Need to drain fuel tank

fourpointzero said:
Hi everyone-
Im in the middle of a fuel pump change. So far, all nuts have come loose. The hitch was an extra step, but that was cake with an impact.

All three cables: fuel, electric and vapor are disconnected. Inlet unscrewed as well. However, I’ve got close to maybe 11 / 13 gallons in my tank. I purchased a Siphon to extract the fuel but cant seem to get it down into the tank. Any advise would be appreciated. I tried to get to the hoses from the fender (fender cover removed) but the hose clamp screws are facing back, towards the tube.

**Take a look at my concoction to help me lower the tank. Hoping it keeps it stabilized, along w the help of my better half.

View attachment 161423
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Please reconsider that.

All the balance is focused on that 2 1/2" circle in the center .

These are terms that come to mind -

Engulfed in flames

HazMat Team

Shop Fire.

Total Loss

Accidental Death

Widow

Burn unit

Skin Grafts

Intensive Care

Former forum member




One problem you run into is now your only jack is tied up, so when it gets off balance..and it will , it's you vs. 150 lbs of steel and flammable liquid. Steel Sparks when it hits concrete.

I'm not trying to be a turd , I just went through all of this Monday with 19 gallons in it...and it is really fresh in my mind.

Saturday I topped off the tank, fuel pump immediately died.

I understand improvising is cool, but if you are working alone, you need an ATV Jack if it means buying it and returning it.

The tank has to clear the track bar , has lines attached, catches on the studs/bolts, and is not entirely predictable...and fuel is liquid..so when it tilts it sloshes and it can get away from you.

Be safe, and again ...I'm not trying to be a buzzkiller , I just know what I had to deal with and the ATV Jack made all the difference. You are saving enough doing the work to more than pay for it also .
 
AndyG said:
Please reconsider that.
All the balance is focused on that 2 1/2" circle in the center .
These are terms that come to mind -
Engulfed in flames
HazMat Team
Shop Fire.
Total Loss
Accidental Death
Widow
Burn unit
Skin Grafts
Intensive Care
Former forum member
Click to expand...

remove sources of ignition and those are no longer concerns
 
I had to drop my tank last summer to replace my fuel pump. Ended up dropping it three times to fix minor mistakes I had made each time. IMO it was much easier to do with an empty tank, especially because I didn't have any extra hands helping me.

I siphoned all of the fuel out of my tank first with a simple siphon pump that I think I picked up at the local auto parts store. I think I used a screwdriver to hold aside the spring-loaded cover in the fuel neck so that I could feed the tubing into the tank. Drained all of the fuel into buckets. I loosened all of the bolts and then took my floor jack and laid a piece of wide plywood over it to help balance the load of the tank and then just eased it down, stopping when appropriate to detach the various connection points without ripping them out. Then reversed the whole process. With the tank empty, the hardest part was aligning all of the bolts again when reinstalling.

I did drop it once with probably about half a tank. That was more challenging. It wobbled a lot more and was much heavier, plus then I was concerned about sloshing around 10 gallons of volatile liquid.
 
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AndyG said:
As long as the shop has no power.... And the tank doesn't spark if it hits the concrete.
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You've posted a lot of things to keep in mind while doing just about anything, especially lowering a full tank.

I will mention that neither of these two things make a difference for a real shade tree mechanic.

Oops, I better change that to "neither of these two things make a difference for any mechanic working under a real shade tree" because you never know what a real shade tree mechanic will end up doing.
 
AndyG said:
As long as the shop has no power.... And the tank doesn't spark if it hits the concrete.
Click to expand...

I'm all for following reasonable safety precautions. I'm not for exaggerating the danger. You have about as much chance of getting struck by lightning as any spark or shop power causing a problem.
 
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The job isn't too bad. I've done it alone four times now on different Jeeps, once with a full tank. I just use a normal jack. If you keep the filler neck on it wont spill even if you drop the tank, ask me how I know. After doing it a few times I'd suggest you remove the fender liners. It can make it a little easier to see what's going on. I never considered it a real fire risk although I do have a fire extinguisher and had good ventilation when I did the job. I can see the special jack helping but I never felt the need to get one. The last time I did the job I thought it was easy even with a 3/16" steel UCF skid which ain't exactly tin foil. I guess there are some things you get good at that you never wanted to. Now if only that stupid plastic fuel pump ring was as easy to work on as dropping the tank.
 
driver said:
I siphoned all of the fuel out of my tank first with a simple siphon pump that I think I picked up at the local auto parts store. I
Click to expand...

I wish it was that easy for me. I got passed the silver stopper at the top, but could not get the hose down into the tank. Seems there’s a cylindrical stopper at the opening of the tank to keep gas from coming up through the inlet. But alas, I got the tank down this afternoon and used a Harbor Freight cheapy syphon to move the fuel out into gas containers. Approx 8 gallons. Originally thought there was more inside. Thankfully not!
 
L J said:
I'm all for following reasonable safety precautions. I'm not for exaggerating the danger. You have about as much chance of getting struck by lightning as any spark or shop power causing a problem.
Click to expand...
Thank you! Some of these posts gave me hesitation, but suspected it was massively exaggerated. And it was.
 
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Got it out! Special thanks to @AndyG for giving me real encouragement with his words that gave me some pause:

-hazmat
-widow
-shop fire
....etc.

I in fact used my ‘Big Red’ hydrolic jack and homemade ‘H’ shaped bracket. Got it out with some finagling and patience. Was even able to remove the seal w a regular hammer and large flathead.

Thank you to everyone, regardless of suggestion or comment. You were all helpful in to some capacity!

**sorry for the flipped image**
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92710578-5615-4D09-8D68-B6EAC62548E4.jpeg
 
Glad it worked out .

Having lost a relative in a shop fire due to gasoline I am only going to err on the side of caution.

Freaky stuff happens.
 
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