42 B leaking tank

I agree that this is not the best place to lean nand perfect your soldering skills, but you can certainly learn. There were some threads a few years back where we beat up that topic pretty good. Find your self some clean thin gauge steel, like that used for air baffling on a lawn mower engine. Clean it really well by sanding, scrubbing, wire brushing, until it is dog gone clean. Get yourself some quality acid based flux, and some 60/40 solder if you can still find it, otherwise you'll need to work with the newer silver bearing types. Use a non-flame, copper solder iron. I have a few old ones that have a variety of wood or even corn-cob handles. The key is to be able to supply consistent heat for as long as it takes, and you can't beat a soldering copper for that. Tin the area first, and quickly qipe it with a clean, dry rag and see if the solder is smooth, shiny and it stuck. Then try to solder a postage stamp-sized "patch" to that, and it that looks good, you are qualified to patch most JD tanks. Down the road, you'll be able to cut out a nasty area, cut a flush patch to fit, tack it in place with a Mig, grind the bumps smooth, solder the saem and have a virtually invisible pathc of good metal.

You need to clean that tank so well that you can't smell petroleum, and for that I use lye water, some nuts and bolts, or pebbles, and aggressive agitation. Don't try the old CO2 from a tail pipe trick as you just can't get enough to stay in there to be safe. If you want to fill it with a non-flammable gas, use argon from your Mig, or use a cup of baking soda and about 12 ounces of vinegar, pour it in the tank, and it will generate all the CO2 you'll need.

Or, after you determine that the rivets are not sloppy and all you have is a crack to seal, take it to a good old-time local radiator shop and I think that you'll be out of there for very little money....but get your estimate first!

On tank liners, I haven't used one in years as I clean mine until they are shiny, and then solder then until they are healthy, but the last good liner I have seen is Red-Kote. It's my favorite because you can dissolve it on command whenever you want to remove it. It's not a good choice to use a tank liner in lieu if properly cleaning out the dirt and rust, and just hoping to stick the crud fast for a rust-through under the liner at a later date. I have seen very fuel tanks that could not be saved, and the two I have in my shop right now that I replaced were from crease-type dents that could not be removed as easy as finding a better tank.

I know I went further than your original question, but this sort of leak can quite often grow into something more complicated. :)

Frank

So far as tank liners are concerned, they should be used if and only if the tank is otherwise defunct! Better said, if the tank can be repaired using conventional means (generally involving some soldering), this is by far the very best solution. It may indeed be the most reasonable in terms of a botched up liner job down the road -- causing all manner of grief due to extraneous debris throughout the fuel system - yuk!

If you haven't ever repaired a fuel tank, I am not in favor of you making this your first one! Seek help -- try a local radiator repair shop for starters. They know how to clean one up to make it safe to work on, and they also will usually have the equipment and technical skills to do the job.

Now, I am not the one to tell you not to do a first tank! But if you choose this route, do the research as to how to make the tank safe for heating that will be needed to effect the repair. Also, devise a means of testing the tank for leaks before reinstallation!

As for lining a tank, I have one tractor with its tanks lined with KREEM - I did those myself, but only after a couple chats with the manufacturer. And I may add -- the only reason I decided to dig in and do this one (my only one) was the $165 I paid the radiator shop a couple years back for a Farmall H tank to be lined. The operator claimed the tank was sooooo ooo heavy! Both were successful I might add.

I do not subscribe to all I read here on the forum. Why? Some folks have lots of "head knowledge", or they have a photographic memory of things they've read & can parrot procedures back to you, chapter & verse -- speaking as an authority but NEVER have been there and done it! Unless someone tells you from an experience point of view, be leery. Leaking fuel tanks = No Fun! (PatB)

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