well the title says it all, i need to put on new front spring hangers and i can either try and pull the bed off or drop the drive shaft and try to slide the fuel tank to the center of the truck to gain access to the inside of the drivers side framerail for the l.f. front spring hanger to be replaced. would there be enough room (if any) if the bed was removed to get to the back side of the frame? dropping the tank doesnt look easy, and ive heard where messing with the fuel lines could give me some headaches as well. some one has had to have done it before. i did the rear spring hangers a year ago, thought the fronts were good for awhile but now the metal above the spring eyes on both sides is rusted through. i may have to torch off the bed bolts, last year when i had the cap off i thought id take the bed bolts out and anti-sieze them, they wouldnt budge. im not sure as to how well the fuel take could move to the center either, there in a front "snout" to the fuel tank that goes over the driveshaft carrier bearing crossmember. there is no room to even get a finger between the fuel tank and frame from under the bottom of the truck, let alone a hand with a bolt in it. ive got my hangers, just looking for which direction i need to go in.

I think you're going to want to drop the tank. Here's what my '97 looked like without the bed on; I don't think there's enough space to get to the inside of that frame rail very easily.



Personally, I'd be tempted to do both, though...yanking the bed isn't really all that hard, and it'll make both removing the tank and replacing the spring hangers go a lot easier. Can't say for sure, but my guess is it'll save you more time than it costs.

Oh...and as to the bed-bolts-

I had a bit of a fight with mine, too, which was made more difficult by the fact that I couldn't locate a 1/2" drive T-55 for sale, and was stuck with my 3/8" drive tools. As I recall...I used penetrant and a propane torch on the bottoms of the rear four bolts. The gas tank got in the way of getting to the front two from below, but it also had protected them enough from the salt spray that I was able to break them loose anyway.