Holes in Fuel Tank - Best way to repair?

A

AL Farmall Boy

501 Club
Hey guys....I have a real nice 1975 Cub that I had the hood/tank sandblasted and painted. The hood is in perfect condition. Except 2 small holes emerged from the blasting.i cleaned the tank well inside and out and tried using the gas tank repair putty, painted the hood and installed only to find that a month later all the gas had leaked out. The putty was pealing away and not working. I'm ready To fix it right. Any suggestions??
 
Best, purchase another gas tank/hood.

You can try a gas tank sealer such as RedKote or other sealers. Be sure to strictly follow the directions.

There are several discussion on this site covering sealers.
 
I really don't want to have to do that given that the rest of the tank is in perfect condition. Surely it can be silver soldered or something......
 
Here are some pictures of it.....
 

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Welders are reluctant to repair gas tanks because of the chance of gas fumes igniting. If you plan on repairing it, you should fill it will water several times to force the fumes out. You might then still want to fill the tank with an inert gas before any heat/flame/spark is introduced.

Bob
 
Yes it will work, i'm working on a old indian tank that was full of holes and the owner had it soldered and then he red coated it.
 
The reason I've been given for not repairing pinholes is that if there's one, more are on the way. You will have a never-ending nightmare chasing pinhole after pinhole, losing tankfuls gas, having to purge and solder repeatedly.
 
Matt Kirsch":rhlq7vm6 said:
. . . never-ending nightmare chasing pinhole after pinhole, losing tankfuls gas . . .
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Which is a good reason for using the coating/sealer approach either with or without soldering first. The coating will preemptively fix any other weak spots that haven't yet started to leak.
 
Those holes are pretty big to just use the tank coating. If you are going to fix it i would definitely have it soldered first and then coat it.
 
Any good sheet metal shop would be able to repair that for you. They would prefer that you took it to, for example, a car wash, and thoroughly washed it out with hot soapy water and rinse a few times. That said, they will still take the appropriate steps to protect themselves and your tank from going "BOOM!" Your prep just makes the job easier, therefore cheaper. Unlike the hours we used to spend removing JB Weld prior to making a proper repair!
After the repair, look into POR-15 gas tank lining kit. POR-15 is a too-obscure metal coatings company that make great preserving/protecting products. Check 'em out. For frame work, etc., I prefer it to powder-coating.
 
Jim Becker":8ftt0344 said:
Matt Kirsch":8ftt0344 said:
. . . never-ending nightmare chasing pinhole after pinhole, losing tankfuls gas . . .
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Which is a good reason for using the coating/sealer approach either with or without soldering first. The coating will preemptively fix any other weak spots that haven't yet started to leak.
Click to expand...

Good point Jim and the others. I will get my uncle to solder the holes up and then get some red kote and seal it up. We will either fill it up with the inert gas or water before soldering. Even though the tractor has been sitting for a couple years with no fuel in it......it all leaked out!!! :lol:

Question: What is the capacity of the Cub fuel tank? It says 1 quart of Red Kote per 12 gallons capacity.
 
AL Farmall Boy":1kmfe6fu said:
Question: What is the capacity of the Cub fuel tank? It says 1 quart of Red Kote per 12 gallons capacity.
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7 gallons. One container of RedKote will line the tank and you will have some left over for a smaller fuel tank.

Be sure to read the comments on this site for using the product.
 
I had a tank with what I thought was light rust covering most of the inside bottom. I am a big fan of POR-15 paint when working with rusty metal so I chose the POR fuel tank repair Kit. One part of the kit is a rust remover. After adding the rust remover I discovered about a dozen pinholes and one hole about the size of the end of a pencil in the bottom of the tank. POR also has a fiberglass mesh which is for use in repairing holes. With this mesh you use the POR paint in place of a resin and the paint is not damaged by fuel. I used the mesh with some of the tank coating material to repair the larger hole from the outside and then coated the entire outside bottom of the tank with about 6 or 8 coats of POR-15 paint. This sealed all of the pinholes and prevented the coating from leaking out of the tank when I poured it in. It also will stop the bottom from rusting in the future. If you use POR be sure to follow the directions closely. My repair was about 4 years ago and so far there haven't been any problems. For each product the POR web site has detailed instructions. The POR Fuel Tank liner is like the POR paint but with added fuel resistance.
Links to POR web site:

http://www.por15.com/

http://www.por15.com/Fuel-System-Restoration_c_17.html

http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Power-Mesh-Reinforcing-Fabric_p_75.html
 
You can use a true old fashioned soldering iron, which was a solid chunk of iron that you heated away from the work. That way no flame involved. The one I had was about an inch square at the handles, then came to a point over about 1.5 inches of length.
 
AL Farmall Boy":1q5t5nm1 said:
Ok Eugene. I do have 2 Cub Cadet pony tanks for a Cub that I could use the rest to coat them.
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I've used RedKote on 3 or 4 large fuel tanks. The left over RedKote is sufficient for one small, 1 to 1 1/2 gallon tank. There was a bit of RedKote left after the second tank, but not enough to bother with saving.

If you coat the Cub gas tank and then 2 of the Cub Cadet tanks, one immediately after the other, you may be able to get the 2 Cub Cadet tanks coated.

I've never done that. Always stored the left over RedKote until I was ready to work on the smaller tank,
 
I could've sworn that you guys didn't like RedKote because it peels off in the tank, leaving you with a mess... I seem to remember reading a LOT about that on this forum a while back. Can't seem to find any reference to it now, of course.
 
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