97 xlt 4.0 4x4 xcab, 198k miles, so about a month ago i started noticing fuel smell after filling the gas tank, and looked down and saw some fuel spillage coming down the side of tank and leaking onto ground. did some searching on here and see that this appears to be a reasonably widespread problem with the rubber filler necks cracking where it attaches to fuel tank and thus allowing gas to leak out. great problem ford. i finally crawled under the truck this weekend and sure enough, there was a 1/2-1" crack on the tube at the tank. on top of it, ford wants ~$400 for a new filler tube/neck. yeah right. some more searching led me to nhtsa.dot.gov site and searched their safety complaints, well just for the 97 rangers, there were ~45 complaints of people with this same cracked fuel filler issue, i'm sure there are plenty on the other model years as well. at least the aftermarket has the parts now, however advance, autozone, pep still want $150-300 for one. found one at am-autoparts.com for $64 with free shipping and ordered that today. rockauto wanted $122. so looks like i'll be praying i can remove the 6 torx bolts in bed and do this replacement in the wonderful cold winter weather, since it appears it should be easier to remove the bed than dropping the tank. i did file my own safety complaint on the nhtsa site today as well. i ask that anyone else with this issue please do the same. who knows, it could (and should) become a safety recall.

chad