So, my '76 F150 was gone through pretty heavily by the PO to make it as safe and comfortable as possible, and one of those changes included the removal of the second fuel tank, as well as the selection switch at the base of the driver's side floor.

My understanding is that this was done for safety reasons, as there is very little in the way of structure in that area of the bed of the truck and if I were to be T-boned, there is a good chance that a simple car accident could turn into something much more dangerous and potentially fatal with a ruptured gas tank.

My questions for you all: Is there any merit to that fear? I have heard of Pintos of a similar year being notorious for that same problem, but has it happened in any trucks like this?

Are there any gas tanks that are made to be more impact resistant that I could purchase as a replacement?

And how difficult would it be to reinstall the selector? The base of it is still there, covered by a liner that the PO covered the inside of the truck with. Can take pictures tomorrow. Not sure if the internals are there or not.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

Which fuel tank is the second one? In the 70s, didn't they have the gas tank behind the seat and the other one underneath the cab? And this was before electronic valves too so it's a manual lever, yeah? Odds are he just removed the handle to the tank switch.

At any rate, I haven't heard anything in the way of fuel tank explosions or other abnormal crash fires dealing with Ford pickups. The gas tank is located between the frame rails which offers quite a bit of protection. In my opinion, your fears are unfounded.

 

In some trucks they did, but mine does not have an under the cab tank, nor does it have one behind the seat. Both tanks were located in the bed of my truck.






It appears you're right about the manual selector, I scraped off a bit of that liner with a pocket knife and it's just a bolt head underneath, I assume if I bought the actual piece to switch the tanks that it would just hook right on.

As for the tanks, that black plug is where the old tank went. I only care enough to look into it because it would be nice to have a back up tank in the event that I run out of gas (especially since my fuel gauge doesn't function).

 

Yep, my pickup also has dual tanks (both mounted between the frame on the bed) and haven't had the slightest problem (but then again I'm not going around crashing my pickup too much). It is quite nice to have a second tank. Since these old tanks were only 17-19 gallons, they don't last too long at 10mpg. The newer trucks have a single tank that's like 30 gallons or more.

 

My main tank is a 38 gallon, so I get at least 380 miles out of a tank at 10mpg, which isn't terrible, but it would be nice to have an extra tank.

I looked on the other side of the bed and it definitely was just located directly on the other side of the bed itself, no frame component to protect it...