modification #1 tank in bed -update 2-29-2016

[ICEMAN6166]

decided one day to not put my tank back in the cab as i wanted more room in the cab

lost only 7" in bed length, not a big deal

first off i made this stand
all materials except bolts were recycled from slicks or scrap

bottom of support


top


toolbox rack was already ther i just needed to move it back some


support installed in bed floor
also used a piece of 1" square tubing to provide the needed space between the tank and bed wall and strength for the bedwall
i added 1\4" spacers on the back side of the tubing where the bolts go thru and on the sides where the tubing is bolted thru the stake pockets so it fit right


bought some new 5\16" brake line for the gas line and used a factory orange gas gauge wire to extend the existing wire to make the length
it just plugs in no connectors needed
drillled a hole in the back corner of the cab, installed a grommet and fed the gauge and ground wire thru
also drilled a hole in the floor and grommeted it, since its a uni bed it obviously goes thru the torque box
the bottom lip of the tank is approx 3\4" above the bed floor so it is not blocking any water or dirt that may get under or behind from getting out



i did not have a big enough piece of tin for a cover so for now i used a leftover piece of 3\4" plywood to fit between the boxes and tank

used a 5\4 board on the top


finally the difficult part, cutting out and moving the fill hole to the Australian side


of course this left a square opening where it used to be so that had to be taken care of too



finished with boxes back in place


its well protected, surrounded by angle iron and the bed wall and frees up space in the cab as you can see

[bobenhotep]

Will have to keep an eye on this one. I may do something similar.

Dan

[tomrooster]

Good idea Brian, Tom

[6166 Junkyard Dog]

NOT To step on any toes,,, BUT 20 to 22 years ago when I worked at one of our other Ford Truck Supply Company's and we where building these kits and selling them with a finished panel to cover the tank, used the original gas tank filler tube, grommet etc.,, I know I sold like he did at least 10-12 of these kits but I think he does not do them any more

ANYWAY Brian good to see it might come back with putting tank back there since have not see in any trucks in many years,, ALSO This way of putting the tank back there can be used also on the 67/72 trucks as well,, also Just think of this , by putting the tank there that will help solve problem of a rusted out front bed panel and few inches of the bed floor also..........

[Leeroy]

Looks good ice. I like it!

[Leeroy]

Ohhhh and the Canadians left the filler neck on the American side on the RHD slicks just to add more confusion!

[orangeRcode]

What necessitated the need to move the filler neck to the opposite side Brian?

[ICEMAN6166]

What necessitated the need to move the filler neck to the opposite side Brian?

the tank is flat on one side, angled on the other and i wanted to keep the flat side against the wall
so when you turn the tank around the filler hole is reversed.

i used to have some rubber plugs ford used in the bigger trucks for the filler hole in the cab corner when they had saddle tanks or step tanks but i no longer have those. if i did i might have used as 45 bent hose and filled from the top rather than moving the hole but then with my racks on that would have been a pain.

as to what Tom said i never knew about the kits

btw there was previous discussion about this years back, that is where i got the idea from, i decided to look it up this morning and after looking thru it again im pretty happy with how mine turned out.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14136

[Truckrat]

Cool idea Brian! I would have done that on my 57 but the bottom of the tank
was all rusted thru anyway. So it was either buy a new tank, or one to go under the bed. Not sure if I won't still go the same route as you if I can find a suitable tank. TR

[ICEMAN6166]

well heres an update something i did not consider during the design phase
call it a screwup if you will

the tank sits higher in the bed than it did in the cab, therefore installing the hole for the filler neck at the original height on the body created an issue of how the tube sdtuck out thre side and the angle of the tube


so i did 2 things to fix it
first was buying a new 5" piece of the rubber fill hose
second was cutting the metal tube and welding an angle into it just above the rubber hose so it looks normal when installed