Remove the bed or drop the tank??

[chinusta]

Hey guys, new to the forum here... well new to post, but have been lurking on and off for the last couple of years. My dad has (had its mine how HAHA!) a mexican 1990 Chevy C10 with a 4 speed manual transmission and a 350. Now the body style resembles more that of a 1986 to 87 american model. (sorry at work now so i only have the pics that i found in my phone. I will edit the post and add some more when I get home.) The thing is that the truck is in great shape, considering my dad used it mostly as an off road vehicle. he rebuilt the engine a few years back so it runs great, but it does have its little kinks. The speedometer gauge doesn't work, nor does the fuel level gauge. My guess for the speedo is the little gear that goes inside the tranny. for the gas, i know it is the floater. My dad keeps on telling me to sell it and get something more fuel efficient, but I just cant. I learned to drive in this truck and well I kinda fell in love with it now. Plus I already put some money in it adding a clutch and the slave and master cylinders (did those myself and well they came out great haha)

My question is should I drop the tank, or remove the bed?? I heard that some bolts will snap with a truck this old, but also, I have two tanks on it. one on each side, and removing the bed would give me access to both (both of the floaters are bad.) Should I just risk snapping a bolt? And if I drop the tank, it will only be one, Just the one I use as the daily driver.

On the images, Im adding a 3 piece split bench seat, from a 1987 Suburban, and I will restore the dashboard myself...

Im guessing that a lot of time will go into this truck

[thepenguin99]

As far as bolts giving issues its pretty much damned if you do...damned if you don't on the tank. You can pull the bed but you may get a bolt that spins in the bed and has to be cut out. If you drop the tank you may mess up the straps that hold the tank in if you get a stubborn bolt. Since you want to tackle both tanks I would think lifting the bed might be the way to go Also, replacing carriage bolts in the bed is way easier than getting good tank straps if you mess one up.

[chinusta]

ahhh thats very good to know. Im gonna be doing most of the work this weekend, will the speedometer tranny gear be accessible if I remove the bed as well? Because that will be a big plus. I havent done much work to this truck and I'm a noob when it comes to tech work. I can handle myself for little things, like I said earlier with the clutch cylinder and things such as a starter motor, or alternator, or the regular tune up, but have never done big things on it. Anyways thanks for the quick reply!

[thepenguin99]

Well its entirely possible you won't have any issue either way if your truck isn't rusty underneath. Whichever direction you go I would spray the bolts with penetrating oil the night before I was going to tackle the job. As far as the speedo gear, I don't know.

[chinusta]

OK thanks for the advice! If I cant get to the gear then I'm just gonna end up taking it to a shop where they can drop the tranny add the gear and Im gonna have them replace the tranny and motor mounts as well. They are not in the best shape hahaha. And as far as the floats go, is there any that you would recommend? To my understanding the ones in it are brass, but I have read opinions on both, some say brass is best, others say go with aftermarket plastic... any advice on that?

[Hubscrub]

I would recommend taking the bed off the last one i did i just took the bed loose and moved it back and let it rest tilted up on the bumper.

[Zane M]

I personally find it easier to move the bed for what you need to do.

[chinusta]

yeah that's what I'm gonna do. I didn't think it was that easy to do to tell you the truth. I went online and searched and well its just removing the tail lights and fill up hoses and bolts and voila! And like Penguin said, its much easier to replace a bolt than a gas tank strap. Plus it gives me a chance to lay it on its side and clean the underside of it and see if there is any rust under there. Although I doubt it since its always been in desert climates (Sonora and Arizona.)... Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess in my head removing something bigger meant harder hahaha.

[crazeetxn]

Having swapped out one before I swore I would be removing the bed if there was a next time.

So doing both...yeah, pull the bed. May make it a littler easier to get to the tranny too. Plus, you can upgrade the bolts and bushing when you put the bed back on.

[Goldfinger]

I just pulled my bed to fix my fuel gauge. taking off the bed was easy the only problem is lifting it as it is very heavy. it is hard to get to the bolts on the strap aswell. Heat up your bolts to make it easier

[75gmck25]

The bed bolts are made like carriage bolts, with a square back that fits into the bed. If they break loose there are two fairly easy ways to hold the bolt.
- Use a thin grinding wheel to cut a "screwdriver" slot in the top of the bolt, and then use a very large screwdriver to hold it while you turn the nut underneath. You should replace the bolt with a new one when you reinstall the bed.
- Carefully grind flat spots on each side of the bolt head, and dimple the bed floor a little on each side of the bolt head until you can clamp a vice grips on it. You want the vice grips to be clamped on nearly parallel to the bed floor, so you are using the jaws effectively.
Sometimes you can get the vice grips on it with any grinding or hammering. I also found that if you slipped a long piece of pipe around the vice grip handle you can get plenty of leverage. I've done this in the junkyard where I had no electricity to run the grinder.

Bruce

[chinusta]

Thanks... I was going to tackle this last weekend, but unfortunately I had to use my truck so I couldn't do it... I'm a 24 year old and its my daily driver... so work in progress haha... I removed the dashboard and am working on that as well. its got cracks... today once I get home I'll try to remove the bed, most likely wont do much until tomorrow since it gets dark soon and I don't have a garage just a gated drive way. The good thing now is that my dad is in town for the weekend so if I need to get some stuff form the parts store today or monday I can use his 'burban. I did see though that the bed is already missing two of those bolts, so I'm gonna have to buy some new ones anyways. I also have to replace the tank filler hoses since they are getting cracked on the ends. Pros and cons of desert climate I guess, the metal won't rust but anything that's made out of rubber will dry rot... the only thing that sucks is that its not a "project car" since I drive it every day, so it takes longer to work on it.. .that and the lack of $$$ lol.

[asphaltburner]

I removed both fuel tanks in my 73' and 78' from underneath without too much trouble after soaking the bolts with penetrating oil over several days time. New straps can be had if needed.



All the filler hoses, etc,...can be replaced before the tanks go back in place.
Seems like bed bolts, and removal, could be a much more difficult project.
Todd.

[john_p]

i was pulling my bed any way. so i went that route.. having to buy new bed bolts is a given... saved the straps. i don't know if i could have reused the straps if i would have had to remove them from underneath.