Thanks Bill that looks like a pretty good deal to add to my toolbox.

 

My friend decided to just order 2 fuel pumps, one for each tank since the front one isn't working either. He decided to not order the fuel pressure gauge. I don't know why, but hopefully it is the fuel pumps. He said it wasn't a big deal if they didn't work, he would just return them. Even though I'm pretty sure thats the problem at least on the front tank for sure.

But anyways, me and him and possibly some of are other friends are going to work on his truck tomorrow, and I was wondering what was the best way was to get to the fuel pumps. He said that you have to either take off the bed or drop the fuel tanks. Are these pretty much the only ways or is there others? And if they are the only ways, which one is best or easier and about how long does it take? Thanks for any help in advance.

 

The only other way is to cut holes in the bed.
I like to take the bed off but you can run into rusted bolts. You need to spray them for a few days before trying to get the nuts off. I also run a thread chaser up the threads before trying to get the nuts off and then oil the threads. The bolts can also spin in the bed and then you have to weld a nut on the bolt to hold it.

 

I've usually dropped tanks in the past. The only issue is how much gas is in the tanks. If you drop them, syphon the fuel into cans first so that the tanks aren't heavy. In your case, it may be quicker to lift the bed off since you need to get to both tanks.

You may be dealing with rusted bolts either way. You may have rusted bed bolts, or rusted tank bolts. I've had to cut off tank strap bolts before.

 

I dropped my front tank in my driveway the other day, in 10 degree weather... by myself. I had trouble with a fuel line fitting not wanting to release, not the strap bolts.

It DID help that I had removed my exhaust system first. Tons of room under there like that.

 

Thanks guys for the help. I think just taking of the bed will be easier for us since we have to do both tanks. But we will not be doing it tomorrow since the parts he ordered have not came in yet, so we will have to do it sometime next week. But at least it will give us time to do the stuff that Bill said to do so we don't ruin the bolts. Hopefully everthing will go well once we do it and hopefully the fuel pumps are the problem. Thanks again for your guys help.

 

OBD I connector is located on the drivers side under the hood and the connector is either orange or pink. There is a separate one pin connector that is used to read the codes.

 

Mine is black, and the small connector is grey.

 

So just to give you guys a little upadate. My friend got both the fuel pumps, but he decided to just drop both fuel tanks instead of taking off the bed. But we haven't gotten a chance to work on it yet, because the weathers been bad. So hopefully this weekend. I don't think it should be too difficult, but does anyone have any advice on dropping the fuel tanks, just in case theres anything to look out for. Thanks in advance.

 

It sure is easier to remove the bed. I've done both, other than it requiring three people to put it back on, it was nice to give the underside a good cleaning and fresh paint. You sure want to be careful if your dropping the tanks that you unhook the sending unit cables when you start lowering the tanks. You can break the connectors real easy.

 

I was also thinking that it would be easier to just take off the bed, especially with doing both fuel tanks, which is what my friend originally was going to do, but than he changed his mind. He said that to get to the back bolts on the bed you have to drop the rear tank. Is this true? I'm just not sure. And thanks for the tip on the sending unit cables. We will definitely be careful of that if we go that route.

 

I can only speak for a 1985 long bed. You do not have to drop the rear tank on that model and I am pretty sure the same applies for the 86 as well.