I backed my truck up onto my ramps and then laid my trusty-until-its-crusty harbor freight moving blanket under the gas tank. Here is the view.
I was actually a little disappointed with the view as the truck was quite a bit more "rust free" underneath when I first got it. I blame the city's change to using road salt a few years back vs using sand and forcing people to make good decisions during the winter like they used to. 🤷‍♂️ The cab looks better than the bed, but anyway...
A few shots from underneath before getting back to the tank. Here's the factory muffler, which isn't cruelty-free as it is obviously caged. You can also see portions of the rear of the cab with the clean green paint vs rust, the floor boards, and the longest one-piece drive shaft I've ever owned.
Here's part of the reason I originally wanted to drop the tank a few years ago. Depending on the weather, it'll drip when filling the tank and if I put more than about 5 gallons in it, it'll vent out the hose and drip on the ground for a long time. Yes, that's how I've been driving it since I've had it, when I needed to drive it anyway, which wasn't a lot for the first few years of ownership. 5 gallons or less and it doesn't drip and 5 gallons (1/4 tank) lasts me a week in this thing, which is pretty good honestly. It also didn't look this bad the first time I noticed it and tried to tighten up the clamp. It's pretty damn terrible now and long overdue.
Also, you can get a better angle on the view I had that was disappointing with all the rust growth. Ford coated the portions of the bed outboard of the bed floor with zinc-rich primer, which clearly makes a big difference when it comes to rust formation. It's like that on both sides, no rust past that seam where the floor meets the inner fender/wheel well.
Alright, back to dropping the tank. Couple bolts removed allowed the straps to hang which revealed the burlap-ish material used to cushion the tank straps. There were two layers of it between the straps and the tank and then a few, maybe 3"x3" pieces up on the front side which I'm assuming cushioned the tank from the crossmember in front of it.
Wasn't much left in the tank, maybe 1/2 gallon. I was pushing the whole tank up just using my knee while laying under the truck.
I didn't get a shot of it, but the very last exhaust hanger bolts into the frame right next to the tank and it's basically impossible to get a wrench, well at least any wrench I own, on the back of the bolts to keep them from spinning so you can take the bolts off and move the hanger out of the way to let the tank just fall out of the frame rails. It's right behind that piece of insulation hanging from the tank in the right side of the above picture, of course.
So, I had to push the filler and vent hoses through the gap between the bed and frame while I slowly worked the tank rearward and at a slight downward angle. It was a slow process, but I was able to feed it past the exhaust hanger that way and slide the whole thing out under the rear bumper. I'll have to do something about that hanger, because there's no way I'm putting the tank back in the way I removed it.
The upper straps look good and so does the bulk of the bed floor above the center of the tank. Pay attention to that rubber hose connected to that plastic valve. It's a clue to my assumption that this isn't the original tank. That and the filler/vent hoses.
Tadah!! Notice anything odd about this tank and the hoses? That's right, there's no hole in the center of it for that plastic valve to fit into it to allow it to vent to the charcoal canister under the hood. That valve's just been hanging there above the tank this whole time. Ford also put the filler vent hose on the back side of the filler hose on the tanks without the vent valve and then put it on the front side of the filler hose on the tanks
with the vent valve. So, whoever put this tank in had to cross the vent hose over to match it up with the metal filler tube since it would normally line up straight across with the inlets on the fuel tank. I guess I'll have to do the same unless I want to order the correct tank for said metal filler tubes.
Also looks like they never got the vent clamp on properly. It's not even past the barb and you can tell it's been like this for a very long time as it's loose and there would be a nice, clean(er) ring where the clamp was screwed on tight similar to the one left from the clamp I removed on the filler hose.
Sending unit time.
Little kinked. Maybe not pinched shut, but it's pretty close.
Little surface rust, but nothing too bad really. The float looked the same on my Bronco.
This was the worst spot with rust.
Then I pulled the rest of that burlap lookin' stuff off the tank and was pleasantly surprised with nice shiny metal and not a ton of pin holes.
The smaller pieces on the front of the tank between the tank and the crossmember.
Looks like they might have sprayed the tank with some undercoating as you can see it around the perimeter of the tank. Also has an uncoated portion in a nice circular pattern, which I'm assuming is from the non-existent spare tire. The spare must have been removed at some point by a PO.
Now I'm just contemplating if I should just replace the tank since it's out and I can get a new, super duper clean one for around $110. I mean, if there was ever a time to replace it, for any reason, it'd be now. I don't want to do it again, but my current tank really isn't
that bad. Ugh.
Here's a couple pics via Amazon showing the different hose orientations for the vented and non-vented tanks.
That oughta finish my unnecessarily long post for dropping my fuel tank. Thank you for reading.