Need: tips on how to repair a deformed fuel tank

Joe2Lmaker · Apr 16, 2009

This whole thing could have been avoided if I hadn't tried to leak test the bulkhead fitting I made. <Link> It seems that the slight deformation I witnessed during the test was permanent.

My first reaction was to hook up a vacuum pump and see if that would reverse the damage. Thank God I didn't try that one.

The damage isn't that noticeable, but it's there. The rubber dampener on the bottom right side of the tank is no longer resting on the frame and the clearance I once had for the bulkhead fitting is gone. The tank bolts down o.k. and the fitting is just pressing on the heat shield a little harder than I'd like. I suppose I could just ride it, but...

The plastic trim piece that goes on the bottom of the tank is flaring out a little on the right side and the gap under the rubber dampener really bothers me.

Please don't ask for photos. Looking at it makes me feel like a dumb ****; photographic evidence would be too much for me.

Do I start looking for a GenII tank?

BugR · Apr 16, 2009

By leak testing I assume you pressurized the tank.

If the metal has plastically deformed (i.e it's been stressed over it's yield point) then there is not much you can do

Chris

Ignacio · Apr 16, 2009

So, we're not talking localized tank dents? We're talking that you fundamentally overfilled the balloon and have a 7 gallon tank now?

If so it may be possible to do a partial vacuum while at the same squeeze and massage areas of the tank strategically with your hands and get the critical areas to bend back in. I saw it done once on an old Honda dirtbike tank, but it was a farm where function trumped form.

FJRONAMISSION · Apr 16, 2009

Ignacio said:
So, we're not talking localized tank dents? We're talking that you fundamentally overfilled the balloon and have a 7 gallon tank now?
If so it may be possible to do a partial vacuum while at the same squeeze and massage areas of the tank strategically with your hands and get the critical areas to bend back in. I saw it done once on an old Honda dirtbike tank, but it was a farm where function trumped form.

===

Were there animals involved in your critical areas and did squeeze and massage areas of the tank strategically with your hands

really have any effect on the tank???........ *take your time..... speak slowly...... :dribble:

:dribble:

B.

..... and was odot or Bust in the area?????

Skully · Apr 16, 2009

Ugly situation. The problem with this is that it gets worse with time...too. Best not to think about it.

reecebike · Apr 16, 2009

Attention Ebay shoppers!!!!

Joe2Lmaker · Apr 16, 2009

Ignacio said:
So, we're not talking localized tank dents?

Nope.

Ignacio said:
We're talking that you fundamentally overfilled the balloon and have a 7 gallon tank now?

Yup.

Ignacio said:

I think I see your point. You definitely are a "glass is half full" kinda guy

Ignacio · Apr 16, 2009

Joe2Lmaker said:
I think I see your point. You definitely are a "glass is half full" kinda guy

You have to be if you're in Zuzax, NM at 3 a.m. booking along near the speed limit with no traffic when your second HID headlight goes out....and as you're decelerating in with only your running lights casting an ethereal glow on the painted stripes you remember you brought a single halogen bulb for just such an emergency. 90 minutes later you're back on the road and go on to a 17th place in the IBR.

Or if you're 25 hours into a 26 hour rally and your tire goes flat because of a porcupine quill, you're fully freaked out, and a fellow FJR riding good Samaritan pulls over and patches the tire you were unable to patch....and then make the finish line with 9 minutes to spare and score a 4th place instead of a DNF?

Glass is at least .501 full.

Yeah, I see a tank that still hasn't bursted a seam and holds fuel....and is still probably usable. Hell, I'd even tell Austin about it and have him measure the new capacity to .01 gallons for fun!

RadioHowie · Apr 16, 2009

Heat gun and rubber mallet?

Joe2Lmaker · Apr 17, 2009

One of my wife's friends is married to one of those guys who rides those motorized bicycle things.

He heard that I was out in the garage working on my similar contraption, so he stopped by. Damn good thing he did too! As I'm explaining what I did to the bike during the winter, I'm also disassembling it to show him the various new parts. When I took the tank off, I could see exactly where it was deformed.

There is something about explaining a problem to someone else that makes the solution clear. I couldn't actually see the deformed area until I showed someone else. We flipped the tank upside down on the couch. He held the tank, while I used the rubber mallet like a pounding block and hit it with a 2 pound maul (gently, and repeatedly).

Voilà!

radman · Apr 17, 2009

Joe2Lmaker said:
Voilà!

A fuel soaked couch?

Joe2Lmaker · Apr 17, 2009

radman said:
Joe2Lmaker said:

Voilà!

Click to expand...

A fuel soaked couch?

:rofl:

Nope. That tank was dry for 5 long months! It's got fuel sloshing around in there now though, and so far no leaks on the fittings (on either end of the line to the auxiliary tank).

Patriot · Apr 17, 2009

Ignacio said:
Joe2Lmaker said:

I think I see your point. You definitely are a "glass is half full" kinda guy

Click to expand...

You have to be if you're in Zuzax, NM at 3 a.m.

isn't that in Area 51 ??? :blink: no wait, that's in Nevada...area 69 ???

Joe2Lmaker said:
One of my wife's friends is married to one of those guys who rides those motorized bicycle things.
He heard that I was out in the garage working on my similar contraption, so he stopped by. Damn good thing he did too! As I'm explaining what I did to the bike during the winter, I'm also disassembling it to show him the various new parts. When I took the tank off, I could see exactly where it was deformed.

There is something about explaining a problem to someone else that makes the solution clear. I couldn't actually see the deformed area until I showed someone else. We flipped the tank upside down on the couch. He held the tank, while I used the rubber mallet like a pounding block and hit it with a 2 pound maul (gently, and repeatedly).

Voilà!

Kewl, I could use a happy ending story today

<my best friend emailed me that his wife rode in on her broom with divorce papers in hand>

let's ride safe and be careful out there,

Mike in Nawlins'

Silent · Apr 17, 2009

Joe2Lmaker said:
Nope. That tank was dry for 5 long months! It's got fuel sloshing around in there now though, and so far no leaks on the fittings (on either end of the line to the auxiliary tank).

Time for another pressure test to make sure it's not leaking

h34r:

Glad to hear you got things straightened out B)

RadioHowie · Apr 17, 2009

Joe2Lmaker said:
One of my wife's friends is married to one of those guys who rides those motorized bicycle things.
He heard that I was out in the garage working on my similar contraption, so he stopped by. Damn good thing he did too! As I'm explaining what I did to the bike during the winter, I'm also disassembling it to show him the various new parts. When I took the tank off, I could see exactly where it was deformed.

There is something about explaining a problem to someone else that makes the solution clear. I couldn't actually see the deformed area until I showed someone else. We flipped the tank upside down on the couch. He held the tank, while I used the rubber mallet like a pounding block and hit it with a 2 pound maul (gently, and repeatedly).

Voilà!

RadioHowie said:
Heat gun and rubber mallet?

Hell...I was close on a solution.

Joe2Lmaker · Apr 17, 2009

RadioHowie said:
RadioHowie said:

Heat gun and rubber mallet?

Click to expand...

Hell...I was close on a solution.

Your advice was spot on (for anyone who knows how to swing a hammer)

My approach was necessitated by the fact that I can barley hit a hammer with a hammer.

The handle isn't JoeCarpenter or JoeBlacksmith

Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could change it to JoeMamma

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