Rusty gas tanks

[rwirtzfeld]

I am in the process of bringing a dead M-500 back from the grave, and after looking in the gas tanks, they are full of rust and sediment. What would be a good route to go with these? I know they make fuel tank coatings, but there would be no way to distribute the coating to all sides without being able to tip the whole skidsteer? I guess I could put a new tank on the machine somewhere, but to hold any volume, it would be hard to find a good location. Also, the old tanks keep the weight low, which is nice. Any ideas? Thanks, Randy

 

[jerry]

There is only a gas cap on one tank isn't there? If you could get a pressure washer nozzle or sand blaster down in there with a homemade nozzle maybe it would help. You could probably spray the coating on with a garden type sprayer. Check to see if there is some kind of chemical or acid cleaner then flush well and change fuel filters often. No really good ideas here, sorry.

 

[frank b]

I'm in the same situation with my old John Deere 170. I have drained the tanks, fished around the bottoms with a magnet, tapped the sides, bottom, and tops of the tanks with a hammer to knock it off, but after a few minutes of bouncing around the fuel line clogs up with rust. I have to take the line off, blow back through it, then go again. Usually I get 15 minutes before doing it again. On mine, there are two tanks, each in the rear part of the "frame" just behind the hydraulic tanks, and each have a cap. There is a cross over tube between the two that I think is the culprit. There is a product out there called POR15, it's a paint that will coat and "kill" rust and withstand being in gas. It can be thinned slightly to be sprayed and I thought about thinning it, putting it into a garden sprayer so I could get the top, sides of the tanks, letting it settle into the bottoms to fill the transfer tube, then open the drains, catch it, strain it, and do it again. But, I think would need a couple gallons of it, and at $120-$150 a gallon, I'm in no hury to try it! I may drain the tanks, cut out the transfer tube, thread fittings into the drains to connect a hose or steel fuel line between the two with a tee to connect the fuel supply line. That way I don't have to fill them to fill the transfer tube and may be able to use just one gallon. I just can't decide if I should weld or JB Weld covers over the holes where the transfer tube was.... Welding a gas tank, not my idea of fun, and I have used JB Weld enough to trust it. http://www.por15.com Can you get to all sides of the tanks with a sprayer? Only other option would be to fill the tanks with whatever you would use, then drain, that would be too expensive! I wonder if enamel paint will hold up to gas? Or how about red oxide primer? The thing to think about here is there may be a lot of sealers out there, but there are a lot of ethanol blends of gas out there too, and some of these sealers cannot hold up to ANY amount of ethanol.

 

[rwirtzfeld]

I'm in the same situation with my old John Deere 170. I have drained the tanks, fished around the bottoms with a magnet, tapped the sides, bottom, and tops of the tanks with a hammer to knock it off, but after a few minutes of bouncing around the fuel line clogs up with rust. I have to take the line off, blow back through it, then go again. Usually I get 15 minutes before doing it again. On mine, there are two tanks, each in the rear part of the "frame" just behind the hydraulic tanks, and each have a cap. There is a cross over tube between the two that I think is the culprit. There is a product out there called POR15, it's a paint that will coat and "kill" rust and withstand being in gas. It can be thinned slightly to be sprayed and I thought about thinning it, putting it into a garden sprayer so I could get the top, sides of the tanks, letting it settle into the bottoms to fill the transfer tube, then open the drains, catch it, strain it, and do it again. But, I think would need a couple gallons of it, and at $120-$150 a gallon, I'm in no hury to try it! I may drain the tanks, cut out the transfer tube, thread fittings into the drains to connect a hose or steel fuel line between the two with a tee to connect the fuel supply line. That way I don't have to fill them to fill the transfer tube and may be able to use just one gallon. I just can't decide if I should weld or JB Weld covers over the holes where the transfer tube was.... Welding a gas tank, not my idea of fun, and I have used JB Weld enough to trust it. http://www.por15.com Can you get to all sides of the tanks with a sprayer? Only other option would be to fill the tanks with whatever you would use, then drain, that would be too expensive! I wonder if enamel paint will hold up to gas? Or how about red oxide primer? The thing to think about here is there may be a lot of sealers out there, but there are a lot of ethanol blends of gas out there too, and some of these sealers cannot hold up to ANY amount of ethanol.

I have a gas cap on each side, and a crossover between the two. However, I still can't see being able to spray all areas of the tank, with any quality of work, due to the odd shape of the tanks?

 

[Tazza]

I have a gas cap on each side, and a crossover between the two. However, I still can't see being able to spray all areas of the tank, with any quality of work, due to the odd shape of the tanks?

I was thinking of doing that with an epoxy glue. but it needs to have some flexability to it. The fibreglass epoxy that i have was too brittle when cured so that won't work, or at least i wouldn't trust it to work.
I was told there was stuff you can use on motorbike fuel tanks that is designed for that exact purpose. I can't remember where it was, but it does exist.

 

[rwirtzfeld]

I was thinking of doing that with an epoxy glue. but it needs to have some flexability to it. The fibreglass epoxy that i have was too brittle when cured so that won't work, or at least i wouldn't trust it to work.
I was told there was stuff you can use on motorbike fuel tanks that is designed for that exact purpose. I can't remember where it was, but it does exist.

There are alot of coatings than could be used, however, they all rely on the fact that you can shake and lean the tank all directions for even coats of the process. They usually require two stages of prep. solution and then the main coating. However, they are thinking you have a small tank in your hands that can be easily manipulated to get an even coat. With the skidsteer, the best you could do, is spray it and let it run down the sides, I don't think that would give you a very good result.

 

[renopker]

There are alot of coatings than could be used, however, they all rely on the fact that you can shake and lean the tank all directions for even coats of the process. They usually require two stages of prep. solution and then the main coating. However, they are thinking you have a small tank in your hands that can be easily manipulated to get an even coat. With the skidsteer, the best you could do, is spray it and let it run down the sides, I don't think that would give you a very good result.

When I have bad tanks I saw them in two and sandblast them If they have a baffle I remove it also.That give me access to all of the inside and the seems.I use carb cleaner and lots of air to make sure all the sand is out I tig weld or mig it back together and coat the inside with oil ,make sure that you do a white blast to remove all rust.

 

[Jeffscarstrucks]

When I have bad tanks I saw them in two and sandblast them If they have a baffle I remove it also.That give me access to all of the inside and the seems.I use carb cleaner and lots of air to make sure all the sand is out I tig weld or mig it back together and coat the inside with oil ,make sure that you do a white blast to remove all rust.

This is not a solution to the problem but a way to deal with it and hopefully get most of the big stuff out with use. My old ASV had enough rust in the tank to plug the inlet to the filter and the tank comes out right after the engine so that was not happening! I plumbed in a filter housing/mount from a farm fuel holding tank (tank on a stand for refueling) before the factory filter. You can use a two quart screw on filter and it will catch a lot of debris before it fills up. After a filter or two (one for me) the rust problem has virtually gone away. Keep in mind that the thread pitch is different for a fuel filter from an oil filter from a hydraulic filter and so on. Most farm stores have a decent price onthis set up and I found that it works fine on the suction side of the pump if you pre fill the filter. I did have to blow the rust off of the pick-up tube in the tank a few times with VERY low pressure compressed air. I actually put a tee in the line before the tank with a cap on it so that i could blow the pick-up off easily. Like I said, not a fix but it worked well for me. JEF

 

[m610]

This is not a solution to the problem but a way to deal with it and hopefully get most of the big stuff out with use. My old ASV had enough rust in the tank to plug the inlet to the filter and the tank comes out right after the engine so that was not happening! I plumbed in a filter housing/mount from a farm fuel holding tank (tank on a stand for refueling) before the factory filter. You can use a two quart screw on filter and it will catch a lot of debris before it fills up. After a filter or two (one for me) the rust problem has virtually gone away. Keep in mind that the thread pitch is different for a fuel filter from an oil filter from a hydraulic filter and so on. Most farm stores have a decent price onthis set up and I found that it works fine on the suction side of the pump if you pre fill the filter. I did have to blow the rust off of the pick-up tube in the tank a few times with VERY low pressure compressed air. I actually put a tee in the line before the tank with a cap on it so that i could blow the pick-up off easily. Like I said, not a fix but it worked well for me. JEF

Try electrolysis to eliminate the rust. Fill tanks with clean water and washing soda, stick a steel or stainless steel rod inside and connect to a positive power supply. Insulate from tank and connect negative wire to machine. In a day or so the rust will be converted to iron. Then clean the inside with a pressure washer and drain out. A magnet can be used to remove loose flakes but if higher current is used most rust should become black iron powder. Lye works best on tanks with varnish or other fuel residue inside.

 

[frank b]

Try electrolysis to eliminate the rust. Fill tanks with clean water and washing soda, stick a steel or stainless steel rod inside and connect to a positive power supply. Insulate from tank and connect negative wire to machine. In a day or so the rust will be converted to iron. Then clean the inside with a pressure washer and drain out. A magnet can be used to remove loose flakes but if higher current is used most rust should become black iron powder. Lye works best on tanks with varnish or other fuel residue inside.

Electrolysis will do it, but the black iron that it creates is prone to rust as well. Some say more so. You still have to coat or paint it. I've thought of using a garden sprayer, thin the POR-15 or other tank paint and either use a plastic sprayer to bend it to get all the sides of the tanks, or make various metal ones. I like the idea of a larger filter, but it's the pickup that blocks up on mine. I need to take the line off and see if there is a screen in it.

 

[frank b]

Electrolysis will do it, but the black iron that it creates is prone to rust as well. Some say more so. You still have to coat or paint it. I've thought of using a garden sprayer, thin the POR-15 or other tank paint and either use a plastic sprayer to bend it to get all the sides of the tanks, or make various metal ones. I like the idea of a larger filter, but it's the pickup that blocks up on mine. I need to take the line off and see if there is a screen in it.

Oh, and how do you prepare the tanks for welding? Is there a solution to get the gas from the metal so it doesn't pop?

 

[renopker]

Oh, and how do you prepare the tanks for welding? Is there a solution to get the gas from the metal so it doesn't pop?

I put in a cup of dish soap stick the garden hose in and let it overflow slowly for about 2 hours then cut with a sawzall.