What are your favorite tricks for cleaning out a gas tan

[Fred from MO]

Ive got my gas tank off my new to me 720 gasser and I dont know how old that gas was in there but we drained about a gallon of the worst smelling varnish I had ever smelled along with chunks of rust and rock candy like old gas chunks. The fitting at the bottom of the tank going to the carb was plugged as well. So bad I had to work at it with a small drill bit. Thinking of trying to put a chain in the tank with something like diesel fuel or seafoam and trying to tumble the tank to loosen the other junk in there but thought Id post on here to see how others have done it for some ideas. Thanks in advance !

 

[diesel fumes]

laquer thinner instead of diesel fuel

 

[rustred]

a steamer is the answer. works the best as i have found.

 

[J Hamilton]

E85 gasoline works too

 

[PJH]

I cleaned the tank on my JD 630 before soldering some leaks. I put a double handful of 5/16 nuts in it to scour it.

 

[thdrduck]

Spent a month dealing with what you have. I tried all the tricks in the book. I ended up having my luck using a mechanical method. Chain, nuts, bolts and chemicals did not do it. 1 gallon of vinegar and about 3 cups of granite pea gravel with lots and lots of agitation over several days. Got a ton of crap out. I was lucky and didn't end up with any holes afterwards.

 

[Dan in Ohio]

Fred,

There are many products out there to dissolve the rust or you can use a home brew like vinegar or even stronger muriatic acid. I like to use a product called Evaporust found at any big box store to dissolve the rust or just get a kit from TPtools.com that will do the complete job and leave the tank lined, the product is used to line motorcycle gas tanks.

I use one of my other tractors to do the agitating along with several packs of BB's. You can also use a product to line the tank called Por15.

 

[Fred from MO]

Ha! those are all good ideas. I like the tractor agitator and the cement mixer. I have an old dryer whos heating element went out. Now I wonder if I can remove the cabinet and just use the drum and stick my gas tank in one end and use the dryer as a tumbler!!

 

[James Howell]

[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]Thinking of trying to put a chain in the tank[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]

 

[PJH]

With the mixer, or your dryer if it will work, you can go off and do something else while it's spinning. I let mine run on the mixer for 6 hours.