What is the trick to working on the driver gas tank?

[jmcclane55]

I replaced the fuel sender on the driver side gas tank.

It was a giant pain in the ass to reconnect the 3 fuel lines when putting the tank back in.

Turns out, I crimped one of those 3 lines in the rubber connector (from sender to hard gas line) now I have to take the tank back out to fix it.

Can someone please tell me some tricks to doing this? I'm not looking forward to doing it again.

 

[foamypirate]

Use new fuel line, make it longer than stock so you can loop it when you install the tank. That gives you the length needed to attach with the tank lowered, and then when you raise it up, you just push the line into a loop and it tucks up nice and neat.

 

[bucket]

Use a left sender on the right and a right sender on the left. It makes it easier to run longer hoses and less chance of getting them tangled/pinched when you raise the tank into place.

 

[HotRodPC]

I found it easier to remove the bed bolts and slide the bed back. Although, I had planned on taking the bed off anyway for another purpose at the time.

 

[bucket]

I found it easier to remove the bed bolts and slide the bed back. Although, I had planned on taking the bed off anyway for another purpose at the time.

If it's a 16 gallon tank, the sender is under the back of the cab. Also if it's a rustbelt truck, unbolting the bed ain't so easy. When I took apart my daily driven '84 a while back, dropping the tank was easy... but those bed bolts were a bitch and the cutoff wheel got a good workout.

 

[HotRodPC]

I could certainly see the grief on removing the bed on a rust belt trucks. It's a bit of work even for the non rust belt trucks. I did it that way because I wanted the bed off anyway.

 

[jmcclane55]

I was able to fix it today. I had used new hoses, but cut them too long. When I put the gas tank back on, it crimped the hoses.

I took the tank back off, cut an inch off the hoses but before I tried reinstalling it, I took off the clamps holding the hard lines and also took the clamps off the hard lines where it meets the fuel tank valve.

It still sucked, but having the hard lines loose made it easier to reinstall the tank.

 

[DoubleDingo]

My stepdad bought a set of really long pliers to replace those lines with. They are easily 16 inches long. One with straight jaws, one with 90* jaws, and one with 45* jaws. The book calls out a certain time frame for those to be done by far more involved means, but he said takes about half an hour to do both sides using those pliers and the bed doesn't need to be removed. Can reach all of the pinch-clamps or whatever they're called, and remove & replace all the hoses. I was going to borrow them to do mine, but some a-hole-e-o left the wires exposed between the bed and cab on the driver's side, so I have to use the aforementioned "remove-the-bed-slide-the-bed-back-method". Maybe long pliers like that can be rented somewhere.

 

[MikeB]

Sunex #3706 16" pliers. Around $45.

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