How do I pull dents out of my fuel tank??

Post by **Croz** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:25 pm

I think I landed on some rocks somewhere....

Its not too bad but now when I hit empty on the gauge I better get to a servo quick... before, I had 100 or so km to go...

Is there a trick to this? or live with it?

Post by **ozy1** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:26 pm

chuck a match in, will pop dents right on out of there, will give larger capacity too. :twisted:

Post by **Croz** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:30 pm

Thanks

Dont tell me... When I get to the servo It'll just keep on filling?!?

Post by **RB zook** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:32 pm

all suzuki owners just deal with it

AND SOME TIMES THEY MAKE A BASH PLATE

to prevent it becopming a short range tank

Post by **J Top** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:47 pm

Sometimes compressed air will do it,but when you release the pressure any fuel inthe tank will come back out the filler at great speed and volume
J Top

Post by **ozy1** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:49 pm

out of all honesty, i would say, your best bet would be to find a second hand tank, make a bash plate for it while it is off the car, when the bash plate is finished, fit them both up, you will love your self even more.

please forgive me for my smart ass remarks :cry:

Post by **luxute** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:52 pm

Remove the tank from the vehicle. Block off all holes with something fairly substantial(rubber caps and hose clamps work well) and poke an airline in one of the holes. you need a decent compressor(not the one you pump your muddies up with) because it takes a fair bit of air. The dint will eventually pop out. Its not the easiest thing to do but i have done this a couple of times with good results. it depends on the dint. The sharper the dint, the harder it will be to move.

Post by **Cory** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:26 pm

could you pop them out with a plunger or other suction device?

Cory

Post by **RB zook** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:38 pm

Cory wrote:could you pop them out with a plunger or other suction device?

Cory

doubt it, depends how dented

Post by **Croz** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:54 pm

RB zook wrote:
Cory wrote:could you pop them out with a plunger or other suction device?

Cory

doubt it, depends how dented

I dont think so... there have been some good ideas so far...

I was also thinking about getting a hook welded on and using a slide hammer, but dont know if that be a good idea or not...

Post by **Utemad** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:03 pm

Welding a petrol tank couldn't be good. Wouldn't the hook get in the way anyway. Possibly make the next dent worse. Make it hard to fit a bash plate too.

Post by **Croz** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:06 pm

Sorry mate, I should have said a ring or small hook just to attach a slide hammer to, then chisel the ring and weld off. Just to pull the dent.

I am not sure if you can just tack one to the outside without risk of explosion inside...

Post by **Webbie** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:48 pm

DO you know andrew denton and :bad-words:

is he doing in your gas tank :finger:

To weld a fuel tank it must be full to the brim of fuel or cleaned out totally and then dried out with no fumes.So i've been told anyway BTW,kids dont try this at home. :armsup:

Post by **ISUZUROVER** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:19 am

gtwebbie wrote:To weld a fuel tank it must be full to the brim of fuel

Yes - that's a good idea, weld up a fuel tank when it is full of fuel :roll:

Post by **Webbie** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:33 am

the fuel its self doesn't ignight aparatly its thr fumes and if there is no room for fumes no boom. :idea:

Post by **ISUZUROVER** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:51 am

gtwebbie wrote:the fuel its self doesn't ignight aparatly its thr fumes and if there is no room for fumes no boom.

OK - some advice - only talk if you know what you are talking about. There is such a thing as a Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) and an Upper Explosive Limit (UEL) for any flammable liquid - which governs the range of concentrations at which it will be ignitable in vapor form. HOWEVER - if you are welding ON A TANK that is full of fuel - it would be quite easy to (A) blow a hole in the tank and unleash one hell of a fire as the fuel runs out, or (B) heat the fuel up enough to send out a cloud of vapor concentrated enough to make one hell of a boom the next time you arc up.

Remember kids, one litre of fuel contains the same explosive potential as 3 sticks of TNT.

Post by **XterraGuy** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:46 am

If your tank is anything like the one on my Xterra, air isn't going to do squat for it. The bottom of my tank, from the factory, is a least 4mm thick. When it takes a dent, it's there for good short of pounding it out from the inside. I found this out when trying to fit my skidplate on my already abused tank, it had been mashed to the point that the sides had bowed out a bit and the vertical sides of the skid (about 1/4 the way up the tank body) would not fit over the tank. I took a hand maul to the side of the tank to smack it back inwards. No problem on the sides, but when I tried to bash the corner where it turned up from the bottom, I was hitting the edge of that nice steel plate and folding the side wall of the tank over onto it...

Here's my poor tank before I finally got around to skidding it:

And that big depression in the left of the photo is NOT supposed to be there. That's what happens when you land on a short stump on the edge of a ledge you're descending...

Brent

Post by **Croz** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:35 am

Thanks for the info Lads, I might just live with it for the moment. Unless I have to have the tanks taken out for another reason, or it gets worse...

Post by **BundyRumandCoke** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 11:46 am

Assuming the tank is similar in size and shape to a Rocky one (seeing as the same long ranger tank fits both) and also assuming the dent is in the underside of the tank, you should be able to drop the tank, remove all the fuel, remove the fuel gauge sender unit, and use a mallet and piece of wood to rough it back into shape. Alternatively, you could drill a small hole in the middle of the dent, use your slide hammer as normal, then solder up the hole. Petrol tanks can be MIGed, if you know what you are doing. Im pretty sure welding repairs to fuel tanks has been covered before on Outerlimits.
I would be wary about putting on a close fitting bash plate, because rocks and stones will lodge between tank and plate over time, and you only have to land on something hard, bend the plate, and presto, swiss cheese fuel tank. Daihatsu's have fairly thin fuel tanks, (about 1.6mm) and they do have a bit of a tendency to rust from the inside out due to condensation.

Post by **DeWsE** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 5:42 pm

I was talking to jeep97tj about this recently and he was saying at his work they would fill the desiel tanks and weld them. I wouldn't even dream of it to tell you the truth.

One thing I learnt when getting my gas filling ticket was that you need to fill a tank before punching a hole in it. But I have also talked to some wrecking yards and they don't bother.

Post by **suzidisco** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:47 pm

you can weld fuel tanks safely but you have to seal all outlets then fill tank with a positive flow of argon, this is the method used when i use to weld large gas mains regually it is safe and i have welded several used long range tanks for mates using a flow rate of argon of 40l/m

Post by **Ruggers** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:58 pm

you can weld petrol tanks just fill them with water first. works every time.

Post by **Webbie** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:02 am

DeWsE wrote:I was talking to jeep97tj about this recently and he was saying at his work they would fill the desiel tanks and weld them. I wouldn't even dream of it to tell you the truth.

One thing I learnt when getting my gas filling ticket was that you need to fill a tank before punching a hole in it. But I have also talked to some wrecking yards and they don't bother.

LIKE i said SO IM TOLD so there may be some truth to the fill to brim story. :roll:

Post by **bogged** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 9:45 am

Dy-no-mite!

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How do I pull dents out of my fuel tank??

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