In tank fuel pump quit

[Spott]

I have a tank I can put in the truck box and put my pump on that, and that will do till I got time to drop the Ranger's tank.

Wait, what? You would drop the tank on a Ranger? That sounds like work to me.

Pull 6 big bed screws, unhook the connector for the tail-light wiring, and take out 3 little screws for the fuel filler, and the bed is loose. 2 guys lifting on the fenders can easily lift the bed off and move it out of the way. Then, the fuel tank is exposed in all its indecent glory, right there for you to work on.

I did this on Monday, to replace the pump in my rear tank. It took me 2 and a half hours, from start to finish, including testing and cycling into town to buy a new pump.

Spott

 

[adsm08]

That's great for those of us who can get the bed bolts out. I for one would not be in a hurry to try and take mine out.

 

[Spott]

Dunno, add a lot of penetrating oil, and get a long cheater bar?

Honestly, could it be any worse to take some big rusty old bolts out, than to wrestle with a 13-gallon fuel tank, from beneath?

Spott

 

[stumpcatcher]

Ya Ya
Im gonna take the bed off next summer, and do lottsa work, wanna clean up rust and undercoat everything. But rite now its cheap and dirty so I can get wood.

I also have 85 Ranger 2WD it had leaky gas tank, there was no damm way the tank would come out, I had to take off the bed. AND after I fixed all the leaks I had to put hydraulic jack under tank to push it back into place, it was unreal man.

 

[adsm08]

I have this fun little table-topped scissor jack that makes transmissions and fuel tanks really easy on the ground.

 

[stumpcatcher]

That's great for those of us who can get the bed bolts out. I for one would not be in a hurry to try and take mine out.

^^^ Theres a guy who know the score ^^^

 

[stumpcatcher]

I have this fun little table-topped scissor jack that makes transmissions and fuel tanks really easy on the ground.

I got a little 2 ton hydraulic floor jack its iffy on the dirt but if I wanna get precise I put it on some plywood then its nice for trannys and stuff. When I did clutch on 85 Ranger tranny was so lite I used tranny for pilot shaft.

85 Ranger 2WD Mazda 5speed is so hi geared its insane, gotta use a mile of clutch just to get rolling AND reverse is a higher gear than 1st not good.....
But I beat a Camaro uphill on a very windy road so thats pretty good.

 

[Andy D]

now let me get this straight, you had a non-functioning fuel pump for 10-years?

and whether or not the vehicle still ran, you didn't feel the need to fix it?

^^this is the kind of guy you need to be taking advice from

Yup. All BMW E 28s ( 82-88 5 series) have the same fuel system A dinky pump in the pick up and the main pump , just out side.
right up to the fuel rail. The 528e has a 2.7 and the 535i has a 3.4 The 3.4 barely needs the the pusher, the 2.7 doesnt need it. I did fix it eventually, and there is no difference in performance. The main Pump is up to the task. My 350K mile parts car has its original Bosch main pump. These were all pretty much the same. I know a guy who ran a 5 liter Jag V12 on a pump from a junked Rabbit. That was then this is now. Bosch parts aint what they used to be. The E 28 was over-engineered in a few areas. BMW doesnt make mistakes like this anymore.

 

[Surrey]

Ya Shure, June now, tomorrow December, up here in the Great White North you spend all summer getting ready for winter. Firewood NOW wrenching later.
NOT dropping one tank, dropping two tanks, one on the Ranger to fix, and one on the Ranger wreck to get parts, with 27 years of rust and crud on the nuts & bolts, and all the "guard" plates too, at the rate my chicken outfit goes thats about 3 months.

3 months of spring, 3 months of fall, 6 months of winter and no summer at all...........

Im gonna do a total refurb on Ranger but NOT till I got 2 years worth of firewood in the woodshed.

When I dropped my tank in my van, which is a funny shape like 2'x6'x8"tall, I put a jack under the middle of it, and just lowered it to the ground (not much gas in it) then put one end down on the ground. To lift it back up, I still had the jack under one side, (near the middle but slightly off to one side) and lifted the other side and shimmed it up with a stack of 2x4s. Took a bit of time to lift the tank, add another board, put the jack up a bit, lift the tank by hand again, add another board... Rinse, repeat... But it was really quite easy - easier than I had expected it to be.

Also, my wifes' parents life off-grid in the Ontario wilderness... I understand the importance of fire wood. But Work conditions dont exactly improve once the snow moves in, unless you've got a shop with nice lighting (which I sure dont...)

 

[adsm08]

Work conditions dont exactly improve once the snow moves in, unless you've got a shop with nice lighting (which I sure dont...)

I won't even go into the garage after late October.

 

[stumpcatcher]

I dunno where you get off Surrey, empty Ranger gas tank weighs about 10 pounds, dont need no jack to lift that, my widdo white doggie could lift that. Shop or no shop if I dont get firewood in Im gonna freeze to death this winter. And your Caravan aint got nothing to with my dirty old dilapidated 27 year old junk yard Ranger 4x4.

I will be getting wood with that Ranger by the end of next week cum hell or hi water, and anything that tries to stop me will be sorry if not in this life then in the next one.

 

[Spott]

Mostly the jack and the shims help with the "Now I gotta keep it from moving while I reach over and grab the screw and get it started in that blasted hole" part of the operation. Fuel tanks aren't necessarily heavy, as much as large and awkward.

Maybe I just got lucky with my bed bolts, but it didn't take more than a can of WD-40 and a few minutes with the breaker bar to get them moving.

Spott

 

[stumpcatcher]

Ya thats fine Spott.

"Feed a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and he will crave steak all day"

 

[Andy D]

The Bed of the Rat was taken off and put back on poorly . When I get tired of the gas smell from a leak at the top of the tank . I'll take the bed off. I used piece of strap and some threaded rod to help out the tank and the rotted rear enclosure

 

[stumpcatcher]

Ya shure Andy.
If all that was bothering me was a leak from the top of the tank Id be out getting wood now.