OK, after a hard day's work, I appear to be up and running! I know for most people that post here this stuff is 101 level, but for future neophytes like myself who are searching the forum looking for answers, I will go over the proceedure in detail.
CHECKING THE PUMP
Before beginning the job, I checked the pump operation by finding the pump terminals, and have a helper turn the key. The fuel pump terminals are located on the passenger side of the fuel tank, and do not require tank removal to access. Access was found inside the rear passenger wheel well. There are two connectors, one red and one black (hey, that's simple!). With my electrictrical tester on the hot line, my helper turned the key and viola! We had power, but no pump sound.
DROPPING A TROOPER FUEL TANK
OK, this took me about 4 hours total from start to finish, but once you've done it once it is probably much easier. First, get the rear of the truck on jack stands. Remove the rear passenger side wheel. The first thing to go is the skid plate. This is connected by 2 12mm bolts on either side. I snugged the jack up to the plate, removed the bolts, and lowered the plate. It isn't heavy. Next, drain the gas. I had visions of gas going everywhere, so I took this step slowly. First, I ran to all the parts stores to see what the biggest gas can you can get is. There were a couple in the 10+ gallon range, but I settled on the $5 WalMart 5-gallon special.
With the rear of the truck up, I put a funnel into the empty gas can. There was about 1/4" clearance between the drain plug and the funnel (almost like I planned to do this....). Rather than just pull the plug, I loosened it about 5 turns and let it slowly drain out. It took about 30 minutes for each 5 gallons drained. That's a long time, I know, but not one drop was leaked. I took 3 fillups of the 5-gallon can to drain completely. I poured the gas into my wife's minivan between drainings.
With the gas gone, the next step was to prepare to lower the tank. The tank is held in place by 6 bolts; three on each side, in a "tongue and groove" style. One side of the tanks rests above a braket, and the other is bolted up into a bracket. This makes reassembly easier.
With the jack in place to hold the weight of the tank, I removed the 6 bolts. Some of these are REALLY hard to get to, so have extensions and u-joints for your sockets handy. I had also soaked ALL bolts and nuts at the start with a liberal dose of penetrating fluid.
With the bolts out, I slowly lowered the tank until I got access to the top to remove the hoses. There are 3 in total, two low-pressure and one high pressure. The high pressure hose is the toughest to get off. I had to be careful not to bend the outputs, these kink easily.
By far the toughest part of the job was removing the filler hose. The clamp bolt was positioned just so that nothing could get to it. I'm sure that there is a retired Japanese assembly line worker at this very minute drinking sake and chuckling to himself "I wonder how some American dope is enjoying how I put the clamp on that Trooper?..". With the tank down a little, I was barely able to get a 10mm socket over the head. There was so little room that for each stroke of the socket, I could only get one "click". This removal took FOREVER. We've all been there.
Once the filler, overflow, and all hoses were removed, I lowered the tank a little more and removed the last connection: the fuel guage sender. After that, out came the tank!
REMOVING THE FUEL PUMP
After soaking the allen-head bolts of the pump bracket for a good long time, I very carefully removed these. I felt like a secret agent trying to cut the correct wire inside a time bomb. One small mistake and one of these could strip!
Luckily, they all were able to be coaxed out without stripping. Out comes the pump assembly!
The new pump thankfully included all the little stuff I would need: short high-pressure hose, clamps, nuts, washers, new wire leads, and strainer retaining clip. It took about a half hour to reassemble the bracket with the new pump. I have never done this before, but it's pretty easy to put back together. I tested the pump before putting it in by connecting to the pump terminats in the wheel well and turning the key. Oh! That's what an electric fuel pump sounds like!
REINSTALLING THE TANK
Once the pump bracket assembly was firmly in place and the allen-head bolts tightened, It was time to reinstall the tank. An empty tank isn't too heavy, although I did use the jack for the lifting. As the tank went back up, I basically put everything back together in the reverse it came off: electrical leads, filler hose, high pressure hose, and low pressure hoses. Once the tank was up in it's original location, I got a couple of the bolts started on either side and removed the jack. It took a while to get all of these bolts back in place. A REAL tight spot!
After the tank was snug, putting the skid plate on was a snap. Basically, this can be "bench pressed" into place, and while holder there with your knee, put the bolts back in by hand.
While the vehicle was up on stands I also replaced the filter.
I poured my 5 gallons of gas back into the tank and gave it a go. The truck started immediately! After a quick check for leaks, I took a short drive around the block, and then while it was still running, took another check for leaks.
As I mentioned, this will probably be basic for most here. I hope this info will help someone like myself, who hasn't had the pleasure up till now.
Thanks, everyone <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />
