Here is a pic of the tank thats on my Ram. Every time I used a flash you couldnt see how deep the dents were. Its evident that somebody went over something as the heat shield is dented as well.

I am thinking, when I get the time to take the bed loose, lift it up, remove the fuel pump and pop those dents out from the inside.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/members...-16-52-37.html

 

that tank should be plastic, could the straps be to tight or misshapen?

 

polyetholene tanks typically don't dent in like that. I hung my tank up in a field with my old truck and it didn't even do that to it. mine didn't dent I'm wondering if seabass202 is right and the straps might just be to tight.

 

I guess there is only one way to find out. I will lube up the strap bolts and see if by loosening them some, the tank doesnt pop back into place.

 

hey man good luck. I've always hated screwing with fuel tanks straps.

 

well a little wd40 and the nuts spun easily. I loosened them up as much as I was comfortable. They have about a quarter of an inch left on the bolts. And neither dent moved at all. And if it was going to it would have cause there is nearly a full tank of gas in there. The parts number on the straps is ap498 and the gas tank has three numbers on it. The three are 52102076A8; 52102121AB; 1998

Does anybody have a parts number catalog that can cross reference those numbers?

 

i dont think straps being to tight would cause that, as a matter of fact i dont think its possible to over tighten the straps.... I do ALOT of off-roading, and ive hit the gas tank on rocks quite a few times, and i dont have a dent....someone must have dumped it pretty hard on something.

 

That makes 2 of us. I have all kinds of drag marks on mine but no dents and i want to keep it that way.

 

do you guys think the tank coulda imploded on itself somehow? and the skid plate mark was from something else?

 

I was kinda thinkin along the same line... could something like a bad (non venting) gas cap maybe let that tank get sucked in like that?