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Fuel Tank Skid Plate Removal - rust belt advice

13K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  easymike 
#1 ·
Has anyone in the rust belt recently removed their fuel tank closing plate without issue? I need to replace mine but I'm fairly certain the bolts holding it and the OEM hitch in place are rusted into place. I think the bolts would snap if i tried to remove them.

Heating them up with a torch seems insane.

Advice and ideas welcome.
 
#2 ·
There is a product called PB blaster a penetrating oil that works really well it seems to crawl up into the area and if you soak everything for a couple days prior it does really help.
Maybe a soldering gun a good one to heat them up without flame and an impact wrench they may come loose.
Until you try you wont know I also think and hopefully someone can verify this if you take the back bumper off you can see in the frame where the bolts are and spray in there too.
I just don't know of any other way you could get them out but maybe someone here has some better tricks.

There is a product you may want to apply to the new or old one called por15 makes like a rock hard coating to protect metal heard lots of good things about it would be great for that tank skid after cleanup fixing whatever.
Good luck man its a pain that stupid skid and dropping the gas tank.
 
#3 ·
I live in Buffalo ny, & recently tried installing my rear bumper. Snapped 1 bolt and stripped a few. Use the BP blaster as said above, lots of BP & for a couple days. It does wonders to rusted bolts. The biggest issue you'll have is its tough getting inside the unibody rails to hit/soak the threads. I ended up having a shop that did some welding for me rebuild some of the rear unibody rails and also weld up new nuts for the tank skid/bumper mounting. Good luck the rust belt sucks...
 
#9 ·
I REALLY need to replace my fuel tank skid plate. One day the wife calls and says something is dragging under the car. I tell her to rip it off and save it. Turns out the skid plate is disintegrating from rust. I immediately found one at a junk yard, sanded it and repainted it. Tried removing the old one, the bolts turn but don't actually come out. Now she's been driving like this for 3 months. My question is this: does this plate support the fuel tank, or is there something else up there holding the fuel tank? Can this be a DIY job, or should I hire a professional?
 

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#10 ·
easymike said:
I REALLY need to replace my fuel tank skid plate. One day the wife calls and says something is dragging under the car. I tell her to rip it off and save it. Turns out the skid plate is disintegrating from rust. I immediately found one at a junk yard, sanded it and repainted it. Tried removing the old one, the bolts turn but don't actually come out. Now she's been driving like this for 3 months. My question is this: does this plate support the fuel tank, or is there something else up there holding the fuel tank? Can this be a DIY job, or should I hire a professional?
The skid plate holds the tank up, there is nothing else supporting it. It's definitely simple enough to do yourself as long as you can get those bolts off. It's also much easier when the tank is empty, especially to put back on.
 
#12 ·
The skid plate holds the tank up, there is nothing else supporting it. It's definitely simple enough to do yourself as long as you can get those bolts off. It's also much easier when the tank is empty, especially to put back on.
Looking at the current rust and degradation, I wonder if I'm at risk of losing the tank when it is full. Fortunately I've found a private mechanic who might be able to help me out after my original guy moved away. I just need to figure out what other hardware is required. I guess I'll head to the dealer and order replacement bolts to attach the new plate, as the old ones may need to be cut.
 
#11 ·
The big issue for me doing it was that the rusty exposed bolt inside the frame was rusted, so the bolts loosened fine but seized up as I tried to move the rusty ends through the nut. My solution was to keep spraying with lube on ther exposed bolt and re tighten and loosen to draw pb blaster into the nut and keep working it keeping the torque to a point which wont snap anything. A pain but got them all out intact.
Spraying oil on a tightened bolt head is pointless in my opinion, its not going to magically seep through solid metal.
 
#13 ·
replaced the skid two weeks ago. The guy charged $250, bringing the total cost of replacement to $385 when you include the parts. I honestly don't care anymore because at least it is done. The local Jeep dealer told be that there are 8 bolts holding the plate to the frame and they cost $ each, or I could go to the hardware store and buy my own instead for $1.50 each, which is what I ended up doing.
 
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