Gas tank fell off, whoops

Filled up with gas today and the tank dropped lol. Strap broke, and it was being held up by a couple bolts and all the hoses. Does the 2.7L extra cab have one or two straps? I thought it had two (one front and one rear) but I only see the one in the rear which is the one that broke. The front of the tank seems to be held on by a couple bolts that go through the skid plate, tank, and then into some weld nuts. Which leads me to my next question, how do I remove and replace my skid plate without the tank dropping?

 

Extra cabs have 1 strap in the back and 2 bolts in the front that bolt to the carrier baring cross member. You can run a tie down between the skid and the tank secure it to the frame that should hold the tank up so you can fix the strap.

 

Got it, I see the bolts now. Looks like the middle one holds just the tank on and the other two go into the tank and the skid plate. The skid plate is basically swiss cheese and has mostly fallen off at the back of the tank so I can get the strap on pretty easily. A new skid plate will be on order for me soon though.

 

There are 3 bolts holding the tank up in the front. Only 2 go through the skid plate. Take the 2 out that go through the skid plate and the other one will hold the tank up.

 

Be careful to check the integrity of the tab at the front of the tank, mine did the same thing and almost tore the tab off.

 

Yeah it looked okay.

anyone know what size the bolts are that hold on the skid plate? The shorter ones that bolt to the strap

 

Same happened to me. I hope you don’t have to deal with any evap-related CELs, but if you do, here is my thread for reference: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/seeking-cel-troubleshooting-advice-p0441-p0442-p0446.629143/

 

Yeah I took my whole bed off to replace the strap cause I couldn’t get the pin out of the one side. I found two hoses that were disconnected, one to the filler neck and another to the black plastic valve thing on top of the tank. I’m just hoping for no small leaks or cracks in the tank due to the strain that was put on it.

 

I’m curious how this happened? Rust?

 

yes rust corrosion. you can get replacement straps thru ROCKAUTO or a whole new tank they also corrode around the area where the fuel pump assembly bolts to the top of the tank this sometimes leads to a check engine light cause the EVAP system senses a leak, the brand name of the parts is Spectra which are lower cost than the OEM parts but seem too work as well.https://www.ebay.com/b/Spectra-Premium-Fuel-Tanks-for-Toyota-Tacoma/33556/bn_20836062

 

Yeah I was at the gas station filling up and I heard a clunk, didn’t think much of it (I’m in NJ so I was inside the truck didn’t sound that loud). Drove to the grocery store, when I left I heard some really terrible sounds so I pulled over. The rear of the tank was about 6” off the ground lol. Strap broke in half right by the front leaf spring hanger and was hitting against the driveshaft as I drove so that’s what the noise was. Threw a ratchet strap around it and was able to secure it a bit better. Then I bent the strap out of the way so it wasn’t hitting the drive shaft, and had a veryyyy slow drive home.

Sadly I don’t have any pics cause it was pouring rain and I was crawling around on the side of the road. I do have a couple Snapchat videos I took while I was fixing it though. Here’s a screenshot of the carnage.

That pile of rust is everything that was left of the skid plate and strap. Thankfully the front tabs of the tank seemed to be in okay shape but only time will tell. This truck had a frame replacement around 2010 so all of the items they didn’t replace are slowly falling apart and I’m taking care of them as the arise. Kind of a pain in the ass and costly, but still cheaper than a new car/truck

 

Just ratchet strap it

 

if you get the replacement straps you can just throw the skid plate into the scrap heap it bolts up to the straps, usually you cant find a new replacement for those skid plates, if you don't offroad the truck most just do without it

 

I just ordered the low range off-road one. Don’t do any serious off roading but it does see it’s fair share of driving on trails in the woods

 

I’ve been wanting to buy one of those for a while. Just haven’t committed to it yet. Lol

 

Looks nice, fitment just for the xtra and double cabs, nothing for the standard cabs tho. Is there that much of a difference back there?

 

Im not sure, I thought the standard cabs just had a shallower tank but it’s the same shape.

 

So it’s been about a month since my tank fell off and I finally got a “small evap leak” code. Anyone know a good way to pressure/smoke test the evap system and fuel tank? Probably gonna take the bed off again cause I’m gonna replace my fuel pump while I’m at it.

 

Amazon has affordable smoke test kits that work amazingly well or you can get one of those Halloween smoke machines.