If you’re considering installing a fuel pump in your truck bed, locating the right spot to cut a hole is crucial for a successful installation. This task requires precision and careful planning to ensure optimal functionality and safety.
In order to reach the fuel pump, you can cut a hole in the bed of your truck, but you don’t have to. Your truck’s exact location will depend on the make and model, but the pump is usually located in or on the fuel tank.
To reach your truck’s fuel pump, you don’t necessarily have to drill a hole in the bed, unless you need to access it often.
It’s best to hold off on cutting the access panel for your fuel pump until after you get a better idea of what your truck needs. This is a delicate job, and you don’t want to cut anything you shouldn’t.
You may want to consider removing the truck bed instead. There are only six-10 bolts to remove, so it’s a simple matter of sliding the bed off.
When a mechanic replaces your fuel pump, they drop the fuel tank. Depending on the make and model of your truck, it could cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000.
You’ll need to pull up the exact specifications for your truck make and model if you’re determined to cut a hole in the bed for the fuel pump. The process won’t be the same for every truck.
In Which Part Of The Truck Bed Should I Cut A Hole For A Fuel Pump?
It is common for people to cut a hole in the truck bed to replace a faulty fuel pump if the car needs fuel pump replacement frequently but there is no access cutout on the truck bed.
A hatch panel is included in many newer pickup models for getting to the fuel pump. Older models don’t have one.
Wiggling the wiring harness attached to the fuel pump, located at the top of the fuel tank, may help restart the fuel pump if the connections to the wiring harness are loose.
The harness would have to be wiggled first, but you would have to access the area first. Isn’t that right?
Typically, the fuel pump is located 10 to 12 inches behind the car cabin, approximately 10 inches from the front of the truck bed.
Fuel pump cut-outs are typically located 5 inches from the front end of a truck box and need to extend 12 inches.
Depending on how the fuel hoses and harness connectors are oriented, the cut hole would extend left or right.
A person should note the actual location of the fuel pump before proceeding with cutting the hole to ensure correct cutting sizes and position.
The right place to cut hole for fuel pump in truck bed if you want to inspect and replace fuel pump and exhausted all other options to remove fuel pump.
Cutting A Hole In A Truck Bed To Access The Fuel Pump
Fuel pumps are typically located behind the car cabin between the wheelbase and the body of the vehicle. Typically, it sits 10 to 12 inches from the front of the truck bed.
Here are the important points to consider before cutting a hole in a truck bed and the steps to cut it.
Step 1
On the top of the fuel tank, you will find the fuel pump sitting underneath the truck bed. Take measurements both sideways and lengthwise from the truck bed to determine the dimensions of the fuel pump.
Step 2
You should determine the diameter of the fuel pump, the footprint of the harness, the electrical connectors, nuts, and bolts, and the direction of the fuel pipe from the fuel pump center.
A vehicle’s model and year of manufacture may determine where the fuel pump should be mounted and what dimensions must be cut in the truck bed.
Step 3
In general, a fuel pump cut-out will start at 5 inches from the front end of the truck bed box and end at 17 inches from the front end, which means that you would have to cut a 12-inch hole in the truck bed.
Step 4
Depending on the degree of criticality of the disassembling process, extra cutting dimensions and space may need to be kept for easy access to parts such as fuel lines and harness connectors that are associated with the fuel pump.
There is often visibility of the harness connectors and fuel pipe access nuts, but it is difficult to reach them with the tools and wrenches required for their removal due to space limitations.
Step 5
The cut hole size and position on your truck bed need to be marked, then the angle grinder cutter can be used to cut the bed panel.
Note, however, that the angle grinder will leave a lot of space between the bed panel and the angle grinder. In order to make a replacement access panel, you will need to adjust the thickness appropriately.
Step 6
Be careful not to cut the hatch panel deeper when cutting the truck bed, otherwise, you might damage the wiring harness, fuel hoses, etc. under the panel.
Step 7
Be careful not to cut the structural frame underneath the bed that supports the weight. Cutting the cross frame would result in a sagging truck bed surface.
An equivalent matching access panel shall be fitted over the hole in the truck bed once you have cut the hole for fuel pump access.
Step 8
For a truck bed panel to be strong enough to support heavy loads, stamping ribs are usually provided.
It’s possible to make access panels matching the cut-out in an unused truck bed if you have one available. If you need access panels that match the reinforcement ribs on the bed, visit any junkyard nearby.
Step 9
A self-tapping screw can be used to attach the access panel to the truck bed so that it can be easily removed next time.
To prevent bending and damage caused by the load placed on the truck bed, the hatch panel needs reinforcement screwed to the bed immediately below the hatch.
Step 10
If you weld the access panel after the fuel pump replacement, you will need to redo all the work when you need to inspect the pump next time, defeating the purpose of providing the access panel in the first place.
Step 11
A welding spark may also pose a fire hazard since it will be very close to the fuel pump hoses and fumes from the fuel tank.
Step 12
Dirt, water, and other contaminants can penetrate the access panel in both directions from top to bottom if it is not sealed.
Sealing the access panel to the truck bed can be achieved with silicone rubber seals or epoxy.
Step 13
Truck beds and hatch panels with cut ends do not have a protective galvanized coating and can be subjected to atmospheric agents.
For this reason, you would need to treat the cut edges with anti-rust coatings in order to prevent the onset of rust.
When to cut hole in truck bed for fuel pump?
Making a cut in the truck bed is the most practical option for accessing the fuel pump for the following reasons.
Having trouble with your car’s fuel pump and having to drop the fuel tank regularly can be time consuming and expensive.
It would be quite a pain to remove either the fuel tank mounting bolts or the truck bed mounting fasteners in a region where brine solution is sprayed all over during winter.
If you have attempted to remove the bolts, they have either jammed and broken or simply spin in their place.
For doing the simple job of replacing the fuel pump, which costs only a few fuel bucks, a dealer maintenance charge is not justified.
A new hole in the truck bed will not adversely affect its aesthetics since it has several holes already and needs to be replaced.
The routing design of the fuel filler neck can make draining fuel from the fuel tank through it difficult in some cases. In addition, fuel tanks do not have fuel tank drain outlets.
When that happens, removing the rusted hardware itself is quite a challenge, which makes dropping the fuel tank a rather tedious task.
Drop The Tank
Don’t worry about the tank, just drop it.
It’s not that difficult. A ramp and hand tools are all you need, as well as a willingness to use profanity. Nonetheless, if you have a 2008 Explorer, you better make sure it’s not the fuse box’s internal relay.
The connector above the fuel filter on the inside of the frame rail should be pulled down and checked with a test light.
Two big wires are in front of us, once white, red and black, but they have probably faded too much to tell what color they used to be.
Whatever way you look at it, they’re the big wires on the connector side. In one case, it’s ground, in another case, it’s hot. Check if the pump runs and the car starts by jumping them to a car battery.
In that case, the PCB trace may have been pulled out by a non-serviceable internal relay in the Fusebox, as it usually happens in trucks of this type. My recommendation would be to buy remanufactured units for $200 from a site that sells them.
What’s The Reason? Isn’t It Easy To Drop The Fuel Tank?
By the time you have explored, probed, cut, cursed, sealed, re-sealed, and fought with the keeper ring through the access hole… The tank straps could already be dropped, the tank lowered half way, and the pump replaced.
If the tank has a lot of gas, use a cheap transfer pump or siphon hose to pump it into a 5 gallon can that you can put in another vehicle, or keep a couple of cans for after you fill it up again. Reinstalling empty tanks is much easier.
Additional Tips
If you’re dropping the tank, here’s what to do:
Make sure that you have a one-gallon gas can well sealed in the rear of your vehicle. Run the Explorer out of gas. Once it’s started, put in just enough gas to get home.
A tank with several gallons still sloshing around is much more difficult to drop than one with an empty tank.
In addition, incandescent work lights are not permitted. Only LEDs. I was working in a shop where a guy dropped a tank. His last rusty strap broke, and the tank tipped, spilling gasoline all over him and the floor. The drop light followed the tank down, and the bulb went out, igniting everything.
When the fire extinguisher was first used, one of the noobs aimed it at the flames instead of the fuel.
After chasing the flamer half a block, the shop manager extinguished the employees’ pants and shoes.
It was a third and final fire extinguisher, wielded by a half-snoozing Service Advisor, that prevented the shop from catching fire.
Final Words
You may resort to cutting a hole in the truck bed as a last resort if you are pretty sure that the fuel pump is the problem and are desperately looking for a way to access it, as the work involved in cutting a hole, patching it with an access panel that matches the truck bed profile, and sealing the joint is crucial for leak proofing.
As soon as possible, either dropping the fuel tank assembly or removing the truck bed should be attempted, since they involve clean solutions without cutting, welding, or putting anything in place.
