Just installed a pre-pump in a later 240. It's been quite a few years since I did a 240 pre-pump in a 1985 DL and things seem to have changed a little. The last few times I've removed pick-up assemblies have all been in 700's and 900's, so I may be muddling recollections.
When doing a pre-pump, I try to do everything through the access hole. I figure I save well over an hour by avoiding draining and dropping the tank, especially with the ramp and floor jack setup I'd have to use. Plus I dislike working on my back -arms get tired, junk falls on my face, tools are never handy and my brew ends up spilling.

This time I was happy to see that all the fuel hoses were removable at the top of the pick-up assembly and didn't require crawling under the car to crack open that stubborn brass fuel line coupling (or was that only in the 700/900's?). Cleaning around the bung lock ring and banging it open have always been a piece of cake for me. I even have a sparkless brass drift I keep around just for such a job. After that, a little awkward manipulation with the right pliers and screwdrivers and the hoses were off.

Now for my question. I've always been able to struggle out the whole pick up assembly through the access hole, but this time it just wouldn't wiggle out. The float on the sending unit arm just wouldn't tuck under the pre-pump enough to allow the whole unit to come out. I ended up having to partially extract the pick up assembly, disconnect the pre-pump and let it hang by its wires so I could tuck the float in enough to get it all out. I don't recall having to do that before. Is my mind failing? Have others succeeded where I didn't? I do figure the whole thing would have tipped out easily if I'd dropped the tank. Did I not try hard enough?
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Dave -own 940's, prev 740/240/140/120's & not feeling like an expert today