[red82c10]

When I was doing some work under the truck ( 1982 c-10) during the engine rebuild process I noticed the soft fuel lines that join the hard lines coming from the fuel tank and hard lines that run along the passenger side of the frame are looking pretty bad. I suspect they are the original 30 year old lines.
Is there a procedure for changing them with fuel in the system without removing the tank? If I need to drop the tank I'll go ahead and put in a new sending unit since the fuel guage isn't that accurate anymore.

[cullencombs]

If you can get to the lines without dropping the tank I would change them in place. But it may also be a good time to drop that old tank, remove 30 years of trash inside and change that inaccurate sending unit.

[red82c10]

I've put in another fuel filter before the fuel pump in the engine bay to to trap any larger particles. I'd like to just replace the lines right now and spread the cost out if I can.

[Frankinforesthill]

Think about taking the bed off. 4-6 bolts elect. plug in the back.
Now you can stand there and change all parts

Frank

[ogre]

old rubber lines get soft from the methanol added to new gas
i'd change every soft line on your truck to methanol resistant lines

[red82c10]

Good point about the alcohol and the old lines. I'll add that to the list. Thanks for everyones input.

[Bryan59EC]

Remove the bed---much easier to deal with the lines with the bed outta the way.
Been there -- done that

[Jim Rockford]

when you do remove the sending unit, you will more than likely find the inside of the take to be as clean as the day it was made, Unless the truck sat up for a long time with the cap off the filler tube, gas pumps have really great filters on em, they are 50% better than your factory fuel filter on the truck.

[75gmck25]

I've been working on the soft fuel lines for my 1975 GMC K25 with dual tanks, and its generally a PIA. Does anyone make a real high quality soft line that will hold up? OEM lines get 30 plus years old and are then just starting to go bad, but the replacement lines from the parts store seem to go soft after only about five years. I've had my truck ten years and I am on a 2nd round of replacing various rubber fuel lines.

Removing the bed provides the best access, but I've also tried just raising the front of the bed up about 6 inches to provide some clearance. This works fairly well to access it from under the truck, but the bed gets in the way of good side access unless you slide it back along the frame. By the time you get enough clearance you might consider removing the bed. However, then you need somewhere to put the bed, which is not that easy.

I have also tried dropping the tank, which works okay if there isn't much gas in the tank. I put a 6" wide board under the tank and a hydraulic floor jack under it. If you get the balance right you can let the tank down slowly after you remove the 8 bolts that hold the brackets to the frame. An empty tank is fairly easy to hold up manually if you are just pulling it out, but hard to hold in the right place by hand as you bolt it back in.

Bruce