hi all, i am slowly working my way thru my 1994 f-350 nonturbo in a turbo placarded truck i have had for just over two weeks now.so far thanks to all the help i have recived from this forum,the tach problem,abs,brake light,cold sol problems are fixed(fingers crossed).i now have moved down the list to the fuel tank problems, both tanks are only good to 1/4 tank at about 1/4 i run outta fuel,i read that there is a check valve that opens if the pickup screen is blocked.i figure thats my problem with both tanks. my question is since i need to go into both tanks should i lift the bed or drop the tanks?anybody who has some insite i would love to hear it,pros and cons of both ways would be nice thank you all again for all the great info.i have come to belive that this truck might be a katrina refugee,lol there are alot of cars and trucks showing up around new orleans that have issues and the sellers say "oh this truck wasnt in katrina" lol.

 

i dont really know if taking the bed off is a better alternitive to dropping the tanks or not i've never done that before. iv allways done any tank problems by dropping them out (stick with what works you know)

 

Bed removal method,
Six bolts hold the bed on, plus a wire plug in and a couple little screw in the fuel fill doors on both tanks. Takes 4 guys to lift it off after it is unbolted.

Probably have to cut half of the bed bolts to get them loose, they get quite rusty.
No dirt falling in your face.
Not trying to hold a not quite empty fuel tank and trying to get non cooperating fuel and electrical connections to unplug while dirt is falling in your face and fuel is running down your arm.

Dropping the tanks method.
The skid plates will be full of mud, most of it will fall in your face.
There will be a lot of dirt on top of the tanks, most of it will also fall in your face.
The frame rail will also be full of dirt, it falls the same place the rest of it did.
You never get all the fuel out of the tank, so it will be rather awkward to handle and kinda heavy.
The fuel lines are not quite long enough to drop the tank far enough to see the fuel line clips or the electrical connection clip from under the truck.
Also the tank strap bolts get rather rusty they are fun like the bed bolts.
There are no straps on the rear tank bottom, the skid plate holds the tank up, so watch when you pull the skid plate bolts out.

Big plus for dropping the tanks, you get to clean the mud out of places it has never been cleaned out of and inspect the tank condition. All that mud means rust holes in the tanks. Also you can dump any crud out of the tanks that is laying on the bottom.

 

its a rule pretty much no matter what you do dirt is gonna get in your face..allways

 

I learned the hard way and would agree with Dave, if you do both tanks do them by removing the bed. Six rusty bolts you can cut with a torch are a lot less work then struggling with all those tank guards before you even get to the tanks from the bottom.


Seb.....

 

6 bolts is nothing, although i love getting dirty, dirt sticking to all the fuel that your drenched in and then smelling like the fuel for hours afterwords, it well worth torching 6 rusty bolts!

 

I swear that when dirt falls, it will actually stop in mid-air, move left or right to line itself up, then resume falling right into your face, or most often, into your eyes.

If you do remove the bed, you might as well get a good wire wheel and clean up and paint the frame.