Calling on CJ experts

The tank comes down with the skid plate and is a real bear of a job for one person to do.

The bracket goes over the top of the tank and holds it down into the plate.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Mike,

Not what I wanted to hear, but now I know. I will solicit good "help" before starting. Tks for the info !! cheers

This may be obvious to some, but the tank should be empty, or nearly so, before attempting this operation.

Earle

That, Earle, is clear even to me. Now ..... where did I put that Dixie Chicks CD ;>)

It's a good idea to do this while not smoking -- if we are gonna throw out obvious stuff ...

Mike Romain ( snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.ca) wrote on Tuesday 23 August 2005 12:28 pm:

Mike,

It's actually pretty easy if you put a jack with a board on it underneath the skid plate and the tank is mostly empty:

- Put the jack under the tank and support it slightly

- Remove the hoses you can reach

- Remove the bolts

- Drop the tank most of the way

- Remove the remaining hose

- Remove the sending unit wire.

I've taken mine off and on several times by myself. The biggest bear, though, is putting the fill hoses back on mine (not stock hoses, and a very tight fit).

tks michael ....... I shall dig out a jack, some plywood, ..... make a phone call to solicit help, ... and proceed.

The front (skid plate) bolts look easy, but the rear ones look damned near impossible to get a wrench on the top side. Any suggestions if these things have to be held on top while undoing the nuts on the bottom ?????

The front skid plate also holds the transmission in place. Remove those bolts and you will also drop the transmission.

yuh ....... and the hip bone holds the pelvis in place. Remove it and you drop a nut.

If you are in the rust belt, well..... you are not going to be happy.....

The crossmember has square holes in it and uses carrage bolts. I recommend using a grinder or 'dremil' tool with a fiberglass cut off wheel and just chopping them off then replacing them.

If you are really lucky and soak them for a few days with a good penetrating oil, they 'might' unbolt but my experience is the 'square' holes don't stay square with the torque of the wrench on the rusted threads. If I can get the nuts loose, then I try to get a thin screwdriver under it to hold pressure on it to try and keep the bolt head in the hole.

Or maybe you could just do what I did to remove the tank. ;-)

Mine seemed to come off quite easily when I was doing a 'baja' run across an old abandoned airfield 20 miles from the nearest house way out in the bush. Ended up with the torn tank (after I dragged it by the lines for a while) on it's side in the back seat with the front diff vent line used as a gas line extension to get us home.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

I think I'll try the cut_off method as opposed to the 'tear_off' method ...... I was already thinking that this looks like a side grinder job :(

If you haven't got one see if you can borrow one, there are plenty out there and all you might have to do is buy a $1 replacement grinder wheel.

I have one ....... my concern is flying molten metal :)

Bill says Real Jeepers don't care about molten metal flying about.

Wear leather gloves, an old sweatshirt and safety glasses.

Bill stands corrected. "Real JEEPERS" know nothing about molten metal, because we're constantly dealing with rusted metal flying about :)

yeah ... I'm thinkin' ALL that plus a fire suit LOL !

Once again, to keep the little bits of flying rust from going inside. I hate when that happens.

Oh and for noise too I guess

Hi, You might find this helpfull

Thomas

Thomas,

That is extremely useful. Tks ever so much !!!!

It pays to keep an eye on this place :) ........ and it REALLY pays to ask in this place !!!

cheers, rod