T'all fuel tank repaired!

[jmbrodsky@domain.elided]

Binders,

     Good news for my T'all.  I got the drill and wire wheeled 
the offending area, and whilst doing that noticed about 3 more 
small holes appear in the same area as the larger hole.  I got 
the Oxy-Acetylene all set up, set the gas tank in a wheel barrow, 
put stems of fuel line with plugs in them on all the outlets, 
replaced the sender and O-ring, and filled the tank with water 
(7:30PM).  First pass with the torch, and opened then filled the 
rusty spots, let cool, and tilt (8:05PM).  A small dribble of 
water out of a tiny crevice.  Second pass with the torch, I used 
about another full rod of .070 steel, and covered the area 
liberally.  Now it's a large steel patch about 1" by 2.5", let 
cool, tilt, no leak (8:35PM).  Drain water, remove pipes and 
sender, and get the shop vac.  Vac out as much water as I can, 
then put the vac hose to blow and set it in the tank to air it 
out (8:55PM).   (9:25PM) look in the tank, it's dry.  Shake the 
entire tank, and vac out, several steps, all the little rusty 
chips pieces, and original solder from the factory, fill with 
about 20 oz. of fuel, slosh, and check for leaks.  Gas will leak 
where water won't.  No leaks.  Replace sender, fuel lines with 
plugs, and pressurize to about 15 psi.  No leak.  Let off 
pressure, replace plugs, set outside (9:45), and it's ready to go 
back in tonight.

     The install should be uneventful, 30 min, as was the removal 
originally.  New vapor lines, and cleaned out the sender.

JohnL, I read about 10 ohm full and 70 empty.  Sound ok?  I guess 
the problem IS with the 5v supply on the guage.  There was a 
whole heap of rusty stuff in the sender, cleaned that all out, 
and it doesn't flutter the ohmmeter anymore.  Hope it works.

     I also got lucky with the seal for the sender.  My local ACE 
hardware had neoprene o-rings in the EXACT size for the bargain 
price of $0.58.  No way Dodge could have sold those that cheap, 
huh?

     So when all is said and done, it was about 3 hours, and no 
explosions.  I eneded up using steel instead of braze thinking 
that: If I'm planning on getting it hot enough to braze, a little 
hotter for steel will make a better bond.  Thanks to everyone 
with their help with the questions.  Hope to see everyone in 
Tulare, with renewed confidence in the T'all.  I'll be ringing 
the truck out on a trip to Flagstaff this Thursday, so we'll see 
if everything works on that tank.

     Thanks again,


     -Joel Brodsky

         '76 IHC Scout II 345/tf727
         '75 IHC Travelall 150 4wd 392/tf727
         '72 Chev Carryall 3dr 4wd 350/th350 sold, but not forgotten.