After doing a bit of searching here I have come to the conclusion that the hot set up is to remove the bed to get to my fuel pump bracket, which is leaking. However, I don't have the facilities or help to do that so I'm going to drop the tank out the bottom. Any tricks I should know?

Also, is there enough slack on the flex hoses to allow me to get the tank on the ground or will I be screwing up the metal lines that lead to the front as the tank comes down? can I just cut the metal lines on the top of the pump bracket and then deal with the rest of the lines after the tank is out of the way?

I won't be able to get to this for a few weeks so in the meantime will be soaking the tank mount bolts with PB blaster. The first one I leaned on broke off... great fun!

thanks for your help.

 

lift the bed. its soo much easier.. But if you're goin to drop the tank, make sure to run it down to a near empty.

 

X2, you don't have to remove the bed, just lift one side a foot or so. Just loosen the bolts on the other side but don't remove them. I used the factory bottle jack on top of the tire in the wheel well with a piece of 2x6 lumber to lift it.

 

my bed was bad, dented and dinged and rusty so... I just made an "access panel" in the top, saved me from trying to remove bed bolts in the cold. Drilled a hole and then used a jig saw to make my panel. At some point I will get another bed, I'd use this as a last effort option though.

 

I wouldn't bother dropping the tank. Lifting the bed is easy as mentioned above, or only takes two people to remove it if you decide to do a bit of frame restoration while you're back there.

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate the quick input.

 

No problem. Honestly, I'd see if you can get the bed off if I were you. It'll give you ample room to give the frame a proper inspection. When I had the bed off my Pickup a while back, I found a hole in the frame on the inboard side near the gas tank. I patched that up, scraped the frame down really well, and painted it with some decent paint through a paint gun.

Two years later and still going strong. (NE winters FTL)

 

Do I need to pull out the liner? That thing is wedged in there and It's getting destroyed. Can I just unscrew the bolts on the bottom of the bed under the truck and tilt the bed to access the Fuel Tank?

Thanks

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You don't need to pull the bed liner. The bed bolts have a tab that is under the bed. It takes a 17mm socket to get them out. Undo the fuel filler neck to the bed and remove the gas cap. Loosen the drivers side and remove the passenger bolts.

 

Everything was so rusted on mine that I ended up doing the access hole in the floor of the bed. A few years back I had to use the same hole to replace the fuel pump. Sooo... If you are doing the sending unit/fuel pickup, it is wise to replace the fuel pump while you are in there.

 

Here is what we did so far. First off the vehicle sat for 1 year. The tank was empty but for a few gallons. When I returned, the battery was replaced, we shot some starter fluid into the injector and it fired then died. We did the by pass Install Jumper Wire between +B and FP and cannot hear the fuel pump. I'm thinking it's dead. If we replace the pump and filter, what's the chance that this is it? I'm contemplating having it go to the shop, but then wondering if I want to liquidate my 401k to do so? Thanks for your help and info.

 

With the fuel pump jumper in, pull the Return Line off where the rubber line comes off of the fuel rail and goes to the metal line that returns to the tank. It will fill a quart jar in a minute or so when you turn on the key. If that does not cause it to start pumping fuel, I would suspect the pump. I haven looked up and seen which fuse controls the pump, might give it a check before replacing the pump. I get my pumps off of ebay for a whole lot less then the dealer or part store is going to charge you. I would not send it to the shop just yet without doing the above checks.