1983 Ranger Fuel Level Sending Unit

[bilbo]

I couldn't really find anything on this so I figured I would share my experience in case anyone else runs into the same problem. Sorry in advance for the lack of pictures; I'm not very good at documenting what I do.

Long story short, I had to replace my fuel tank due to rust issues and found the sending unit and pickup in very poor condition as well. I wanted to replace it but couldn't find one that was specifically for my vehicle. I read somewhere that the Bronco II ones were the same, so ordered one that was for a 1985 BII and hoped for the best.

The BII pickup tube is longer, and the hose barb extension you connect the fuel hose to on top of the tank is pointed forward, where the ranger one points toward the driver side. The connector for the sending unit is also different.

I was able to make it fit by slightly bending the pickup tube so it didn't bottom out, allowing the flange seat against the fuel tank. Then I carefully twisted the barb fitting about 45 degrees or so toward the driver side of the vehicle. I don't know if it would go further or not, but that's all I was comfortable twisting it.

To make the sending unit work, I soldered two wires to the posts in the connector on the BII sending unit. Then I potted it in epoxy to keep water out and strain off the connectors. It's a female connector so this was relatively easy. I cut the connector out of the flange of the old Ranger sending unit and connected this to the BII unit, allowing me to plug it into the existing connector on the truck.

The pickup tube, sending unit, and gauge seem to work fine together so far. My vehicle is an early 1983 Ranger. I know there were some changes made during that first year of production; not sure if the fuel pickup assembly was affected, so others may or may not have to go through this. Again sorry for the lack of pictures and hopefully this will help someone else some day.

 

[Mark_88]

Thanks for the writeup. I always wondered what the electrical connections were coated with when they need to be submerged...epoxy makes sense...I was thinking it would be a like a glue that was resistant to gasoline or some other material that would not break down...

Have you tested the epoxy for fuel resistance and used it in other applications?

 

[bilbo]

I haven't tested it against fuel, but the connector is outside the tank and shouldn't be exposed to fuel if everything is working as it should. I have some left, if I get a few free minutes I will set up a test.

 

[Mark_88]

No need...for some reason I thought you were working on the stuff that sits in the tank. But it might be good to know if it is resistant to fuel...just for the record...