DoubleDingo
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2012
- Posts
- 11,325
- Reaction score
- 17,373
- Location
- Right where I am
- First Name
- Bagoomba
- Truck Year
- 1981
- Truck Model
- 81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
- Engine Size
- Carb'ed Vortec 350
Well it is apparent that this cannot wait any longer. My old lines on the tanks are most likely toast as was pointed out earlier this year. There were other issues that I found out needed to be addressed as well, but now it's time for the fun part.
Background: Had a stumble back towards the beginning of the year that appeared when driving on the freeway. It was intermittent, and still is. I thought I had it fixed, but I was merely running on the wrong tank to cause the problem. I was set to take the truck camping in an area about 4.5 hours away, but since my girlfriend is always broke I cancelled the trip because I couldn't afford the $500 in fuel alone and all the other stuff. Turns out that was a blessing in disguise. I took the truck on a trip to go golfing an hour away instead. It ran great! Coming home the canyon road was closed so I had to take a backroad to get home. I noticed the RH Tank was at 1/4 so I switched over to LH Tank. Truck still ran great...until...On a short straight away I decided to kick in the 4-barrels and then the problems began. I was in the middle of nowhere and truck wanted to die, but if I feathered the throttle it would recover and run fine, and then stumble, and run fine...you see the pattern here. If I recall correctly, I think it was Jerry saying that the hoses on the tops of the tanks needed to be replaced because if they're most likely rotted out and the modern fuel is further eating away at them, which causes cavetation and the fuel pump to lose prime.
Now: Since I think it may be easier to unbolt the bed, lift it, set it on 4x4 or 6x6 blocks and slide it back a foot, what is involved in removing a bed on one these trucks. Mine is a 81 long bed fleetside with dual tanks. The LH Tank is still full, and the RH Tank still has about 1/4 so dropping those could be problematic. I guess I could drain them and drop them if it's easier to drop the tanks over lifting and sliding the bed back to gain access to the hoses. Is it possible to use a long arm engine hoist to aid in lifting the bed?
What are your suggestions from those that have experience in removing these beds or dropping tanks?
Background: Had a stumble back towards the beginning of the year that appeared when driving on the freeway. It was intermittent, and still is. I thought I had it fixed, but I was merely running on the wrong tank to cause the problem. I was set to take the truck camping in an area about 4.5 hours away, but since my girlfriend is always broke I cancelled the trip because I couldn't afford the $500 in fuel alone and all the other stuff. Turns out that was a blessing in disguise. I took the truck on a trip to go golfing an hour away instead. It ran great! Coming home the canyon road was closed so I had to take a backroad to get home. I noticed the RH Tank was at 1/4 so I switched over to LH Tank. Truck still ran great...until...On a short straight away I decided to kick in the 4-barrels and then the problems began. I was in the middle of nowhere and truck wanted to die, but if I feathered the throttle it would recover and run fine, and then stumble, and run fine...you see the pattern here. If I recall correctly, I think it was Jerry saying that the hoses on the tops of the tanks needed to be replaced because if they're most likely rotted out and the modern fuel is further eating away at them, which causes cavetation and the fuel pump to lose prime.
Now: Since I think it may be easier to unbolt the bed, lift it, set it on 4x4 or 6x6 blocks and slide it back a foot, what is involved in removing a bed on one these trucks. Mine is a 81 long bed fleetside with dual tanks. The LH Tank is still full, and the RH Tank still has about 1/4 so dropping those could be problematic. I guess I could drain them and drop them if it's easier to drop the tanks over lifting and sliding the bed back to gain access to the hoses. Is it possible to use a long arm engine hoist to aid in lifting the bed?
What are your suggestions from those that have experience in removing these beds or dropping tanks?