Doubt you did anything to it. It's where the baffle is welded in. Usually a spot weld rusts through. You should be able to find a gas tank/radiator repair kit. It's comes on a blister card, looks like a flattened Tootsie Roll, it's an epoxy. You cut off a small piece, kneed it between your fingers to mix. Form it to a point, stick the point in the hole and flatten on the outside of the tank.

Works pretty good but not permanent. Once you get one rust through, others will probably follow. Look at it as an opportunity to upgrade to a bigger tank in the next year or so.

 

Awesome !

Many thanks... was thinking of a bigger tank and going to placcy... so nows as gooda time as any... cheers !!!!!!!!

g

 

Did the hole look to be punchered from the outside of the tank inward, or is it possibly a rust - pinhole?

1. Steel tank = Rust.
2. Rust + Time = Pinholes.
3. Seam + Rust = Seam leak.

You've got a few of choices:

1. Have the tank welded (stand WAY back).
2. Clean and coat the inside of the tank with a rust inhibiter and coating.
3. Replace the tank.

 

From memory looks like a pushed IN type hole but i have to take the skid off to check that !

thanks AGAIN !

g

 

I fixed a crack in my tank with JBWeld and it is still in good shape almost 2 years later. If it starts leaking again I will probably replace the tank, but until then it's fixed.

 

if your gona weld the tank pull it and fill it FULL of water

I've got a leaky tank too I think I'm goning to put it a poly tank. No more rust

 

Brent, not a bad suggestion. I've seen guys use screws with JBWeld as a sealant for pinholes and small holes. JBWeld is awsome stuff! It the tanks not rusting.. that's the way I'd go.

 

In reply to:

if your gona weld the tank pull it and fill it FULL of water

NEVER - NEVER - NEVER - NEVER - NEVER - NEVER - NEVER - NEVER - NEVER

 

So, Im thinking about buying a new tank and need some opinions.

Should I stay with a steel tank or Go Fiberglass or other ?

Can a much larger tank than stock factory be installed? and if so what additional modifications should I look at to do this.

Lastly, The skid is pretty nasty but all in one piece. Should I use the orginal skid? or is there a better suggested upgrade ?

and why the hell would you fill your PETROL tank with WATER ????!?!? Are you mad ?

g

 

Once I had an old Lincoln bomb and I was swapping the summer tires/wheels for the winter tires/wheels and I noticed a dark spot on the corner of the gas tank. Well I wondered wheather it was grease from some suspension component, brake fluid from a leaky wheel cylinder, or gear lube from a bad axle seal. So I took my finger and wiped it to find out it's texture and smell to try and determine it's nature and origin. Now I ask, did I do anything wrong? That gas tank started peeing like a race horse. Talk about under pressure. I had to think quick to try and fix it. After what seemed like 10 minuites and watching a river(not actually) of gasoline flow into my yard I ran inside and got a sheet metal screw. The metal crumpled and the hole got bigger with the necessary increased flow of liquid hydro carbon. Went and got the biggest screw, like a no. 14 and that worked. Drip. Drip. Drip. Well priced out new tanks, no thanks. I siphoned it as far as I could. Undid the straps and hoses, dropped it and poured the rest of the gas out. Now the trick here is to fill and flush with water several times. Opened the yellow pages and found a welder place that said bring it on down. The welder looked at my screw and asked if I could solder pipe. That all it needed was scuffed up and soldered. I asked about the fumes, which were slight, and he said the same thing I did which was to flush it and when welding put some water in. If the fumes ignited all it would do is through some water out. He then lite up his torch and brazed around the screw for 5 bucks. With my Jeep I would get one of those poly tanks and a good skid plate. Good Luck.

 

I had a leak in my gas tank on my jeep. I pulled it, took it to a local radiator shop. They cleaned it inside and out, brazed the bad spot all for 25 bucks. That was close to seven years ago and it is still holding. I did add split firehose between the skid plate and tank when I put it back in.

 

I pulled mine to fix a gauge problem and cleaned off some rust only to find some pin holes. I called the one place in town that does nothing but jeeps ( I hate dealing with the jerk that runs the place but he always has the parts ) new 15 gal steel tank was 95 bucks plus uncle sam and no shipping probs

 

well firstly.....if your gonna weld(ark, mig,watever) fill it with water....no matter how empty or clean you think it is it still has a small(usually a lot)of petrol fumes in it ....if you just weld you WILL blow yourself, and anyone near you, to peices ...ive seen it done ...not pretty

i put in a custom made 100 litre tank made of 1/4" alloy
but i have a CJ6..dont know how big you could go

 

CJ7Taz just curious, why never? That's what I've been told by a few shops in town. How else do you do it? I know welding it's not the best solution because it may create more cracks and stuff. (as melcor stated you fill it with water to get all of the gas fumes out

the fumes will go BOOM much easer than gas)

 

Hey, Melcor, I was just noticing that your rear diff is offset to the left. Do you have a left side drop dana 18?

 

Simply stated, you can't weld on a tank full of water. You can't get enough heat, the water pulls it away. As you keep trying, continually applying heat, the water becomes superheated. It can't turn to steam because it is in a confined vessel but keeps expanding more and more with the heat. Eventually the pressure builds to the point that something has to give and the tank ruptures throwing superheated water and steam everywhere. It's a whole lot worse than opening the cap on a hot radiator. Most people I know who do it for a living claim they would rather weld on a tank full of gasoline than one full of water.

 

I'm no expert on this and am not trying to give advice, but I am a bit confused. First off I understand not being able to use a gas welder for the reasons you stated, but why wouldn't an electric welder like an ARC welder work? They work underwater so why wouldn't they work in this case. Second why would you keep the tank sealed when welding with it full of water? If you didn't seal it the vapors could escape and no problems would arise. Maybe I am missing something, so if I am please correct me. I am just trying to understand.

 

IMHO people who weld gas tanks full of water are just asking for trouble and have been darned lucky they haven't found it. Filling a tank with water dosen't always expell the gas fumes. I've seen steam cleaned tanks blow due to fume build up. It's just not a good practice. It's right up there with thowing lighter fluid in your tire to get it to seal on a rim.

Just how much is your life (or the life of those watchin' ya) worth? Me, mine's worth more than a gas tank... I'd vote on the side of caution and buy a new one before I'd ever approach a tank with a welder.

I've seen guys die from superheated steam exposions... and it ain't pretty. It's a terrible, long, horrible death. Tthe last guy I knew that it happened to took 6 days to die. Though he went through a lot for those six days, so did his widow and kids.

Sometimes even "Professionals" can be stupid... IMHO it just ain't worth it..

 

I agree I would get a new tank ... I was just under the assumption that if you going to weld it the safest way would be be open not sealed and full of water.

 

About a year ago I had a couple of very bad choices, one of which was to weld a gas tank at the filler neck. I filled it with argon from the TIG welder until a match outside and just below the filler neck went out immediately. Then I stuffed a rag into the filler neck and tig welded the crack. I was mighty glad when it was over.

 

I am definitely not giving any advice on this subject, but yes displacing the oxygen with an inert gas is something I might do, or maybe I would drop in chunks of dry ice which would become CO2 gas displacing the oxygen.

As to not sealing the water in the tank, not that the fill and vent lines are big enough to be of much help anyway since it's being heated unevenly, but how were you going to keep the water in the tank while you had it upside down welding on the bottom?