Thanks!
Do you happen to have any photos of the spot where the vent hose (that goes to the carbon cannister) attaches to the tank?
so the workshop manual and some other videos I saw said to remove that back behind the spare tire (and one mentioned they needed to remove the spare to get to it). I could never find it (and didnt enjoy having my head under the rear axle) so I removed them at the tank side instead. much easier. I removed the other one near the transfer case but ended up removing it from the tank as well, so it was sorta a waste of time to disconnect it back near the transfer case. both those hoses would need to get fished back into place over the frame, which is sorta a pain given the tight space. so I think removing both from the tank is the way easier route to go. its more connections to remove, but they are all in front of you once you lower the tank so easier to remove and reinstall.
so the method I uses was as follows:
- remove the heat shield
- remove the main fill hose (get a buck or towels as fuel will spill)
- remove the 2 rear vent hoses and electrical wire from the clips holding it to the side of the tank. this will give you more slack to drop the tank.
- remove one or both of the front fuel delivery pipes. I could only get to one with the tank still up, and removed the other as I was dropping the tank.
- now start slowly dropping the tank with a jack. monitor to make sure you have slack in your hoses. once I had it down 1 ft I had more room to remove the other front connector. and remove the rear hoses from their clips on the top of the tank. this gave plenty of slack to drop the tank all the way to the ground with the 3 connections on the rear of the tank still connected.
- that gave me much better view and leverage to remove the rear hose connections from the tank. you have the electrical harness which just required a flat head screwdriver to pop the clip. then you have the two vent hoses. one vent hose has 2 connections to the tank in the front and rear. very easy to remove with push clips. the other big vent hose unclips at the flange.
- now your tank is fully clear and you have no hoses flopping around since they are still all connected to the car. I then slide it out under the car to get the flange cleaned and opened.
In the picture below you are looking from the front of the tank to the rear. the 3 rear connection points are visible hanging down, the one larger vent hose, the smaller one and the electrical harness. the smaller vent disconnects from the top of the tank in two spots. you can see the valve (I think called the rollover valve) at the rear of the tank. there is an identical one at the front of the tank. just disconnect that hose from there. you can also see in that pic if you disconnect those hoses back near the diff, you need to fish them up over the frame. seemed like a way bigger pain in the ass than my method.