Hi All,

1996 F250 5.8 - Replaced my rear tank from a small hole over the summer, front tank sprang a leak on the middle seam last week. I dropped it yesterday and I am about to order a new dorman replacement from rockauto.com. I am work right now and realized I didnt think about the straps. They are pretty rusty so wanted to just replace them. I didnt put much time into looking at how to remove the old ones though yesterday. Are they just like the rear tank, turn them sideways and they come out or do I have to take apart something else? I can sand the other ones and POR15 them in place but just find it easier to spend $20 and get new ones. I just dont want to order them if I have to start taking apart more of the truck, I'll keep the old ones for now. I live in CT and we have snow coming Wed so starting another project right now is not in the cards.

thanks for any advice!

 

Do you have an advanced auto parts near by?

They had the tank in stock. It was a good quality tank made by spectra in Canada. Part number F6C for the 19 gallon side tank and F14C for the 16 gallon side tank.

They even had the straps in stock. Part number ST03 for the 19 gallon side tank (long bed) or part number ST05 for the 16 gallon (short bed) side tanks.

The price was about the same as rockauto.com when I used the advance auto coupon code they had on the website. Ordered and picked it up in the store same day.

I used the spectra premium e-catalog to find what I needed and then cross-referenced the part numbers to the advance auto parts site.
http://ecat.spectrapremium.com/

Good luck.

 

Thanks Warren, my main question is do the straps unhook without having to take anything apart? I just unbolted them on one side to drop the tank but they are still attached on the other side. Looks like they might just need to be turned sideways to come out or do I have to take apart anything else? I dont want to order another pair right now if I have to remove more parts. Need to get the new tank in quickly with the weather change. I can get most of the truck in the garage but not a fan of wrenching in the cold crappy weather.

thanks

 

mine is a 93 f150 4.9. I just dropped the tank and replaced the FWD pump a couple weeks ago.

my FWD tank used the same 1/4 turn straps.

hope that helps,

 

So you just turn them in those notches and then they can be taken out?

 

Exactly. When you unscrew the bolts, you should be able to pull the straps down, then once they're down, rotate them 90 degrees and they will slip out.

The straps have a notch on the end opposite the screw holes (right side of the picture below.


The tank also has some sort of gooey rubberized thing that is stuck to the tank and then the strap wraps around it.

On my 96, when I unscrewed the straps and started pulling them off, the tank remained stuck to the frame. The gooey rubber piece kept the (empty) tank stuck to the upper supports until I pulled the tank down.

 

Yea, mine came down easy since I had about 10 gallons of gas in it. haha Between leaking gas and gooey ***** it was a mess. I will try taking out the straps when I get home tonight. If they are the same design as the straps on the rear they will come right out with the turn. When I had the tank on my jack disconnecting the lines I took a quick look and they looked a little different. Im sure its the same though. My kids were hounding me to take them to the skate park when I was working on the truck so I was being rushed as usual!

Anyone know if that tape stuff on the straps in necessary to put on the straps again? I didnt bother on my rear tank and figured I could always remove one strap at a time and apply it if necessary in the future since i used never seize on every bolt I removed and put back into this truck.

 

Supposedly the gooey tape stuff was just there to keep the tank from rattling around on the straps.

Given how much the new straps deformed the new tank as I tightened the nuts, rattling shouldn't be a problem.

 

Thanks, I was thinking it was there to prevent movement or maybe to deter the straps from rusting to the tank. If you can buy the stuff somewhere I'll add it back but not going out of my way to find it.

I was able to remove the straps too last night too by just turning and popping them out. Much easier to do when you're not being rushed. .

Just ordered new front tank, straps and fuel strainer. Need to get some POR15 so I can continue my frame and cross memeber paint up. I did the whole frame inside and out from front rear shackle back when I replaced the rear tank and shackles in August. Grinded all the surface rust down smooth and used the 3 step POR15 process. She's gonna be like new underneath pretty soon!

 

I purchased some rubberized weatherproofing strips at the local hardware store as a replacement for the factory tape.

 

Have a link or google image to what you purchased, rla2005? I'd be interested. I'll grab some myself since I have a couple days before my parts show up.

 

It's been a few years since I did that project. I recall it came in a roll so you could cut it to length. I think it also had an adhesive on one side. I got it at the local Menards store. It was easy to work with and reasonably cheap IIRC. It was definitely a rubber based product not an open/closed cell foam.

This might be it: http://www.menards.com/main/doors-wi...383-c-3624.htm

 

thanks, i found a similar 3M type of rubber weatherstrip without foam. I'll grab some from my local hardware store and give it a go. Thanks everyone for all your help. I love this forum!