94 Suburban has been sitting for 5+ years

[nunya]

"nunya" - hmmm, does that mean nunya f***ing business, LOL?

Exactly!

 

[nunya]

I thought about using the pump but decided against to avoid running 35 gallons of crap though the lines.

Would you try to rinse out the tank with some good gas afterwards?

I scraped out whatever crap I could with a combination of rigged up tools. Put some gas in it along with a bunch of large nuts, bolts, and washers and sloshed it around then dumped the crap. Did that several times until I got tired. Put new fuel pump, sock etc. I figured if it clogged again I would buy a new tank but didn't have any problems.

Regarding dropping/reinstalling the tank I did it by myself in a gravel parking lot in AZ about 10 miles from my house with a few jacks, pieces of plywood, 2x4s, 4x4s, etc. Actually did it twice since first the first attempt was with a fuel pump with electrical prAlmost aoblems. Almost all done in the shade under the truck so not that bad but was a character builder working on my back in the gravel.

 

[JackE]

I have done more than one on my back in the gravel, none of them were mine either. That's why mine has the access door in the floor now. I'll never have to do that to mine. The worst I'll have to do is unload all the stuff from the cargo area. 20-30 minutes and I'll be back on the road. My jump box has an extra pump and all the tools needed to change the pump. That never leaves the back of the Suburban.

 

[someotherguy]

I scraped out whatever crap I could with a combination of rigged up tools. Put some gas in it along with a bunch of large nuts, bolts, and washers and sloshed it around then dumped the crap. Did that several times until I got tired. Put new fuel pump, sock etc. I figured if it clogged again I would buy a new tank but didn't have any problems.

While I don't totally disagree with your method, it's similar to what I did to clean rusty crud out of an obsolete Suburban tank (1963) before applying a tank liner product.. please, please, please don't use gasoline as your cleaner. And wash all that old gas out before anything. I know, lots of people do this and have never had a problem, but the flash point of gasoline is so ridiculously low. It's super volatile. That's what makes it such a great fuel. Doesn't take much to set it off, and what you have there is literally a bomb. Large metal tank full of fuel vapor, little bit of fuel, shrapnel, oxygen.......

Richard

 

[AlanE]

Have to do this too. Have about 15 gallons of gas in it that went bad. Should be fun...