plastic gas tank in a 1st gen?

[kunar]

so the gas tank in my truck has a small leak...nothing too serious yet but it's still gonna need replaced. i can get a new steel replacement for about $100, but i started thinking about the plastic tanks that are in newer trucks. the plastic tanks wont rot out like the steel ones (i know, i probably wont have my truck long enough for a new tank to rust through but either way...) so who's done the swap? anybody have any idea if theres a tank that fits without mods? what about sending units and pumps?

 

[89ranger2.3]

try the tank out of a 89 my tank is plastic

 

[kunar]

anybody??

using a 2nd gen tank was my first thought, but are they the same size and shape? will the pump/sender from my tank fit?

 

[coryg]

i ran a plastic tank in my 87 ranger, after i went from a carbd 2.0 to a dual plug 2.3 out of 90 ranger, before i started my 5.0 swap, the donor truck was a single cab shortbed like mine and it was not a direct bolt in. believe it or not i drove it for a week with just ratchet straps holding it up before i made a permanent mount. im going to be running a fuel cell in the bed. id say just stick with the steel tank.

 

[AllanD]

Which truck?

On the Longbed truck all you need is to widen the slots in the frame
that the tank straps go into... (the plastic tank uses wider straps)

And modify the fuel lines

On the supercab (or a shortbox truck) the "top strap" of the crossmember
that ties the leaf spring front mounts together must be replaced.

This is not particularly difficult.

BTW, on the supercab the tank you want is the one from
a 1990.5-97 supercab, the 1989-90.4 tank is only 17gallons
the later one is 21.8gallons

And as a note your current fuel tank in the supercab is a whopping 14.5gallons.

BTW, while you are harvesting the crossmember from a junkyard donor
there is another crossmember directly above the rear axle that ONLY
the '89-up trucks have, you probably want to add it to your truck,
because the rear fuel tank strap has three "legs" and the third leg
goes to that crossmember.

It's really not all that hard.
That's not to say it wasn't difficult the FIRST time, but since
someone (me) has already done it, and I can tell you how, it
really isn't an issue....

AD

 

[odie1969]

I placed a 04 ext. tank into my 87 ext cab ranger when I did the 4.0 sohc. worked just fine I just had to extend the 04 straps to fit better. it worked great.

 

[kunar]

Allan, im knew you had done this swap at one point... even if that tank isnt still in your truck anymore. i think the tuck ill be pulling parts from is a 90, how do i tell if its early or late 1990?

odie, sounds good but i dont think i can get my hands on a tank that new.

 

[snake]

Allan, im knew you had done this swap at one point... even if that tank isnt still in your truck anymore. i think the tuck ill be pulling parts from is a 90, how do i tell if its early or late 1990?

odie, sounds good but i dont think i can get my hands on a tank that new.

Allan, is there ANYTHING you don't know about these trucks? Dayum!!

I would check the VIN sticker in the door jamb for the build date, month/year. Not sure which month/s would be considered early or late though.

 

[AllanD]

Allan, im knew you had done this swap at one point... even if that tank isnt still in your truck anymore. i think the tuck ill be pulling parts from is a 90, how do i tell if its early or late 1990?

odie, sounds good but i dont think i can get my hands on a tank that new.

The 17gallon tank ends level with the driveshaft center support bearing crossmember... (*NOTE* and that reminds me of something else which
I'll get to below)

The "Large" tank used from 1990 up
extends OVER
the support bearing crossmember and comes within 3" or so
of the back of the transfer case...

If the donor is a 4.0 it'll probably have the "Big" tank, or to
phrase precisely... I've never seen a 1990 4.0 supercab
without the "long" tank.

*NOTE* Now as to the item I forgot yesterday...
To put the "long" tank in an 86-88 requires replacing the center
support bearing crossmember with one from a 1989-up
Ranger supercab. the crossmember is a different profile
so it'll go under the forward extension of the tank.

If you get your tank and crossmember from a truck that already
has the long tank there will be a square "skid plate" about the
size of a phone book (The big yellow kind) that will be mounted
to the FRONT of the crossmember and the lower flange of the
frame rail.



AD

 

[OilPatch197]

...and save your old (working)sending unit and sell it, there seems to be a good market for 1st Gen sending units, as they are not available from Ford(unless you have a diesel) or from any auto parts store.

 

[kunar]

*NOTE* Now as to the item I forgot yesterday...
To put the "long" tank in an 86-88 requires replacing the center
support bearing crossmember with one from a 1989-up
Ranger supercab. the crossmember is a different profile
so it'll go under the forward extension of the tank.

If you get your tank and crossmember from a truck that already
has the long tank there will be a square "skid plate" about the
size of a phone book (The big yellow kind) that will be mounted
to the FRONT of the crossmember and the lower flange of the
frame rail.

is that cross member necessary though? i pulled it out and threw it away when i swapped in the 1 pc drive shaft (that i bought from you haha)

 

[odie1969]

is that cross member necessary though? i pulled it out and threw it away when i swapped in the 1 pc drive shaft (that i bought from you haha)

I no longer have a cross member in my 87 do to the one piece driveshaft swap and every thing seems to be holding up great with the long tank swap.