Gas tank removal 78 K5

[wazzabie]

Seeking instrutions, tips or a guide on how to remove gas tank.

 

[paulmoon]

Drive around the block many times to empty the tank. Fuel's heavy! Drop the skid plate if you have one. Working from the passinger side, remove the fuel lines with a stubby screwdriver or wrench if possible. There's the fuel line, the vapor return line, the vent line, and maybe a fuel return (injected engine) and the large fuel filler hose. Also the wire for the fuel sender unit, and usually a ground wire.These hoses are hard to get at if you have large hands/arms!! If you can't reach them then support the fuel tank with a tall jack stand. Lower the tank enough to reach them, remove them, then drop the tank the rest of the way. There are two straps that hold the tank to the frame. They henge toward the front of the vehicle and the bolts are in the back behind the bumper. There a two nuts just below the tailgate. Once the tank is supported on a jack stand or two, you can loosen these nuts to lower the tank. The tank will hinge downward from the backside first. If you lower it 2-4" that will be enough to reach those hoses. Once the hoses are all removed You can usually support the tank with your arms or legs if there's little or no fuel. If you let the straps drop down out of the way, you will be able to just let the tank drop down. The straps just fall off once they are down (quick release). If you have fuel left in the tank I guess a floor jack should replace the jack stand. Mine was empty, so it was easy. Hope that helps. Paul
P.S. No smoking during this procedure.....

 

[wazzabie]

Outstanding! Great help. I have an adapter for a transmision I will put on the floor jack. My bigest concern is fire. The garage has a pilot light for the gas furnace which is on the other side. I think if I open all the doors I should be safe.

The K5 has been sitting in the garage for 3yrs with out running. It doesn't run currently. I'm not sure how much gas is in the tank. When I sway the truck I can here it move in the tank. I tried to sypon the gas with a pump unit I got at the store but very little gas came out.

 

[Leper]

I'll add one thing. The metal pipe that sticks out near the filler hose may need to be removed. We just did that on my sons 79 K5. It has a hose clamp about 8" into the tank on top. The pipe goes through a holder that keeps in in place and we found it easier to deal with removed.

 

[mechted]

just did this 4 hours ago, and it will become clear to you that you need to remove the rear bumper to do this.... just thought i would chime in if you hadnt started this yet

also, i wouldnt worry about the pilot light thing, just dont move the gas tank any closer to the pilot light and if it does start to smell like gas, open up a few doors and youll be fine

 

[wazzabie]

I'm taking off the rear bumper because it is eaiser to get the tow hitch off. I find the a bumper bolt has started to slip. These bolts are situated in a square hole in the bumper. The corners might now be rounded. I soaked it in liquid wrench. I'm afraid if I keep wrenching it that it will have nothing to bite into and the nut won't make it off. Maybe I should break the nut? Does any on else have this problem. Every thing is just so rusted.

 

[Desert Rat]

You don't have to get all the gas out, but it helps if you can. It is worth it to invest in a small hand pump from a hardware store to drain the tank installed or removed. I found that a motorcycle lift works great because trying to balance the tank on a regular floor jack isn't fun. If you have the tranny adapter, that would be better, but I would maybe put a piece of plywood on it. If you can't get the bolt off, just cut it off of if it breaks don't sweat it. The replacement straps and bolts are cheap and you might want to replace them anyway. I just mine from LMC for $30 for the set. They also have an "anti-squeak kit" which is the replacement felt pads for $7 but I just used an old inner tube I cut up to put between the straps and the tank. LMC also has those chrome bumper bolts in a set of 8 for $20 or your local auto parts store probably has them, they are common. Worse case you can just grab the outside with a pipe wrench if there is enough slack, and don't worry about messing it up. Or just sawzall it off if it gets too bad. That fuel filler hose will set you back about $30 or more so save it if you can and it isn't that bad. If you get ambitious, you can put a bigger tank in. I did a write up on my Northwest Metal Products 45 gallon tank I installed in the technical article preview section. http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117053

 

[dyeager535]

You don't need to remove the hitch, I hope you haven't spent the last 4 hours or so attempting to. The stock (if thats what it is) hitch setup is darn near impossible to remove with the tank in place.

Everything will drop out with it in place. Those nuts are a nightmare to get at even with the bumper off, at least IMO.

 

[wazzabie]

I have a picture but I'm not sure how to share it. What it shows is the tank shield hitting the tank lio because the OEM hitch gives it no room to move outward. So it looks as if I have to struggle at removing the hitch. One blot is really hard to get to. Any one else hadto remove hitch and shields to get to the tank for removal?

 

[dyeager535]

Actually, to get the shield off of mine, I unbolted the whole thing, then grabbed the forward edge of the tank shield (towards vehicle front) and pulled down. It just takes a bit of bending the rear mounting tabs this way until they will allow the shield to slip out.

When you install, just start with those bolts and hold the front up to get the front bolts started.

JUST did this on mine.

 

[wazzabie]

Thanks. I thought the shield would be beefier. The shield for the transfer case is much thicker.