Will a gas tank from a 85 swap

Into a 73 with minimal headaches?

 

Yeah I know I can make it work, but this is the around town driver/beater, that I dont want to get started on making everything. I'd rather find one that would bolt up as in the filler necks are the same, mounting bolts are close, and all that good stuff.

 

I think between the wrangler and the 73, the filler necks are on opposite sides
just for starters.
Brandie-New ones for the 73 are just a hair over $100.

 

MTS shows the differences pretty well. These are the oversize tank pictures - I linked those because the contrast is better than in for the standard size tanks, and you can see the features better. They are the same as the normal sized tanks except for their height - thus the skid plate extensions. (I linked these rather than embedding them because of the size of the images).

'72-77 tank : http://www.mtscompany.com/images/jeep/0050xl.JPG
'78-86 tank: http://www.mtscompany.com/images/jeep/0051xl.JPG

Both tanks have the same exterior dimensions. You can see that the later style tank has a different filler neck setup from the earlier tank. The filler hose will be smaller, and you'll either have to use the later filler at the body or adapt to the change in hose size. Some other plumbing details, but otherwise basically the same.

 

72-77 mounted directly from the tank to the frame using brackets. 78-86 was hung from the frame using a strap and skid plate. So you'd have to figure out a way to use the strap and skidplate system as the later tank won't have the holes for the bracket mounts. My 74 has a later tank but someone drilled the holes and brazed them shut to prevent leaks. The filler hose also didn't clear the frame rail and they had notched the frame rail for clearance (very stupidly, I might add).

 

Just a minor correction - the Earlys (mid '70-71) with a rear tank and the Intermediates (through '75) used the tank that bolted to brackets on the frame. The skid plate was optional, because it was not needed to hold the tank in.

In '76 Jeep started using the skid plate to support the tank. The '76-77 tanks sit on top of the skid plate and are held down by straps. MTS is selling the same tank for 'mid-70 through '77, but they are requiring the installer to add hold down straps in the '75 and earlier Jeeps. So the MTS tank is not an exact replacement for the earlier tanks, but it'll work in most cases (ie when the skid plate is present).

 

Yes, I over generalized. Thanks for the correction, Tim. My setup is in fact a 76-77 tank in a 74 CJ5. Someone had drilled holes in the corners and spliced together a longer filler hose because the 76-77 filler neck is only about 1.5" long compared to the 70.5-75 version which is about 6" long. Both are the same diameter, about 2.25".

If you look at Quadratec's website for their replacement steel tanks they have good pictures of all versions with dimensions of the filler necks. http://www.quadratec.com/products/product_search.php?cn=Fuel+Tanks+&+Pumps&c=69&sv=9999