Our 1989 Ford F-350, good old Gunsmoke, is coming along nicely. As part of this TFLclassics series, we’re continuing work on the truck we’ll ultimately sell to one of you, with the proceeds going to charity. In this video, Kase and Tommy are tackling a couple specific issues that need to be addressed before the truck moves onto a new home: a rusty driver’s side fender and a leaking fuel tank.
With the original truck, the bottom portion of the front fender is just too far gone from rust to save. In order to address that issue, the guys went to a local junkyard in the Denver metro area to sort a nearly identical fender from a 1990 Ford F-250. The replacement part is nearly dead straight and doesn’t have the rust issue, and for only $44 it’s a cheap and safer bet than trying to repair the old one.
Now, fixing the fuel tank is an issue that involves pulling the (as yet unsecured) bed from our donor F-150 back off the truck. That needed to be done anyway as we are going to do some body work on that piece and re-paint it with the rest of the truck. However, removing the bed lets us get at the rear fuel tank, which has a leak that’s needed to be fixed to a long time yet.
To fix the leak, we ensured the tank was completely drained, then ground down some of the surface rust to expose the holes that are causing the leak. With that done, a bit of plate and some JB Weld epoxy should help seal the tank for the foreseeable future. Rather than buying a new tank, we need to keep the project costs down as there’s still plenty left to sort out on this 30-year-old truck.
Stay tuned to TFLclassics and TFLtruck.com for more Gunsmoke updates!
