Fuel tank repair?

[GregoryU]

I've got a '49 AR that the fill neck has come loose from the tank. These were originally just soldered on weren't they? I've got a radiator shop that will look at it to see if they think they can solder it back together or my son can also weld it. Which would be the better option? Thank you. Greg

 

[Fixingfarmer]

best option would be
1. new tank
2. with a new fill neck
3. welded together

as many of those 3 as you can accomplish successfully

If you can find a new neck at the very least

soldering would probably also last a good long while

 

[GregoryU]

Who has new tanks for a '49 AR??

 

[greenmech]

I've got a '49 AR that the fill neck has come loose from the tank. These were originally just soldered on weren't they? I've got a radiator shop that will look at it to see if they think they can solder it back together or my son can also weld it. Which would be the better option? Thank you. Greg

Solder would be the best. Ron MN

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Who has new tanks for a '49 AR??

Your son who can weld. It's well worth the time to fab one up if you have it out anyway. Especially if it doesn't have the all fuel tank its a rather simple rectangular tank its not like an unstyled where you can see that secondary starting tank on it.

Theres a place in Monticello Iowa called tanks inc.
They can help you out and likely can find a bung to fit.

 

[GregoryU]

One of the radiator shop guys mentioned something I didn't understand and we didn't go into it any farther in the discussion. When I said something about soldering or welding the neck, he said "don't want to weld it because it will break". Anyone know why welding would be a problem? And, this one does have the secondary tank on it since it's an earlier unstyled '49.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Oh I forgot ars were different and visible

He’s probably worried the old flange and old tank will be brittle. Soldering would probably better if you go that route.

If you find the right bung that fits your cap you could weld a larger sheet of steel to it and make your own larger patch too that you could get to a better part of the tank

 

[GregoryU]

Looked at it a bit closer today. The neck flange is clean, no solder anywhere. Can't get the neck out till I pull the hood off. Next week I hope to get some of my hit/miss engines moved to I can get the tractor put where I can work on it...fitting new fenders to it specifically. I figure I can pull the hood off too at that time and get the tank fixed then. Is there any good reason why solder would be better than welding? Otherwise I'll just have my son weld it.

 

[Jim.ME]

Looked at it a bit closer today. The neck flange is clean, no solder anywhere. Can't get the neck out till I pull the hood off. Next week I hope to get some of my hit/miss engines moved to I can get the tractor put where I can work on it...fitting new fenders to it specifically. I figure I can pull the hood off too at that time and get the tank fixed then. Is there any good reason why solder would be better than welding? Otherwise I'll just have my son weld it.

It was likely soldered originally, even if it doesn't look like it. Along with the brittle factor Fixing farmer mentioned, it is hard to weld over previously soldered items as even a bit of solder will give problems to the welding process.