Anybody ever repaired a plastic Gas Tank

[Rprecision]

Ok I feel pretty retarded.

I was replacing two broken rivets which hold the front of the wear bars to the underside of the tunnel on my 92 Prowler. Yep, I drilled two nice 1/8" holes in the bottom of the tank

Sometimes I really piss myself off.

Anyways, I have two choices, spend the 150 for a new tank or repair the old one.

I have heard of people rewelding tanks. Any suggestions. I just dont want it to start leaking and leave me standed somewhere!!

I ran across this

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41592

God I hate myself right now !

 

[Rprecision]

Yep....I'm rolling on the short bus today

 

[BGA]

It should work. I am going to try plastic welding the filler neck on my tank that has a crack in it.

 

[Ex-Member]

JB-weld it.

 

[Rprecision]

JB-weld it.

I was considering both,

Plastic weld it, rough it up real good, then JB a small piece of metal over it, then JB over everything again

 

[tundramonkey]

I put a staple though my zr800 tank when I was replacing the seat cover. Went to the auto parts store and found some plastic patch stuff. Worked great never leaked once. I think it was a two part epoxy.

 

[adrenaline junkey]

JB-weld it.

+1 Jb weld and jb weld quick is even better

 

[EricW]

My eperience is that all plastic welding is not created equal. The right rod to match the type of plastic you are welding is crucial. I would bet that you local body/fender shop would have a quality plastic welder that get you a great job for cheap. If you are looking to invest in a plastic welder I have been very happy with this kit:

This kit comes with a good variety of rod and a dvd that helps you identify the different types of plastic and how to approach the weld. A little more spendy at $150-200 I think, but you can split it with a couple buddys or just put the word out that you have it and you'll never buy lunch or beer again. Good luck. EW

 

[Ex-Member]

Yeah, using the same plastic is the difference between a good solid hold and a mess that cracks off in a week. If you've pulled parts off your sled, use that as filler. Then you know it's the same stuff.

 

[NoSecondChances]

+1 Jb weld and jb weld quick is even better

X3 - what they ^^^^ said

 

[schu]

My eperience is that all plastic welding is not created equal. The right rod to match the type of plastic you are welding is crucial. I would bet that you local body/fender shop would have a quality plastic welder that get you a great job for cheap. If you are looking to invest in a plastic welder I have been very happy with this kit:

Eric,

What kind of cowls can you repair with that welder? Here is some info I dug up about platics used:

Old Cat sleds used metton
New Cat sleds use TPO
Old Polaris sleds used DCPD
New Polaris selds use TPO
Old Skidoo sleds used polyurethane
New SKidoo sleds use TPO

This information may be incorrect and needs to be double checked, but it looks like all of them are using TPO now which I suspect would work really well with that plastic welder you have.

Can you confirm this information? Can I expect to repair cowls of late model sleds with that kit?

Thanks,
schu

 

[EricW]

Schu:

No problems on any of those listed. Here are some threaded tower buttons on the front of a Dragon cowl that were welded back on. The welder I got also came with a fiberstrand rod that is pretty universal and tough as hell.

Finished product good as new:

As mentioned above, I too save salvaged pieces to cut off and weld on if needed or to use as a filler or even plate the weld in high stress areas. Good luck. EW

 

[Coldfinger]

Many types of plastics and repair methods. Check here and call them for more info:

http://urethanesupply.com/identify.php

Something I would strongly consider, especially if you are not certain what type of plastic it is, is to plug the holes with some type of rubber plug or bolt with rubber washers on both sides (if you can get to the inside. The fuel outlets on all my sleds are just a push-fit rubber grommet type insert with the hose connection pushed in to seal it up.

 

[Snowmark]

plastic weld

what's the advantage of an airless vs air , i assume one heats like a soldering iron and the other blows hot air??? I have lots of plastic to fix, might even weld up a new sled. bty my auto body pal highly recommends a two part glue type item called plast-aid http://www.plast-aid.com/

 

[LeeDoo]

Just go to the parts store and get some stuff called "seal-all". I used it on the tank on my IQR. It was leaking where the fuel line come out and I haven't had any trouble.

 

[Ex-Member]

Airless has a little fan in it, otherwise you need an air compressor to hook up to it.

A fish pump would probably work well too.