Gas Tank

[72Fins1]

Okay so I had to drop the gas tank on my 94 Explorer to remove the factory brake line. I know there are 2 brackets for the gas tank skid plate but things ripped apart due to rust when dropping the tank itself so my question is how many straps are there that hold the gas tank up in place? One or two? If anybody could please help me out here that would be greatly aoreciated. Thanks for taking the time to view this thread.

 

[Rhett]

There are two straps -- but the skid plate bracket you mentioned also helps secure the tank. The two straps secure into the driver's side frame -- if you look under there at the frame, you should see two little slots where the strap ends go.

On my truck that skid plate bracket was almost rusted away too. I had to weld in some new metal to part of it. I ended up doing a lot more work than I expected, and I made a new bracket using some sheet metal and treating the whole thing with POR15. No, I didn't herculine my hootus. I have to post that disclaimer here.

Here is a thread from that time, when I was mocking things up and testing ideas. It ended up being a little different than what is pictured in the thread, but you can see the general idea. It shows a closeup of the skid plate bracket that had rusted away:
fuel tank skid plate - need opinion

 

[72Fins1]

Yeah my skidplates are all rusty so I'm probably just gonna do a bit of grinding with a wire cup and then just use rust reformer on the mounting brackets.I looked under one of my donor explorers that I have and found the hole in the frame for the front strap but for the back one I can't see one cause the strap goes up and I can't see the other end. I'm guessing the frame hole for it is only visible when I drop the tank cause the leaf spring hanger is on the outside of the frame. Is that correct or not?

 

[Rhett]

Yeah my skidplates are all rusty so I'm probably just gonna do a bit of grinding with a wire cup and then just use rust reformer on the mounting brackets.I looked under one of my donor explorers that I have and found the hole in the frame for the front strap but for the back one I can't see one cause the strap goes up and I can't see the other end. I'm guessing the frame hole for it is only visible when I drop the tank cause the leaf spring hanger is on the outside of the frame. Is that correct or not?

Yes as I recall that is correct -- it is pretty hidden under there. And difficult to fish the business-end of the strap into that slot when putting things back.

 

[massacre]

On my green ‘94 I was taking a turn from stoplight, heard this scraping noise. Pull over, look down gas tank is on the ground. Straps had rotted.
Ended up using metal strapping to keep tank in place. It worked lol

 

[72Fins1]

Mine is a Nebraska Explorer so I'm definitely ordering new straps.This whole situation was a result of my own stupidity of trying to move the tank without removing the fittings and fuel neck first so now I need a new sending unit.

 

[massacre]

That sucks man, been there before (my own stupidity).
Don’t beat yourself up too bad that is how we learn

 

[Roadrunner777]

Yup. Drooping tank/skidplate is the main reason why I retired my Exp. It was acting like a scoop, driving through snow.