Gas tank leak

[ShaunT]

Some of you saw my post on facecrap about my leaking 33 gallon tank. I appreciated all the feedback. I siphoned out all the gas. Decided to drop the tank. Looked easy enough 3 bolts front and 3 in the back.. Well not so much. Can't get to the top of the 3 back bots near to bumper to hold the bolt as I undo the nut. There is no access without dropping my trailer hitch. No problem lets drop the trailer hitch simple enough right?... nooooo. The two back bolts holding the trailer hitch are welded in the frame and came loose so those are spinning. Now my only option is to grind off those bolts. Well here is the problem... I have gas fumes still around and I don't know how concerned I should be about grinding near that area with sparks flying. I called a local tank repair shop for advise and the guy told me as long as the sparks don't get too concentrated and hot I should be OK. My scout is in my garage and I don't want detonate my house. What advise you guys have?

[73IHC]

Pics or it never happened...

[Wmontaney]

Personally, I would once its dropped let it sit for a couple of days while calling a few fab shops or fellow SW members about welding it. You need a very good deep penetration weld and those right angle welds can be tricky sometimes. Also, you want to have it completely aired out of the fumes. And while you are there, might as well recondition the inside of the tank with cleaners to remove any possible rust as that will happen now that is open and no fuel inside of it.

[MikeN]

Where are you located?

If you're local I could stop by and give you a few ideas, I've fought with quite a few fuel tanks over the years.

If you have the fuel line removed you can fill the tank with water to prevent an explosive atmosphere. You might have to block off the supply tube and use the fuel filler to completely fill the tank (displacing fumes).

You can also run a shop vacuum, pulling the fumes from the filler and venting them outside the garage. This may be the easiest, but without an (explosive vapor) monitor it would be hard to verify that you've removed the fuel vapors to ensure safety.

Mike

[Tim Potter]

Can you take the bumper off and if you do would that give you enough room to get on top of the bolts holding the tank? If not and the hitch needs to come down, I'd recommend against grinding the hitch bolts off. See if you can cut them with a sawsall, lots of cutting, no sparks.

[ShaunT]

Thanks to Tony Sweet and Joe Hartman I was able to get the new tank in and buttoned up. She is back up and running