Dropped my tank finally...

[TonyJohnson]

My sending unit on my 71 died last winter and I've been putting it off for awhile. I had the new parts sitting in the garage and finally the guilt got to me, so I did the deed. Would have been relatively easy had the PO not welded a skid plate to the frame, under the tank. It looked like the tank would come out with it in place, but that was before I added the behind the wheel, dual exhaust. Turns out the hangers were in the perfect place to interfere.

I eventually want to swap the channel iron bumper for a sport bumper, and the skid plate interfered with that, as well, so it had to go. Now for a big plug for the Milwaukee Sawzall. WOW. It cut through 1/4" x 4" channel iron with no problem! Didn't even break a blade. It was the corded 11 amp version.

I used the Holly Red electric fuel pump to empty the tank into two 5 gallon buckets and that worked well, if a tad slow. I should have driven a little longer before beginning the job...

The other tricky part was removing the lock ring on the sender. Lots of dirt, but I used air and a fine pick to clean the grime off. Loosened it with a hard plastic rod that I used like a drift. Came off easier than expected with a couple of wacks. While I had it out I replaced all the hoses and relocated my fuel pump to a more hidden location on a cross brace at the back.

Spent all day doing it and was really happy to see the fuel reading again. Wish I had a motorcycle jack for lifting the tank into place, but empty it isn't too bad to just manhandle it up. A lot nicer working under a lifted truck...

Anyway, it was a job most anyone could do, so I thought I post this for encouragement.