The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs 1953 Chevy panel van fuel tank brackets location.

I have the brackets for my fuel tank and was installing the rear one by the right rear shock upper mount but the other bracket looks like it bolts in at the right rear running board bracket , the problem is it doesn’t fit the frame like the back tank bracket does it will not fit tight to the frame like it needs a spacer behind it am I doing something wrong. That’s the only spot I can find a bolt hole for it. I looked in the assembly manual but it’s not the same as the truck. This is a '53 Chevy panel van

The Factory Assembly Manual Section 8, Sheet 1.00 shows the 3102 Panel gas tank hung from two crossmembers spanning all the way across the frame and bolted to the top flange. But it sounds like you may have brackets for a 3602 (3/4 ton panel) that bolt just to the right side frame rail. Sheet 1.01 would be the installation diagram for that and it doesn't show any spacers and appears that the brackets are riveted to the frame.

I have the brackets for the 3602 , which when I look for brackets online it shows the same as I have. The rear one works great but the front one doesn’t fit into the frame like the back one like it’s too tall. Theses brackets came with the panel van when I bought it years ago and I’m working on getting it back together. I pulled the frame and sandblasted it and painted now to assembly.

Just my $.02 worth, but I think you will find you must make some modification to your 3602 tank mount front bracket (if it is the correct bracket?) to make it work with your 3102 frame. The pictures below come from the Factory Assembly Manual (FAM) Kevin referred to above. Shown are the differences in the mounting designs and placement between the 3102 tank/brackets and the 3602 tank/brackets. More pictures of the frame diagrams show the differences in frame design between the 3100 and 3600 chassis's which needs to be considered in your using the 3602 brackets on a 3102 frame.

From the pictures in the FAM, the front and rear 3602 brackets look to be the same height at the frame mounting end, so not sure why yours won't fit inside the frame rails??? Pictures of your dilemma would help us understand better and may lead to better suggestions/help.

On a related note, the FAM shows the 3602 brackets work with a 3602 specific tank, different part number than the 3102 tank, so there may possibly be more to deal with using these brackets depending on what tank you have.

Thanks Gdads51 , I’ll take pictures today and post so I can show the problem I’m talking about.

Here are the pictures of the brackets mounted to the frame , the back bracket sits tight to the frame but the front one has a gap because the bracket is touching the top and bottom of the frame. The tabs up top towards the driveshaft mount to the floor .

Did those brackets come with the truck? They look nothing like what's shown in the FAM, and in fact look too heavy to have been factory stuff. Brackets and frame mountings are typically stamped steel with a max thickness of 1/8" or so. Those look like something some farmer fabbed up. (No offence to farmers meant. )

Yes they came with the truck, if you look under the floor you can see where the bolts were before they were removed. The top of the straps have tabs on them where they were bolted to the floor.

I think we may be dealing with another deal where the FAM is showing a later design revision for the Panel/Suburban frame mounted tank brackets and straps than what is found on the pre-'54 trucks.

Your bracket/strap sets look almost identical to the 1/2 ton repops being offered by many of our usual vendors, like these from Jim Carter (see pictures in his web page ad). Based on this, I think you have the original tank mounting bracket/straps, not ones for a 3602.

I've searched through all the Chevy Master Parts Books I have access to and can find no "spacer" to fill the gap between the front bracket and frame rail listed. Maybe there was none, or maybe there was one??? It wouldn't be the first time some small part didn't get listed.

Have you tried to mock up the tank in the brackets to see how it fits? A mock up check will tell you if the tank orientation looks right I think.

I think at this point it would be very helpful if some of our AD Panel/Suburban owning Bolters could take and post some pictures of their tank and brackets.

How about it folks???

Any chance you're trying to install them in the wrong positions? Front one in the back and vice versa? The frame width tapers (wider in the back,) which could explain why you're thinking a spacer is needed.

Dan may be right about the brackets may have changed between 53 and 54. The 54 cross-frame brackets look easier to manufacture, and GM may have been looking for cost cutting measures.

I get what you’re saying, it’s just maybe there was a spacer at one time . I don’t have a fuel tank yet I’ve been looking into tanks now for it I have found I think is the proper tank for it and for the brackets the front one has one bolt hole and the rear has two . I going to see about switching front to rear to see if it does fit better in the back bracket mount . Thanks for the help wouldn’t think two brackets would be that much of a hassle. I remember building my 57 was a lot easier because I had a complete truck and was able to disassemble it myself , but this one was already in pieces when I bought it.

Just my opinion, but I think you have the brackets in the right places. The rear mounts with two bolts, corresponding to the existing frame bolt holes, and the front bracket only one bolt. Also corresponding to what I can see from your pictures. Should be easy enough to add some flat washers to the bolt to fill the gap and secure the bracket to the frame without contorting it out of shape.

I think you want it butted up against the frame rail edges when properly tightened, but I would leave final tightening until you have the tank in place as you want the bracket correctly aligned with the tank and not biting into it when securing the support strap around the tank.

The problem with that is how buried everything is when the body is in place.

This is the best I can do.

Mark - Thanks for posting that. It does give a little better perspective with the tank in place. The positioning of the brackets for yours looks same-same to the OP's.

That picture is just like the brackets I have plus the tank I ordered the other day, Gdads51 your correct about the space on the front bracket , you would think it would bolt up tightly to the frame like the rear one but doesn’t. I see it’s going to be a little challenging to get the spacers in with the fuel tank so close. I was thinking on using the shims that have a slot in them like the ones for mounting body to frame will see. Thanks MNSmith for the picture of the setup like I have.

Here are a few pictures I took of mine years ago.

After relooking at Mark's tank picture, the new ones from bowtietim, plus your original pictures, I think the missing piece to why the front bracket doesn't suck up all the way to the inside frame rail face is because it's bumping up against the rear pair of rivets through the frame that hold the running board bracket to it.

If you look, you can see the front pair of rivets for the running board bracket are visible in front of the forward tank bracket, but the rear pair looks to fall directly behind the forward bracket. I think if you can get a pictures in along the frame rail where the bracket is, you most likely will see the back of the bracket butting up against those rivet heads.

Make sense?

The tank is in place I had to use a 7/16 spacer on the front bracket, the brackets only fit one way front one bolt and rear two bolt. Hopefully it lines up when the body goes back on.

Interesting that your tank is more forward than mine. It looks like the axle hugs my tank. That's with the axle centerline moved 1.5" forward.

Before trying to place the body back on the frame, I would measure the distance of the filler hole in the body to the body mount pad on the body. Then compare that measurement from the actual filler neck and the body mount pad, on the frame.

Looks like I posted the wrong picture , on the tank here’s the correct picture

MNSmith mine looks close to your picture and yes differential is close to the tank . I’ll take a side picture so you can see.

Been try to add pictures but the attachment manager is not working keeps going back to main page of website.

Just a suggestion from current experiences with how the pages load/function. All web pages and internal functions seem to take extra time to finish loading. If you are attempting to type a post/reply and you want to add pictures, when you get to pushing the Attachment Manager button, be sure and wait for the page to fully load before attempting that.

I would suggest you be sure the page you are currently working in has finished loading/displaying before each step in the Attachment manager process. If you do steps too fast, like the photo you selected to upload hasn't yet shown in the Attachment Manager window, but you try to select and add another, you may have interrupted the process and must start over as one or both pictures may not load/display.

If you continue to have a problem, please post details in the IT Short Bus forum so it can be investigated and hopefully resolved.

Thanks Gdads51 , I did go to IT SHORT BUS still having problems.

I thought I'd hop back in here briefly and offer some new info I personally was involved in gathering today, specifically on that "gap" between the front tank bracket and the frame rail.

I helped my buddy KCMongo collect and take back to his shop an AD 1/2 ton chassis with a frame mounted tank on Wednesday of this week that a local fellow was going to scrap. Today, while at KCMongo's I helped him remove some of the reusable pieces off that chassis, including the frame mounted tank and brackets/straps.

When we removed the single bolt through the frame that threads into the forward bracket, low and behold, we found 3 approximately 1/16" thick body style flat shims that filled the gap between the frame rail inner face and the bracket.

The shims looked something like the rough drawing below and the tank and brackets did not appear to have ever been disturbed, so I'm pretty confident they would have been factory pieces used to fill that gap you are/were experiencing when mounting your front tank bracket.

Anyhow, just posting this in here for when other 'Bolters come across the same predicament and it may help them resolve the issue.