rusty fuel pump lock ring removal

[JerryIrons]

Was going to change out a faulty fuel sender, but once I got the tank off saw this:



So yeah, new fuel pump and lock ring about to be ordered, provided I can get the old one out fine. I starting using a brass punch and my favorite 5 lb hammer, but then proceeded to bend part of the lock ring. So for now I am soaking those tabs in kroil, this job is not a rush and can wait a few days. I'll keep applying kroil and then try again after some soak time. Any thoughts or advice ?

 

[gpking]

Any thoughts or advice ?

Soak that sum'b and go to town with the hammer.

I did mine 2 months ago, 130k miles, and it took a solid 5 minutes of hammering to get the ring off. It helped to have an extra set of hands to take turns.

 

[JerryIrons]

Soak that sum'b and go to town with the hammer.

I did mine 2 months ago, 130k miles, and it took a solid 5 minutes of hammering to get the ring off. It helped to have an extra set of hands to take turns.

Yep that's pretty much my plan. A day or so of soaking and then it's hammer time!

 

[JerryIrons]

I got it! Here is a shot with it off:


Look at that rusty mess! That was an adventure. I mangled every single tab and gap, you can see how warped they are in the picture. In fact I was constantly bending them back with a screwdriver so they wouldn't dig into the fuel tank as they bent. 2 of them I broke, and then twisted them off to start hitting the tabs that were left over. Some of those I just sheared off as well. But, I swear I could see openings start to happen between metal tab and the lock ring, even if they were tiny.

Working on this outside, in a light misty rain, I finally broke down and got a metal chisel out, started it off with electrical tape but by the end of it bare metal on metal, luckily I'm still here typing this with no booms. I had to use the chisel to create new access points to bite into the ring so I could hit it more. But like I said it was a light misty rain, so I'm trying to convince myself that makes it ok as I bang away on it. (not)

Ok, so here is some advice for future adventurers:
As you work on it, you will start to see small gaps showing the ring start to work it's way around. Look for the tabs that have no "gaps", and work around those. The idea is to move the whole ring around evenly. (ha!) The other bit is to just be patient. My ring came off, but it was slow, almost too slow to even see it happen. Just keep at it.

And thanks gpking for your thoughts!