110 TD5 Fuel Tank Re-Install

[Cluaran]

Hello Gentlemen,

After rebuilding the Salisbury axle on my 1999 110 TD5 and welding on a new rear quarter, I'm now reassembling and as a first step, attempting to reinstall the plastic fuel tank. I'm doing so single-handed (although I understand assistance is recommended). So far, I haven't sworn so much since the last time I hadn't sworn so much. I was able to fit the fuel pipes between the pump and the filter on the ground then waggle them through the chassis - as I did with the fuel filler and breather hoses. But trying to get the tank into a position to fit the longer fuel pipes to the pump has been a little bit frustrating. I'm trying to use a trolley jack to hold up the rear of the fuel tank guard and an axle stand to hold up the front part... but there's a lot of slipping and sliding. The fuel pipes just seem to be too short to line up with their sockets. Is it humanly possible to do this without help?       

[simonpelly]

I feel your suffering.

When putting back our fuel tank (1997 110 300Tdi), ended up needing the help on my son.

On my back, using knees to push tank upwards and trying not to curse as my 13 year fiddled with various bolts.

Had a little bit of extra reach with the fuel line to the top of the tank by removing it from its clips on the chassis. Even then, had to balance it on some wooden blocks and then nudge them out of the way - on my back!

The fuel sender and line to the side of the tank was fitted afterwards.

Think I would have had to get very creative to do this by myself.

Simon...

P.S. Ensuring there is no fuel in the tank clearly reduces the weight!

[Filbee]

I refitted my tank on my own. It was a bit of a faff but definitely doable. Obviously the tank needs to be empty to start with. I found that by positioning the tank with the front lifted up in between the chassis legs and the back tilted down just enough to get your hand in there made it fairly easy to reconnect the fuel pipes and electrical connector to the fuel pump. As Simon mentioned in his post, it can help to release the clips that hold the fuel lines to the chassis so you can pull them back a bit more to help with reconnection. I used some lengths of wood and axle stands to help position the tank and a trolley jack under the bash plate to lift it into place. I think the hardest part was getting the bolts that hold the front of the bash plate to the forward cross member to line up with their holes.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Filbee

[Cluaran]

Thanks chaps. Right now it seems so near and yet so far... Filbee - your method (well done, by the way!) is very much along the lines I've been trying. I'll try to unclip the fuel lines as you both suggest to gain that extra millimetre or so...  

[Filbee]

You'll get there. Let us know when it's back in place 👍

[Cluaran]

I finally got the TD5's fuel tank back in place (with some niggles) - working solo! I thought I'd share my experience with others who may be struggling. At first I tried to manoeuvre the tank AND guard into position together using a trolley jack and bits of wood. But this proved very irritating with the guard slipping out of position and getting in the way. I then removed this and used the trolley jack and a piece of wood to lift the tank roughly into position. I then used two ratchet straps: one strung up under the chassis to the front of the tank (where there's a kind of flat cutaway channel ideal for accepting it); and another strung up to the rear. I was able to remove the trolley jack. By manipulating the straps, I was able to raise either the front or rear of the tank to adjust the angle for access to the top of the fuel pump. As noted previously, I had attached the shorter fuel hoses to the pump whilst the tank was on the ground and had waggled them through the side of the chassis in readiness for attaching to the fuel filter, but I have to say that attaching the longer fuel hoses to the pump was a @&&$*## pain because when I'd achieved sufficient space for my hand to reach them, it proved difficult to align and insert the hoses into their sockets. I'm really not sure why this should have been so difficult. They seemed simply too short and required much effort and sore fingers to push them forward. I'm concerned that I may have slightly kinked the high-pressure hose whilst forcing it forward and after having to use bent nosed pliers to push it home. I am seriously considering replacing these hoses with longer reinforced rubber fuel lines - and wonder if anyone knows what internal diameter is needed and where to get the plastic hose-end inserts/shrouds that push into the pump sockets?  

With the hoses all re-connected, I was able to remove the rear ratchet strap and, lying on my back, to lift the tank guard's rear bolts into position on the rear cross-member and hold it whilst I shimmed towards the front of the vehicle to attach the guard to the forward cross-member with two bolts. The foward ratchet strap was then removed completely with ease.

Another learning point: having done all this, I discovered that the fuel breather pipe had come to rest forward of the tank's filler spigot and so was unable to reach the filler cap breather tube. The thought of undoing all the previous work was unbearable so I removed the tank guard's forward bolts from the chassis cross member (the guard remained in place under tension) and used the trolley jack and wood to lower the rear of the tank sufficiently to 'persuade' the breather hose to move to the rear of the spigot. Re-fixing the guard was no problem. The breather hose still seemed a bit too short so I used a degree of brute force to bend and stretch it until it did what it was told and was kept in place with a new jubilee clip. So... it CAN be done!