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Hey, need some helpful advice on removing the gas tank on a '81 Luv 4x4.

It has a 1.8 Litre gas engine, 4 speed trans. The tank runs sideways down the passenger side of the truck, between the front end of the box and ends just before the front of the rear axle. It has a sort of "belly pan" that protects the bottom of the gas tank, and is just large enough to go a little below the gas tank. The "belly pan" is held in place by two horizontal bolts that go into a frame strut at the front end of the tank that hold ONLY the "belly pan in place at the front of the tank, , and three vertical bolts at the back end of the gas tank that both hold the tank up and also the "belly pan" in place.

OK, so I got the belly pan off, not too big of a deal, but due to rusty bolts I snapped 3 of the 5 original bolts. Again, no big deal, I didn't damage anything else and can easily just buy some new bolts to replace the broken ones. BUT - the problem is, there are two vertical bolts at the front of the gas tank that hold that end of the tank up in it's place. I can safely assume they are probably JUST as rusty and seized as the other bolts were. The frame bracket there and the mounting bracket the bolts go into make accessing the bolts in ANY way extremely difficult! I need to know from someone who has ever pulled one of these tanks how I can: a) get at the tops of the bolts with a wrench to loosen them, and b) how in the HECK I can get any sort of wrench on the nut at the bottom at all, to hold them while loosening the bolts. Any help, anyone?

Do I have to pull the bed off of the truck? Or cut some kind of access holes or notches in the frame strut, or what? If I have to remove the box, my manual doesn't tell me how to, can you tell me how to remove it? Thanks VERY much for any help!!!!!

I'm not quite sure on the 81, but on my 80 I had to weasel an open end wrench on to the top and use a universal extension on the bottom and just feel your way around. Plus try your best to get a bit of WD-40 or something on there to help loosen the rust.

Good luck!

I got lucky and mine wern't really all that rusty. I just the longest wrench i had and wormed my arm up there for the top, and used a socket on the bottom and it worked pretty good.

mine was also not an 81'. One was an 80' and one was a 79'

Although I never taken one off. And my is an 80 4x4 I can suggest using Liquid Wrench as it seems it sometimes works better than WD-40 for stuff like this. Spray it on as best you can; let it soak for awhile and then keep trying the wrench ideas these guys are talking about.

If you can reach the head of the bolts with say a long small diameter piece of pipe then place one of that pipe on the head of the bolt and hit the other end with a hammer a few times after applying the Liquid wrench or WD-40. Maybe you break the some of the rust lose and maybe then you 'll get the bolts to turn..... If you end up having to get a cutting torch involved I.E. to remove the bed. Make sure that tank is empty dry maybe even consider covering it with a fire blanket.

Don't know if that will help but good luck and don't give up ...you'll get it!!

If I remember right, I just stuck a box end wrench on the upper side of the bolts and turned them from the bottom with a socket and an extension. You should be able to reach around to the top side and set the wrench on the bolt, let it turn against something like the tank, and then go at the bottom with the ratchet.

I can't remember exactly the setup on the 81/82 LUVs, but I think it is just a mirror image of the earlier trucks. The front end of the tank is sitting on top of the bracket off the frame so you can take out all the bolts, but the rear edge of the tank is bolted up to the bottom of its bracket. Take out all the front bolts first, then work on the back, it helps if you set some blocks under the back of the tank to take the weight when you get it loose.

None of the bolts involved are really that tough, so they will either break or come loose, you should not need to torch anything off. As I recall, two of the bolts for the skid plate are studs that are stuck in the plate. I broke them off on my 79, so I just drilled them out and put in bolts to replace them. When you got to put all this back together, use some anti-sieze on the bolts so they'll come back off easier.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good