2005- removing bed but 2 bolts being pain.

2005- broke/rusted fuel tank straps. too hard to get at with the bolts twisting off so decided to pull bed. of the 6 tork bolts the 4 closest to tailgate came out but the front 2 are not budging. using air impact. right now socked the head area good with pb blaster and bed area.. but appears the front 2 go down through a tube on frame? Thought tomorrow try heating that tube area on passenger side of truck.. But on drivers side it is to close to tank. Will heating the topside ( heads) do any good? On a good/bad note.. while under there noticed on spring leaf is broke. the shortest one on bottom just above the overload one. Just one more thing to fix.. That will be at a service garage or spring repair place. I'm to old to tackle that.

 

@FirstGenVol @jpink how did you guys manage this with jpink's bed again?

 

sawzall to remove the last few. It was a pain but we eventually got them out.

 

There are exactly 4 bolts involved, two per strap. Not only are they easy to remove from below, but they CANNOT be removed from above after you take the bed off.

 

W666- thanks.. I got the truck with the one strap ( towards rear) rusted and broke. they had a wratchet strap holding the tank up on that end. The bolt that screws into frame is twisted off clean with frame. the other end that has a slide in bolt with a pin in the end was rusted solid inside stap. I got that by getting a sawzall with long blade and cut the bolt on each side of the stap. so one strap is free other than the twisted off bolt in frame in which I will have to try to drill out and re-tap. The frontward strap just as bad but less room. Im betting it to will break off in frame. got it soaking. scary using sawzall that close to tank.

 

Weld a big nut on top of the torx bolt. When it cools, oil the threads and screw it out. I wouldn't do this on the bolt next to the gas tank though. When I replaced my bed the junkyard provided all the old bolts with the bed they sold. It's easy to ruin those bolts and the spares were welcome.

 

The straps have pins you can punch out to remove them (Picture for example only, I grabbed the first thing I could find)

After you drop the tank you'll have more room to work. FYI, if the straps are rusted through it's likely you'll find the tank is rusty too (don't ask me how I know this...)

 

Yes, but you can't put it back without the bolts. But as you say, do it anyway because then it gives you more room to work on the bolts.

One of mine broke dropping the fuel Which was annoying, but it wasn't that hard to drill out the spot, place a nut on the backside and put in a new bolt. WAY easier at least than removing the whole bed would have been.

 

You can grind the heads off the bolts to get the bed off. Then, deal with the bolt removal as well.

 

I thought the tank was plastic.. I guess thats just the cover under it. I can't drop tank without getting both straps off..I already ordered one of those bed lift off tools to use with my hoist. As far as the bolts to the straps..the ones that bolt to the frame.. rather than drill out the bolts in frame considering making 'L' bracket that bolts to side of frame and the side of the 'L' that wraps across bottom of frame would have a stud welded on it to put the strap over with a nut on it. so strap is bolted to bottom of frame not through it. sure be easier if needed to remove in future.

 

like to add: I'm hoping to get this up and running before snow flys here in WI.. But if not I'm not to worried as I drive a new Grand Cherokee as main one. I bought the truck to use as a 'get around' to keep miles down on my new car. I want the bed off regardless so I can clean up the braces across the frame, etc. I think my frame may have been replaced as it isn't that bad. If was replaced must have been early on since stuff id so rusted otherwise. On a side note.. I see a broken leaf ( smallest one) but for now worry about that after everything is fixed. I drove it home with the spring broke no issue.

 

Yes, but you can knock out the strap pins and drop the tank even if the bolts won't come out.

 

Aerindel.. thanks. the hardest to get at pin is rusted solid inside the strap. won't budge with a long rod and a hammer. can't get a long tapered sawzall blade along the pin inside the frame opening. I'm going to try to grind the sawzall blade narrower to try to get it up by pin to cut it next to band. is their a lot to unhooking tank? filler tube and a gas line coming out somewhere. is their a return line? is it hard to get at sending unit to unhook wiring? thanks

 

Don't worry about the sender wiring, the wires have enough slack, that you can lower the whole tank to the ground before unhooking the wires. If memory serves, there is a fuel line, a return line, and an evap line, but the connections for those are all past the edge of the tank so are easy to access from under the truck. The fuel filler neck hose clamp was a little annoying to reach but I don't remember it being much of a fight.

The only thing I remember being hard was the strap bolt that I broke. Replacing the fuel pump would have only taken a couple hours if not for that. It's actually all well designed for dropping the tank, its just the MFing rust that makes it suck.

 

thanks.. one strap is dropped off.. getting the frontward one is going to be a bear. All i wanted was to replace the straps. but with both strap bolts breaking off in frame makes for a real pain.If I ever get one end of that last strap off I will try getting tank down to get at the other end and deal with the broke off bolts. ( I'm assuming the 2nd bolt will break off like first one.

 

If you have 05/06 it is. I didn't see your vehicle details on you profile like the others here...it makes it easier for us to give you correct advice. So I guess you don't have to worry about a rusty tank, but it seems like you've got quite a bit of rust elsewhere. How about sharing some pics?

 

If I can figure it out on pic thing.. My grandson will know when he stops. I must of missed posting date- It's a 2005