Offcamber1

It's been a while...

1. Tried to get the bed off. Bolts are way rusted and I don't have access to a tourch.

2. Tried to drop tank out bottom. First mounting bolt i tried broke off.

3. Today I cut an access hole in the already rusted bed so I could get to it. The screws that hold the fuel pump bracket in are totally rusted. I cannot even tell if they are hex, allen, phillips, or slot head screws. Can you enlighten me?

Any ideas on how to get the fuel pump bracket off? If I chisel the 8 screwheads off, any chance I can get the shanks off without having to drill them out?

Anybody ever just bolted an aftermarket external tank in the bed?

I about ready to give up. It has 310K on it and owes me nothing.

thanks in advance for your help.

Kip

pineapple

...hex, I can't remember but they're either 7 or 8mm. The bracket is/was a "dealer only" item.

peow130

I've got just the tool for you.
Starts with G, ends with Rinder..
Start cutting the bolt heads off.

Offcamber1

Were 7 or 8. 8 just twirled around, 7 wouldn't go on. I suspect at one time they might have been 8...

Cold chisel and big hammer tomorrow afternoon. I hate doing meatball surgery!

Offcamber1

Ok, I had to drill the heads of the 8 little bolts and then popped them off with a cold chisel. I was able to grab ahold of 7 of the 8 shanks and twist them on out. The 8th one was a no go and I ended up drilling down into the metal ring that it was corroded into. I guess I will have to tap that hole with a bottom tap.

The only dissassembly that needs to be done is getting the high pressure fuel line union undone. That's soaking in PB Blaster.

I guess I will order the new bracket tomorrow.

Offcamber1

Well I am almost to the point of reversing the ratchet: Just one more problem.

The junction of the fuel line from the tank into the line that goes up to the front of the truck was frozen solid. So I cut the steel line about a half inch from where the 14mm hex is welded on, put a 6 point deepwell socket on it with a 2 foot long cheater bar, slipped a 19mm closed end wrench on the line from the front of the truck and a second wrench on the end of it too, and was able to pop the old fitting loose from the 19mm swivel on the end of the rubber hose. Cool!

Now I find the 19mm swivel is rusted and does not even think about swiveling anymore. Very uncool...

So I've been spraying the swivel nut with PB Blaster for the last two days and so far, no love.

Question 1. Is there a trick to freeing up the swivel nut without messing it up?

Question 2. What size metric pipe thread is that and can a male to female adapter be acquired or fabricated?

I do not want to go any further up the front of the truck...this has been like working on plumbing in an old house where you start in the 2nd floor bathroom and end up at the big entry pipe in the basement...

Any help, experience, or suggestions are appreciated. Needless to say, with the rubber line only an inch or two away from the swivel, heat is not an option, and wouldn't be a real safe idea on a fuel line anyway.

The good news is I have the bracket now and have successfully drilled and tapped the one hole where the bracket mounting screw would not come out.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Kip

Offcamber1

In case anyone is still following...

The fitting from the fuel line to the pump bracket is some odd metric size and nobody could match it up so I cut the line on the fuel pump bracket about 2 inches from the fitting and then got a 4 inch chunk of high pressure fuel line hose and 4 hose clamps.

In retrospect, I should have cut the original hole in the bed to about a 12 inch by 12 inch square. That would have made things a bit easier as I ended up expanding the 6x8 hole anyway.

So... It is indeed possible to do this from the top side without dropping the tank or removing the bed, it is just a royal PIA.

The scary thing is that the brake lines to the rear of the truck are likely the same material and potentially likely to perferate soon as well. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Brakes are for sissies anyway!

ciao,

Kip

highway74

Still following thread keep us posted, want to pull my bed and Linex the the bottom and bed, as well as replace fuel filter at the same time.

Team420

Heres a link to my fuel pump bracket repair thread on another forum.... Maybe it'll help ya... maybe not... I ran the rig this way for over 2 years, never had a single problem, sold it that way a few mos ago, and the new owner is having no probs w it either...

http://forums.exploringnh.com/showthread.php?t=6779

Offcamber1

Highway 74, my email is khollowell at comwares dot net if you want me to email you some pics of what I did. Everything seems fine now. If you can pull the bed, by all means do so as that makes everything else so much easier. My bed surgery is conveniently covered by a rubber bed mat, which also covers some runs holes in the bed floor. If the bed was really solid to begin with I would not have gone the meatball surgery route.

Team 420, since my truck has 310K on it if I had run across your fix six weeks ago I probably would have gone that route. As it stands, buying the new bracket and gasket and other stuff, as well as a few tools I needed I have right at $250 in the fix. I figure that's about a fifth of what the truck is worth.

I'd like to get at least one more winter out of it, possibly two. The sucker goes like stink in the snow with 4wd and the front hubs locked in and still gets 18mpg while doing it. Under normal driving conditions I get anywhere from 20 to 24 MPG. With gas hitting $4 per gallon I have trouble finding anything as versital as "Deepwater Horizon."

Ciao,

Kip