soooo, I was checking under every inch of my XLT to see where this fuel smell was coming from and my filler neck was cracked on both ends where it clamps. And I've already made the mistake of dropping the tank since I'm working on it alone (dropped it with a jack). It only took me about 30 minutes to wrestle it and get everything disconnected.

I found a filler neck assy. for $35 and ordered it. Should I just wait for it and hold off on fabing a way to get it on the road (universal hose)?? I really want my baby on the road again >.<...

You should do the safe thing and wait til you get the part. You would feel pretty shitty if your baby lit up if you just wanted to take it out for a spin