ISO Styleside SWB w/ Dual Tank owners

[Gary Lewis]

I thought that I should update this thread before I start another one because there are some things that I've discovered over the last few days. The original reason for my questions was to better understand what will be involved in my desire to eliminate my mid ship tank and install a 33gal Bronco tank behind the axle. I will also be converting from the YFA to a Sniper EFI (more like a TBI?).

I guess I'll start with a caution to investigate further before totally buying into the common comment of "all F Series frames are the same from '8X-'9X"

My situation might be the only anomaly to that catch all phase but it's what I have found with my truck.

I have an '85 F150 XLT SWB born in 12/84

I have since discovered that I do indeed have a slight bulge behind the wheel well that seems to be consistent with other trucks that have an aft tank, so I'm good to go there.

Next, most every picture that I could find of the back end of Bullnose trucks with the bed removed showed two cross members behind the axle. whether a tank was installed or not, they all seemed to have those two cross members.

Parts diagrams that I found showed two cross members.

Also note that a couple of the images are from Broncos. In those, you'll notice that the top of the frame rails in the area of my concern are flat whereas the F frames have a couple of sections where the frame was bent up on the top rail. I'm guessing for added strength?

So I go ahead and purchase some parts for my install from Rock Auto and Jeff's Bronco Graveyard,

THEN I crawl under the truck to start the loosening process on my bed bolts only to find that . . . .

I don't have those cross members!!

Those with a good eye will also notice that tho I do have a cross member at the very end of my frame rails, it is not only upside down but rotated 180 deg compared to the "standard" F/ Bronc frame.

I guess I gotta do some head scratching (beers)

After some searching around on Craigslist, Reaching out to my local FTE chapter members, etc.

I remembered a fellow not too far from home that is absolutely possessed with F Series trucks;

Keith Sink @ F-Trucks in Denton, NC has perhaps hundreds of Bullnose and Bricknose trucks. Lond story short, I should be picking up my cross members in a day or so.

My next step is to address the other common concern of the Hanger/Pump/Sender of a '95 Bronco and it's compatibility with my gauge in the dash.

I will start a new thread for that and will title it " '95 sender for your '85 gauge "

I'm glad you got it figured out and found the needed crossmembers! Well done!

As for the senders, I'll be anxious to see how you resolve this. I've done something similar, but it has its own problems as well, so am curious to see how you do it.