Gas Tank Lowering

[the hamiltons]

Arch,

You mentioned looking for a place to drop your tanks. I put of doing it
for a couple of years and finally did it my driveway last week. The four
rear wheels were up on double planks - about four inches. I then jacked the
left side up another four or five inches. With only about two or three
gallons left in each tank I lowered them using a small floor jack with a
2'x2' piece of plywood bolted to it. The front tank came out the left side
and the rear tank out the the back. Putting them back in was a lot easier
than taking them out - for one thing they were empty!

Al Hamilton
Kingston, Ont

hamilton

 

[chuck blanford]

Arch

When I dropped my tanks, I raised the entire coach about 18". I raise the
rear with floor jacks positioned between the wheels and a bottle jack under
the front cross member by the final drive. I always raise in small stages
equally, as the previous owner indicated that raising one side higher than
the other can twist the body enough to cause problems with the windshield.
I don't know if this is true or not, but I'll certainly err on the side of
caution.

I then lower the coach onto jack stands and blocks. This gave me room to
maneuver a floor jack in much like Al did. I lowered the tanks and slid
them onto my creeper, and was able to handle them easily.

The 18" may be overkill for just dropping the tanks, but while I had it in
the air, I replaced the entire exhaust system and fuel lines. The extra
clearance made all of that "back" time a little more tolerable.

My floor jacks are each 3 1/2 ton capacity, and my bottle jack is a 3 stage
50 ton aircraft jack. I routinely raise the entire front end with a single
floor jack centered under the front cross member, and then transfer the
weight to two 12 ton jack stands.

Hope this helps; it works for me.

Chuck
77 Kingsley

- ----------
> From: Gcbr
> To: gmcmotorhome
> Subject: Re: GMC: Gas Tank Lowering
> Date: Wednesday, October 14, 1998 7:55 PM
>
> In a message dated 10/14/98 2:37:26 PM Central Daylight Time,

>
> rear wheels were up on double planks - about four inches. I then jacked
the
> left side up another four or five inches. With only about two or three
> gallons left in each tank I lowered them using a small floor jack with a
> 2'x2' piece of plywood bolted to it. The front tank came out the left
side
> and the rear tank out the the back. Putting them back in was a lot
easier
> than taking them out - for one thing they were empty! >>
>
> Al
>
> THANK YOU very much! This sounds like I might be able to do it. My
> questions are: 1 were the front wheels raised any? 2 Did you have the
> air bags raised too? 3 What was your jack point on the frame---where?
> 4 How big of a jack did it take to raise the left side? Al please also
> tell me what else did I forget to ask. Thanks again.
>
> Take Care
> Arch