Yvonne Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 A few weeks ago I purchased a 1979 Sunrader 18' long. It has been getting 'fixed up' for our first adventure. When we removed the access panel on the left of the stair well (it is on the side of the kitchen stove cabinet) we discovered that the fuel tank filler pipe was leaking. So I took it into the mechanic to repair, but when he dropped the fuel tank to replace the filler pipe he discovered that the tank was indented and cracked in two places. It seems that Gardner-Pacific put a steel cross member for supporting the coach right on top of the fuel tank and through the years the cross member has been rubbing a holes into the tank. We couldn't find a new tank right away for this model (the 1979 Sunrader is built on a 1978 Toyota chassis) so had the old tank welded. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of it before the weld, but this picture does show the areas of the weld repair and the indentation across the whole width of the tank. My mechanic will be shimming the tank flanges so it will hang further belowand away from the cross member of the coach which caused the problem. It is a good thing I don't plan on doing any boulder hopping with my little rig! This problem may be endemic to all 18' 1979 Sunrader's so if you own one you might want to have it checked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowltondata Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Ahh, a little JBWeld'll fix that! I wonder if that affects other years as well? I don't know if Toyota changed their tank configuration during the 80's... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picklebill Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 A few weeks ago I purchased a 1979 Sunrader 18' long. It has been getting 'fixed up' for our first adventure. When we removed the access panel on the left of the stair well (it is on the side of the kitchen stove cabinet) we discovered that the fuel tank filler pipe was leaking. So I took it into the mechanic to repair, but when he dropped the fuel tank to replace the filler pipe he discovered that the tank was indented and cracked in two places. It seems that Gardner-Pacific put a steel cross member for supporting the coach right on top of the fuel tank and through the years the cross member has been rubbing a holes into the tank. We couldn't find a new tank right away for this model (the 1979 Sunrader is built on a 1978 Toyota chassis) so had the old tank welded. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of it before the weld, but this picture does show the areas of the weld repair and the indentation across the whole width of the tank. My mechanic will be shimming the tank flanges so it will hang further belowand away from the cross member of the coach which caused the problem. It is a good thing I don't plan on doing any boulder hopping with my little rig! This problem may be endemic to all 18' 1979 Sunrader's so if you own one you might want to have it checked out. Hi Yvonne - My fuel tank sender failed so I had to remove the tank and sure enough, there is a piece of angle iron supporting the coach floor that sits right on top of the tank and had been rubbing on the top of the tank exactly where you photo shows your tank was worn. Luckily, there was only some shiny spots on the tank where the angle iron had been touching, so very little wear. I will also be making spacers to slightly lower the tank to hopefully solve the problem. Is yours now OK? Our unit is an 18" 1982 Sunrader, so I wonder when the factory fixed the problem. Thanks for the info. Cheers, Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvonne Posted August 2, 2010 Author Share Posted August 2, 2010 Hi Yvonne - My fuel tank sender failed so I had to remove the tank and sure enough, there is a piece of angle iron supporting the coach floor that sits right on top of the tank and had been rubbing on the top of the tank exactly where you photo shows your tank was worn. Luckily, there was only some shiny spots on the tank where the angle iron had been touching, so very little wear. I will also be making spacers to slightly lower the tank to hopefully solve the problem. Is yours now OK? Our unit is an 18" 1982 Sunrader, so I wonder when the factory fixed the problem. Thanks for the info. Cheers, Bill Hi Bill, My fuel tank has been fine ever since the mechanic boiled it out, welded it, and welded on flanges so it would hang lower. That was back in 2007. The other thing he did was replace the old, hard, cracked fuel filler pipe with a custom one made from a tail pipe stock. Have fun with your Sunrader. Yvonne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorback Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 ANy ideas where to get a new one that fits a 86 sunrader? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek up North Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 http://cgi.ebay.com/...sQ5fAccessories http://ecat.spectrapremium.com/apps/ecat/mainfile.php?vehicle_id=1277412&model=PICKUP&year=1986&make=TOYOTA&splash=false&action=search_by_vehicle&module=product_catalog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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