Tank repair?

[69 and 85]

Anyone had good luck repairing gas tanks? My 91 duel tank's rear was shot when I got it and now the front is leaking. thx

[fellro86]

so far my rear tank is holding up to the JB weld repair I did to it. I took it off, cleaned it up with a wire brush on the grinder, heated it up with a blow drier after spreading the JB, then undercoated the whole tank. No leaks yet....

[monsterbaby]

I have found that replacement tanks aren't very expensive and usually not worth the hassle to repair. Last time I bought a tank it cost me $62 (including tax) for a new tank for my 81 GMC (when I still had it) I just figure thats cheap enough to make it not worth fixing.

[69 and 85]

I was thinking I'd like to replace the tank... $62 is CHEAP for a new one. The cheapest junkyard one I found is $50, but who knows when it'll go.

[jimbo beam]

i talked to my cusin, he just repaird the tank off a old camaro for a guy that was restoring it.

drained the gas, filled the tank with water and left it out till all the water seaped out of the hole, he wiped down the inside with shop towels. filled it with water again and fliped it over left it in the shed for a couple day and then fliped it over so all the water drained out the hole again.

not sure how many times he repeated the first steps. he ended up filling the tank about half full with water, cut out the infected area, and welded in a new piece of sheet metal, they grinded down the hole tank to get the worst of the rust off it, and then painted it with por15.

the idea behind the all the watering was to get all the fumes out of the tank.

[beaners1]

I used to work in a shop that we welded propane tankers, gas tankers, fuel tanks off trucks, the best and safest way to clean them is steam, let the thing get steamed out for several hours. The only problem with this is that most of us can't produce enough hot water to do this project. With the camaro project Jimbo Beam was talking about I would say that it worked and the only time it would be worth that much effort is for an original restoration.
As far as welding on a tank it should be off the truck and then by that time it would be easier and safer to replace it with new. I have used an epoxy gas tank repair kit from my local parts store that worked really well and only cost about $10, and the tank didn't have to come off.

[69 and 85]

I had to pull my tank just to find the leak. It was behind a plastic cover on the front side and even then I had to stand the tank on it's end to see the gas almost "condensate" out. (The hole is TINY!)

I got a kit that sounds like what you used. The rest of the tank looks good, so I plan to clean the outside real good, get rid of a couple surface rust spots, and then patch and coat the tank after the patch is cured.

Thanks all for your info.

[fellro86]

Sounds like a plan... that epoxy is very similar to JB weld... my patch job is holding up yet after about a year, clean is key to getting it to stay. The blow dryer trick is to get it to flow into the hole better, so it will hold on better. Mine was rusted from the outside as well, the skid plate held the dirt there, and the plastic cover you have did the same.

[69 and 85]

you got it. Not much rust on this truck, but that plastic trapped water, mud, road salt - you name it!

[69 and 85]

It's been a month now. I cleaned the tank really well, patched the whole and put a couple coat of some rustoleum paint on it.... actually looks pretty good. Doesn't leak either!