Cab fuel tank bracket removal?

[tigerburns]

There are 2 brackets located on the floor at the rear of the cab that hold the gas tank. For the guys that have relocated their gas tanks out of the cab, have you removed these brackets or left them in place?

I have relocated my tank and want to add sound proofing to the floor and up the back of the cab. What have you guys done with these brackets in a similar situation?

Thanks for your input.

[TxCajun]

A number of people have described removing the bolts and spot welds that secure these brackets, and removing the whole bracket.

I thought about doing that, but I'm leaning towards leaving the brackets in place since the brackets provide some additional support and stiffening between the floor and the back wall. This stiffening may help with resonant vibration of those panels.

However, I did use a side grinder and cutoff wheel to trim the brackets to remove the front lip, and added some plug welding in place of the bolts that previously secured the front of the bracket.

See pics....

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[forestb]

I just left them in place and just carpeted around what TxCajun cut off. There was another guy on this thread that removed them and in the process heated up the exterior paint and messed it up.

[The Rocknrod]

I removed them before paint and body work.

[tigerburns]

For those that removed them entirely, I have a couple questions...

First, what did you do with the encapsulated nuts for the cab mounts? Did you leave those in place or just replace with a washer and regular hex nut?

Second, are the brackets just welded to the floor and back of cab along the edges or are there interior spot welds? I still have my seat in, and have not looked at them that closely yet.

I'm still chewing on what I want to do with them before I start to tackle the sound proofing.

[The Rocknrod]

Left em.
Spot welded.