I had to replace the pump on an 85 T-bird ages ago........
A piece of rubber from the sock had jammed up the pump.
You probably had something similar and dropping it dislodged junk.......
Yeah.. thanks for the input... I was thinking the same thing (fingers crossed). Without the sock to filter larger pieces of "anything", I can see how the pump could get plugged up. When I drained the old gas that had been in the tank for almost 4 years, the gas was clean, I could not see any debris or material. It was stinky and appeared to be a little higher viscosity.
I'm glad I dropped the tank and checked this out. I'd rather do it now in my garage than have the old 31 year old fuel pump fail when I'm out in the boonies or on the freeway between Phoenix and Casa Grande.
Gnarls.
