Find a local repair place near you that looks like it has been in business for a long time. They will know older cars and will have lower lobar rates than a Dealership.

 

Save a trip to your Ford dealer. Call them first as many Ford dealer shops do not work on vehicles older than 20 years or so. Varies by dealer shop.

 

I think LesSchwab does it for free. Of course they'll give me a list of unnecessary and overpriced repairs they want to do but at least I'll have an idea if there's something really wrong happening with the suspension or drive line. I'll update here when something changes. Thanks all.

 

If you have a good Les Schwab shop it's a good choice. They will likely be competitive in price with any shop.

 

Well I pulled the tank. The pic says

it all.

 

I'm just online looking at a new tank and it seems like they've got every little part sold separately. I know I need a Tank, sender unit, vent and fuel line. Do I need to order the gaskets and misc. all separately ? What other parts should I be ordering. Thank you.

 

If the filler hose in not dry and cracked you can re-use it and DO NOT forget the vent that is inside the filler hose or you will not be able to fill the tank.
Other wise look to Fillerhose.com or Fillerneck.com for a new one. Any you get at the local stores are too short.

I would get a new tank, new sender check it before install, new roll over vent & rubber gasket.
Fuel hose for the roll over vent and fuel supply you can get from the local stores.
On the supply also replace the hose at the tank switching valve if you have one and at the fuel pump.
Old hose may look good but be bad on the inside and cause issues.

I am guessing the straps and bolts are OK so would not need to replace them.
You should have found something between the straps and the tank and maybe on the top.
You want to use something that will not hold water. A bike tube cut to fit would work.
Me I used in door / out door fake grass carpet (plastic)and put the black back side facing out so cant see it.

Now on checking the sender you can use a ohm meter to see if it will work before install.
My tanks were bone dry so I turned on the key and checked where the needle sat, below the empty line for each tank.
I then poured in 5 gallons in each tank and with the key on the needle sat on the empty line. So I have 5 gallons when needle is on the line.
When the tanks are full the needle is above the full line and that is OK with me as long as the gauge reads right close to empty.
Nothing worst than running out of gas with the needle at 1/4 or 1/8 tank.
Dave ----

 

Vent & fuel line can be purchased locally. Any good auto parts store will have what you need. I would suggest a Spectra tank (which is what the 16 gallon unit is that I'm trying to sell). The sending unit should come with the lock ring & seal/gasket. You might need the vent grommet that holds the plastic vent in the top of the tank. I'm not sure if the web sites Dave mentioned carry those or not. I was able to re-use the one that was in my old tank. The one that's in the tank that's for sale is shot. Amazon has Spectra tanks and sending units.

 

I got the roll over valve(s) (top of tank) and grommet(s) from LMC as I was getting other stuff at the same time.
I found the roll overs get hard and break when you try and remove the hose or get it out of the tank and why I just replaced with new.
Use a little grease or oil on the valve, grommet and filler hose to get them on easier when getting them in the tank.

For the senders at the time the only place you could get a 16 gallon sender for the side tank was A1A Auto Parts on line IIRC
At the time places listed the 16 & 19 gallon side tanks used the same senders and that was wrong based on Ford part numbers.
Dave ----

 

That's interesting to hear. I wonder if that's been resolved as the sending unit that came with my new tank was the same as the one that was in the old tank. Hmmm...

 

If the old sender worked right and the new matched it then I would it was it will work.
In my case I was not replacing the tank(s), was reusing good old ones but I did not know what shape they were in so just wanted to replace them.

I was new to the Ford trucks and asked about where to get the senders and was told the only place for the 16 gallon was what I listed and why them.
I think when I was looking I either could not find any or they were the same part numbers for the 16 & 19 gallon side tanks and that could not be right.
Also on the site I bought it from listed 2 different part numbers for the 2 different size tanks.

Look at it this way we know 302 motors use 2 different flywheels / flex plates and balancer weights.
You go looking and all you find is 1 listing for ALL 302's and you know that is not right so you ask like I did.
BTW if you thing 302's are bad with weights AMC has a different weight for 3 different motors from 1970 to the end in 1988 and then you have pre 1970 cranks for the same size motor that take different flywheels / plates & balancers.

In short it pays to look at different places for parts and see if they list the same numbers for different part.
Dave ----

 

The tank and sender and vent should show up tomorrow. I just want to make sure my plan is sound. I'm going to bypass the dual tank switch and run new fuel line straight from the sender to the fuel pump with a fuel filter just before the pump. This is all rubber fuel grade line, no metal tubing. Does the vent hose need to go somewhere special, I can't tell on the truck. The filler tube assembly is in good shape, I'll reuse that. Thanks a lot.

 

Using rubber fuel line the whole distance is not a sound plan. But people do it. It's best to use hard line with short pieces of rubber like the factory did it.

 

I am with Dave on the metal line.
Less chance of the line going bad from the inside out and if something should hit it will not cut the metal line.

I had to replace the metal line on a project car like 20 ft rear tank to motor pump because it has rust on the inside.
I went with ALUM tubing of the same size. Laid it next to the metal line using wire ties every few inches and bent the ALUM to the same shape as the metal line I pulled out.
Oh the short rubber hose on that project car was replaced when I had to tank coated maybe 15 years ago and it was all hard and cracked at the tank and the car has been in a garage 99%of the time. Metal line will not do that.

I also would not put a filter before the pump as it can cause vapor lock issues.
My truck has a in line filter between pump and carb an dit is before the screw in filter in the carb.
I have not had any issues in the 5 years its been on the road.

There is nothing wrong with running only 1 tank, you just have to stop more often for fuel is all.
If you run metal line from tank to pump using only short rubber at tank & pump is good.
Later if you want to add the 2nd tank you can cut the metal line or if you made the line to fit the valve and ran rubber to bypass that is good too, you just dont want rubber from rear to front.

This vent you talk of where is it in the filler hose or the top of the tank?
Top of tank is a roll over valve and it closes off if upside down. This is also the vapor recovery for smog.
There is a rubber hose from it to a metal line. Rear tanks the line runs down the right side of the frame to the canister under the battery.
Front / side tanks the metal line runs down the left frame rail to the rear cab cross member to the right frame rail to the canister under the battery.
With dual tanks they both run the same way buy when they meet on the right frame rail they have a Y to join and run 1 line to the canister.
If dual tanks you will have 2 canisters under the battery.
The canister(s) then has a hose up to the carb float bowl and to a vacuum supply to pull the vapors into the motor and burn them when running.

Now in the filler neck there is a inner plastic vent tube. this fits into holders both up top and down at the tank.
This is needed for when you fill the tank(s). As gas goes in air has to come out and the vapor vent at the top is not large enough to let air out unless you pump the gas in really really slow.
IIRC fuel goes down this plastic tube and air comes out the around it. When all is in place you can fill the tanks as fast as the pump will pump.
When you have to pump 25 to 30 gallons for fill up you dont want to be doing this for a day pumping slow.
They say you can install the 87> filler hose assy. with a little work but I have not needed to as I got the 80 - 86 fillers and vents to work on my truck when I rebuilt the truck.
Yes I have dual tanks and love it other than at fill up $$$
Dave ----

 

Great that helps me a lot. Thank you.