1997 Ford f350 gas tank overflowing

Thanks for a great forum. I bought a 1997 Ford F350 with a crew cab in May. I picked it up in North Carolina to bring back to Michigan. Before I left I switched to the front tank and the engine stalled, then I switched back to the rear tank and it ran fine. The front tank was full, and overflowing. By July I was tired of the gas smell, and got a siphon pump and transferred the contents to the back tank and quickly used it up. I was surprised today to find the front tank overflowing. I put a new switch assembly on the dashboard, and that didn’t make the front tank work. I can’t hear the pump whirring with the front tank turned on and the engine stalled. I can hear the the pump whirring in the rear tank with the rear tank turned on and running. Is the pump bad in the front tank, or is there something deviously insideous hidden somewhere designed to aggrivate the average mechanic and make him or her take the truck to the dealer? Should I sneer at OPEC and forget fixing the pump in the front tank?