x4 wood blocks at each end of the tank, leaving a 2-3" gap between the top of the stack and the tank.

3. I removed the eight bolts holding the tank brackets to the frame. Then I lowered the tank onto the block.

4. I removed one block per side until I could access the top of the tank and remove the fuel level sender wire.

5. I dropped the tank fully to the ground.

6. In my case, I was replacing the sender, so I did that and then re-installed the tank by following the above steps in reverse. I used the old fuel hose to match up lengths for the new hose.


Hope this helps,
Ed

[jitteryguy]

I sugest remove'n the bed, it's not very hard to remove and you can also clean up the frame while it's off.

[Goldfinger]

Chances are the rubber hoses are rotted so its better to replace/repair everything at once i'd get a couple people to lift it off a longbed shouldnt weigh more than 500 or 600 pounds and its very easy also replace the bolts and coat the frame while your at it. all you need to do is undo 8 bolts disconnect the filler from the bed and disconnect the light ponytail and chassis ground.

[tucsonjwt]

You didn't say specifically that you had dual tanks, but if you do here are some pics of the setup. I put concrete blocks with blocks of wood on top -snug up against the bottom of the tank. Then I unbolted the carrier straps, then lowered the tank slowly by removing blocks - after I reached up there and unscrewed the clamps and worked the hoses loose (or you could cut them, since you should replace them anyway. The long hose going back along the frame in my pic is a custom setup to vent gas fumes to the back of the truck, away from the cab. You will have just a short piece of vent hose with a one way cap stuck in the end, or the vent hose will route to the front of your truck to an under hood charcoal vapor recovery canister.

[tucsonjwt]

Don't forget you have a ground wire from the sending unit bolted to the frame which must be removed also.

[tucsonjwt]

One problem with removing the bed is you run the risk of "rounding out" the square holes for the bed bolts, especially if rust is involved. While removing the bed is easier, once you have the support bracket off the tank drops easily, as long as you take the precautions described by others above. Needless to say, you should have an empty tank before you start this project.

[Goldfinger]

a short time with a mig and a punch can allow you to repair them

[parrisc19844x4_468]

lot of good ideas, I am just now replacing my right side tank, I did as others suggested, cut the old lines, will replace them with longer ones, but for the tank, to get down, is that I took a 1"x8" about the length of the tank and set it on top of my floor jack and lowered it down that way, as you will find out , the tanks are kind of awkwards to handle. Then when putting back up it works real nice to bet the bolts lined back up, just jack it back into place.
Good Luck. by the way, it took me at the most 2 hours to replace my tank.

[old Rusty C10]

one thing i forgot to mention and i hope you did this was to make sure you either put back the old cushions or make new ones outta tar paper.