Hey guys, some of you may know that I recently took down my main gas tank (beside the drive shaft) because it was leaking. Anyways, I want to replace/redo the rock guard/shield that encases my tank. As you could expect, mine is rusted to pieces...

I have looked through two different catalogs and have not found a new replacement, and I imagine that if I did it would be expensive.

Do you guys know of any place that sells them? And do you guys have any other ideas as far as building my own or possibly grafting replacement metal into this one..

I tried doing a search on these forums and didn't immediately find anything.

Thanks for your time!

 

D7TZ-9K134-A .. Shield-Midship Tank / Fits 1977/79 F100/350 w/4WD only.

I looked at two NOS obsolete Ford parts sites (Green Sales & Dennis Carpenter), neither have it.

 

The shield is a basic design that any decent welding shop or sheet metal shop could be able to make one from scratch. I you have something left of the old one or can get the measurements from another truck it should be relatively cheap to have done. Mine is off at the moment and I can get the specs off it if needed.

 

I appreciate the part # NumberDummy! Duste, if you could provide me with a few pictures that would be great. All that I have of mine is the front end, beyond that it's just stainless sheet metal that my dad bolted on. I'm really wanting to bulletproof this thing once and for all, so I'm thinking some sort of heavy steel with por-15 coating or something. We've got a decent bit of steel scrap, I could build a ribbed skeleton and then put sheet metal over it.

It'd be nice if I could build something that would hold the weight of the truck, so that theoretically, if I got hung up on a rock, the gas tank wouldn't be damaged. Thats not to say that I'll ever go rock crawling, I just have a tendency to over-compensate for the what-if scenarios... I realize that may be unreasonable.

I suppose it would be a good opportunity for me to brush up on my welding skills.

 

For the record ...the Mid-ship tank is the AUX tank.
The rear tank is the MAIN tank


;

 

I hate to argue with you Dennis, because I know you're right the majority of the time. But this time, you're only right part of the time. In MY truck, the midship tank is labeled "Main" on the tank selector switch, and the rear tank is labeled "Aux". So this is the main tank for me.

On other trucks of this era, such as 2wd if I remember correctly, they only have the rear tank, which would make it the main tank. Feel free to correct me on this one if I'm wrong.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, just saying that it's the main tank for me.


p.s. thanks for the scans! That bottom section is what I have...

 

Dennis is correct re. rear tank being the main, and side tank being aux. I'm the original owner of a 1976 F350 Supercab, 2WD, and 460, and that's how my are labeled/identified.

 

Why is mine labeled differently? I'm not the original owner, nor is my dad, but nothing except the engine, tires, and lift has been changed in this truck over time. The midship tank is the one we always used, and it's labeled as the main tank...

it's a 1978 f250 Ranger 4x4 with originally a 351m (now 400) and c6, long bed, regular cab.

Anyone got a clue why this is, not that it matters....

 

I couldn't find a replacement sheild either...

I just cleaned up what I had left, and fabbed some additional support straps.

Wasn't too awful bad...

 

My guess is that your selector switch or selector valve has been replaced and wired backwards. On my F250 SC it has the main in the rear and the aux in the midship location. Hell with a 460 I need em both anyway.

 

If you all don't mind me asking, where exactly do they specify that the rear tank is the main tank, and the mid-ship is auxiliary? I'm one of those types that has to see something with their own two eyes to believe it... No offense to anyone, I'm not saying you're wrong, it's just the way I am.
(This "condition" has a name: Empiricism - knowledge gained through experience, experimentation, and observation)

 

Jason , how are you determining which tank is which.. by the the position of the switch ?


Have a look here

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...ank-issue.html



From this photo guess which tank I am pulling fuel from.

 

My 79 Says "front "and "rear"

 

I read that previous forum thread, and I can see that I've re-opened a can of worms here, lol. What I learned from that thread is that for some reason, ford used the switch one way and then reversed it for some reason.

I'm not currently at the residence that my truck is at, but if I remember correctly, my switch looks just like that. Main being on the bottom and aux on the top.

We've never had a problem with the switch and tanks. It's always worked when we did flip it, and gas would flow from the tank that we expected (rear being aux, and midship being main).

When my switch is pointing down towards main (as if you pushed down on the switch) the truck would suck from the midship tank, and the gauge indicated so.

On the seldom occasions that we did flip the switch up pointing to aux (as if you pulled upward on the switch) The truck would start sucking on the rear tank, however the gauge would read dead empty no matter how much fuel we put in the rear tank. We figured the sending unit was faulty. I believe the gauge did work at one time on the rear tank.

Anyways, back when I drove this truck daily, I decided to use the aux tank for a change. I filled it up, only to find out that it leaked badly. I ran it dry (or as low as the sending unit can suck) until my truck died. I switched back to the main/midship tank (I pushed the switch down pointing to main) and after much pumping, cranking, and a friend stopping to see if I needed help, the engine roared back to life. The gauge read what I expected it to for the main/midship tank.

So, looking at your picture, in my experience, I would think that you are sucking on the main/midship tank.

Although I can't prove it, I'm 99.99% positive that my tanks and switch have not been tampered with by anyone other than the factory and/or dealership. I would think we would notice somehow.

From everything I've read (and I've read a lot up to this point), I'm starting to think that's theirs 2 possible reasons for this controversy. Either Ford changed their minds at one point (or multiple points), or it's simply another difference between single tank trucks and duel tank trucks, that's not documented very well.

It seems that the different owner manuals contradict each other on this matter, so I'm thinking that either ford couldn't make their mind up, or it they just didn't care to enforce one standard.

 

I may as well post this here


Yes I am pulling fuel from the MID-ship tank known as the AUX tank.