Gas Tank/Filler Neck Mystery on 83 Flareside

This is crazy.

The filler neck is on a road to nowhere, and the current filler comes through the bed!

Any guesses on this?

I am thinking maybe that this used to be a Fleetside, and the tank would be different. I don't see how there would be room to accommodate a filler neck, even with a different tank.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Joe

They are missing the intermediate section.

I'm going to tag Dave Grant, as he installed dual tanks in his Flareside and probably knows a thing or two about Flareside fillers...

either way the filler seems to be assembled to the tank with just a coupling or maybe a coupling made from a piece of filler hose. the filler hose should have the 45-degree end fitted to the tank and then reaching over the frame rail nearly horizontal before connecting to the gas cap fitting end. I'm pretty certain the internal vent has been discarded by now, but it really is beneficial to keep the gas tank from burping and keeping the gas pump from tripping off too much.
on my flareside the filler is closer to the tank than the fleetside and it tilts forward. I did not have to replace the filler hose yet so I cannot exactly say how to fit one from what's available today but it has been my experience that regardless the filler hoses available new fit the 87-96 years and are too short for 80-86. there is approx. a four-inch difference in the two styles. the 87-96 units have the larger inner tube and are longer overall needing a shorter hose. and someone in marketing has missed this difference and are selling the shorter hose as fitting 80-96. if they got it the other way, we could at least cut it. but you cannot cut one longer!

Yeesh. So straight up, then over the rail, huh? So it's missing a 45° hose or welded fitting?
So, no dedicated tank for the old girl?
That would suck.
The current tank is ugly, but passes the knock test. It's just the shock coming to New England from Nevada, or wherever salt-free environment it came from. It looks original, but then again, it has definitely been dropped and some point in order to put that piece in.

I had some time tonight so I went digging through threads Dave's posted in.

On page 193 (! 😂) of his posts, I finally found the nugget I was looking for!

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Flare-side-Style-side-fuel-filler-door-assy-tp10571.html

You can see, that the rubber hose has a 45° bend where it attaches to the 16 gallon tank, and then it passes up between the frame rail and bed.
On the back of the filler door pocket there is a long angled metal tube (because it's essentially in the wheel well) that the rubber hose attaches to.

Dave is tagged, but he hasn't posted to the forum in a month, so IDK when he might get the mail and respond...?

At any rate that thread should at least give you an idea of what you should have.
I hope it helps!  😉👍

Here is the right filler hose for a flare side

Dont know if this was the right filler hose at this point as I was just getting parts on the truck to get them out of my way. You can see filler hoses goes over the frame and under the bed when installed.
You can also see the plastic vent tube sticking out the end.

This is what I ended up with for the front tank.

Now I think I used the filler parts from the first picture as they came from a flare side but by the time I got to this point I had the filler parts that were all wrong that came off the truck.
I also had the front and rear filler hoses from a style side parts truck so that gave me 4 filler necks to use.
2 from the style side, junk from my truck and the flare side one.

I do have a rear tank on my flare side and I used what ever parts I had left to make the filer and vent work for it.
I used copper tubing to join the vent tube together to make it long enough.
I also used EXH. tubing to join the outer hose together for the same reason.

Only thing to remember is the filler hose has to with stand gas, radiator hose will not.
So if you need to make a bend and you cant get the hose for this use EXH pipe to make the bend and the hose and clamps to join them.
Once the filler hose is in place no one but you (and us if you post it) will know or see it.

Yes you do need the vent inside the filler if you want to put any gas in the tank in 1 day.
I was lucky that I had the style side and the flare side vents to use to make work.
No one makes or sells this plastic tubing.
Some have used PEX tubing bent to fit the bends as the vent as gas will not hurt it.
Remember what ever you use has to with stand sitting in gas and PEX was tested by sitting in gas for think it was a week?

Hope this helps
Dave ----

Now that I get looking at the pictures of the flare side pipe (1st pic) and the installed set up (last pic)
It looks like I might have used a style side metal part of the filler as it looks like there is a clamp down in the middle of the filler?

Dont know why I did that other than it fit better than the flare side filler?
Could also been the flare side parts might have fit better for the rear tank than anything I had on hand and was then able to use the other parts for the front?
All I can tell you is it's been working for 5+ years and 28+k miles so far.
Dave ----

Sorry making a mess of this thread

It looks like you have the upper part of the flare side neck that bolts to the "box" bolted to the fender.
Look at my first pic and you can see the flare side has a clamp up close to the cap like yours.

For the outer part I would get some fuel hose U could use to join the upper cap part to EXH piping & EXH piping to the tank.
I would make up the EXH piping to run from the cap to tank with all the bends then figure out the vent tube in side.

BTW this is the only place I know of the sells the right size hose for the style sides and all the parts store ones are to short. https://www.fillernecksupply.com/
Now you can get the parts store style side hose, think it has a bend or maybe bends?
And use the EXH pipe to make it longer to reach?
We got to think outside the box when you have a flare side as there is not a lot of support for us

Dave ----

I like the exhaust pipe as an extension.
The first problem for me is getting the tank inlet to do a 45°.
I checked and there is only about 1.5" of inlet to clamp on, which is fine, leaving 5 or 6 inches to get some kind of fuel compatible 45° hose. Once I figure this out, I will read back about going from o er the rail to the gas door.

You guys are great, thanks alot

Thank you Dave for dropping by and recommending filler neck supply!
I'm pretty sure with the correct filler neck and a style side fill hose you could be 90% of the way there.

Thanks very much, Dave.
I appreciate the direction.
Joe