2006 Toyota tundra fuel tank replacement

Hi everyone, I am thinking I’m needing to do a fuel pump replacement possibly. I have a 2006 Toyota tundra double cab 4wd. I have not fully diagnosed my fuel issue yet but was wondering if anyone replaced a fuel pump on these. My question is can I take the bed off and just replace it from the top? I see a lot of videos online and a lot of people drop the tank, however, I have seen a couple people on Facebook group taking their beds off and saying that it was easier so I was just seeing what y’all thought?

 

I think that doing it from the top only works on regular cabs where most of the top of the fuel tank is exposed. On access and double cabs, half the tank cover is under the cab so that’s why they drop it.

 

Oh ok gotcha. I was hoping there was an easier way but no big deal. Thanks

 

You really need to lift the back of the truck with the wheels chocked, and drop the tank. I know it's not what you wanna hear, but ...

 

Dropping the tank is only hard if the two bolts that hold the straps are rusted. If those bolts move, it's no big deal.

Make sure they move however before tapping out the pins on the straps. Although you can drop the tank easily that way, you can't get it back in the same way.

 

Oh, and if you're replacing the fuel tank as the title suggests, Dorman makes a quality replacement. I'd recommend to buy some OEM straps while you're in there. You'll find the part number in the EPC.

 

Gotcha, I’ll look into them. Thanks again

 

So only removing the two pins and dropping it, won't allow you to reinstall it? Why not? (I may need to perform this task in the near future)

 

The straps are under tension. You can remove the pins easily enough under tension, but to replace the tank, you have to loosen the bolts so you can line up the strap holes and replace the pins, and then retighten the bolts to tension the straps.

If you can't loosen the bolts, you can never get the strap ends to line up again to replace the pins.

So I before starting the job, I would soak the bolts in oil and make sure you can turn them.

When I replaced my fuel pump, I started with the pins and dropped the tank easily, the cables are long enough you can rest the tank on the ground before having to disconnect anything so its not hard.

BUT when I went to put it back in, I found one of the strap bolts was seized and I broke it off. It's just a nut welded to sheet metal, so I drilled it out and put a regular nut in its place and was able to put it all back, but it's something to keep in mind so you don't get surprised thinking you will have the tank back in five minutes but end up spending an hour fighting a bolt.

As long as those two bolts are not seized, dropping the tank is actually an easy job.