Fuel System: 2R17 fuel system pickup

[LeoH]

Too busy last night to post photos, I should have some tonight. I went to clean out the gas tank and there was 3 gallons of 10+ year old gas in it.

The floats were still intact, though 90% varnished. The end of the fuel pickup tube was closed off and I don't think it was broken off intentionally. The neck fitting in the tank was brazed in, not threaded (is it supposed to be threaded or brazed at the tank originally?) and now I'm suspecting the nifty double tank setup was so that someone could use the truck and run it off the auxiliary tank because they couldn't/didn't know how to get the original tank repaired. That's a guess going on what the original tank pickup line looks like.

I hope the original fuel line pickup fits in the fuel sender hole, because I don't see otherwise how it's replaced after the tank is sealed.

[StudeRich]

All of the "C" Cab Standard 1/2 under the Cab and 1/2 under the Bed, Fuel Tanks I have seen had a thru the Cab Left side Filler Pipe and a outgoing Line coming out of the side near the bottom of the Tank. These are Long narrow 18 Gallon Tanks mounted between the Driveshaft and the Left Frame Rail.

I am saying all this so you can determine if yours is aftermarket, as I only know of 1956 and '57 CARS having a "through the Sender" Fuel Line.

[LeoH]

Thanks. So it appears this is an original tank that has been re-plumbed, for some reason at some point. The sender is a SW item. I'm having DSL problems so I won't have computer at home for the weekend likely, so no pics of the fuel tank, sender and pickup unfortunately for now. I'm jumping in for a quick comment at work.

I'm interested in what the original line length and pickup end looks like, inside the 15 gallon tank.

[LeoH]

No one can point me to pics or describe what the end of the fuel pickup line looks like in a 2R17, or any 2R gas tank? Is it normally just an open end to the fuel line?

[LeoH]

So, I spoke to Studebakers West and was told what I saw was correct, the end WAS blocked off and that was the weld that originally held it to the tank bottom. I didn't notice any hole in the end for the fuel intake, I'll look for that next and then be sure to braze it better in place next time than how it was when I took it out.

[Skip Lackie]

The design of the fuel tank pickup tube was modified midway through the 2R series; the parts book has the before/after serial numbers. The later ones (and probably the earlier ones, too) are not threaded, and are just connected with a short piece of rubber fuel line to the steel line that goes forward to the fuel pump.

[LeoH]

That appears what was on this truck. At some point, they ran a piece of tubing up and over the frame rail to the cab body near the driver's seat and into a 2-way valve for the auxiliary tank they added. It'll be simpler to just run a fuel hose over to a close fuel line and then to the engine.
At some point, I would like to add an auxiliary tank, possibly repair the existing one, but that's low on the priority list for now.