Ratchet straps in place of fuel tank straps??

[01Malibu]

1998 Chevy truck with 309,000 miles. Fuel tank strap broke and the new strap also broke. Mechanic told me he couldn't promise me that the second one would hold. 3 weeks later the new strap broke also. The cross section where the fuel tank straps connect to is bad even though the frame was said to be OK. Another mechanic said it would cost too much....fuel tank would have to be removed as well as the bed.Now the strap closest to the cab is fine. So is it safe to drive the truck with a ratchet strap under fuel tank? Ratchet strap is supposed to work up to 1000 lbs. with a breaking point at 3000lbs. Roadside salt is death on car frames in northern US.

[balthazar]

Weight & stress-wise it should be fine. But you need to insure there are no sharp metal edges against the strap anywhere. And it totally depends on how you orient it; too wide a 'U' under the tank & it may shift with the fuel sloshing, and weaken/break the front strap. This is a dicey temporary repair - you need someone who is really experienced here to analyze the scenario. In order for it to last a short while, until you can do a real structural repair, the tank can't move.

I say all this obviously without seeing it. If a friend 5 minutes from me asked me this question, I would still say; I need to see it to say.

[SAmadei]

I agree with Balthy.

One note... are we sure the replacement straps the original mechanics used were the proper straps? I had to replace the strap on something (I forget what) years ago and was pretty impressed with the quality of the strap. OTOH, I had a friend return from a mechanic with a piece of that super cheap exhaust strap holding the tank up. "Luckily" he destroyed the car before it failed... but I swore I wouldn't stand for such a repair... only to discover later that my '68 Catalina had the same crappy repair, but I had never noticed until it failed!

[Intrepidation]

I really, really, wouldn't do that. Fix it properly, especially since you're dealing with fuel.

[Drew Dowdell]

Find the part locally and take a look at it to see if it matches the new part that failed or not.