I've always felt that a Yota's worst enemy wasn't rocks or mud or water, but erosion.

Short version:
Can I just straight replace an OEM 13 gallon fuel tank with an OEM style 17 gallon one, or is there more to it?

Detailed version:
I have an 87 PU, a glorious $850 beater I'm proud to call my daily driver. The gas tank has begun to deteriorate and I need some advice on replacing it. It has some pinhole leaks in the bottom being held at bay by occasional reapplication of gas tank sealing putty (read: bubble gum). Apparently it is also rusting/flaking off inside, because it keeps clogging my fuel filter every 3/4 months or so. I want to replace my smaller 13 gallon tank for the marginally bigger 17 gallon one, mainly because the bigger tank is usually cheaper and easier to source. Is it basically a bolt-on swap, or are there any other doodads I will need to make the filler neck and fuel sender fit up? It's carbureted, so the pump isn't involved. All the pictures I've seen seem to suggest it won't be an issue, but I'd hate to order the damn thing and have it not fit.

 

Im not sure if it would be a direct swap or not, the 17 gallon tanks only came on long bed trucks from what ive read here, so the only real way to tell if it would fit or not would be to find a long bed truck and compare the mounting location and go from there.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, I had been thinking vertically, not "longitudinally." I hadn't realized that the larger tanks were for long bed models. I found some tank dimensions online (Toyota pickups for comparison are somewhat rare here in Florida) and it looks like the larger tank is too long. Thanks anyways though!

 

What you should do is get the chassis # off the firewall e.g. R66N - XXXX then look for tanks that fit online. I just did my '88 ext cab and it's a tight fit around the drive shaft but it would be pretty easy to modify the mounting brackets. Just keep in mind it would be around 100lbs full.