truck saddle tank repair

[ryanjones2150]

These repairs always make me nervous. Some guys say nothing to be nervous about, but cmon, that tank is full of fumes!

I drained as much of the diesel out as I could, popped the fuel cap off and stuck an agron hose inside. The old trusty sniff test detected no vapors at the top of the tank and I could feel them coming out the full hole.

I chose to put a large patch on so most of the dent was covered up. I thought it would look better. All I had laying around was 3/16 6061. So I used that with my fancy cardboard aided drafting and 1/8 4943 to zip it up.

Afterwards I plugged the fuel fittings and replaced the cap, took my air hose and gave it a couple short blasts after hosing down the weld seam with soapy water to cheap for pin holes. Air tight!

For a job like this I generally charge a little more than my normal rate, so if anyone is interested in that aspect, I made about $240 on this job that didn’t take all that long to be honest. The customer was happy with that rate and the repair so it worked out for all of us.

[Bls repair]

Very nice

[MMW]

Looks nice. Did you weld up the gash first or just a patch? Done them both ways. Up here I get ones rotted under the straps mostly, steel and aluminum. I've never had an issue welding diesel tanks but the older I get the more I think about the what ifs.

[ryanjones2150]

I just slapped the patch over it. I think I would have rather used 1/8”, but I didn’t have any. Down on the edge where I made the slits to try and conform it to the contour of the tank, the 3/16” aluminum did not comply easily.

I thought about pulling the dent out and fixing the gash, but this was kind of a rush job. The truck was sitting in my customer’s shop waiting for it so he could get back on the road.

[Don52]

Nice job.
.Don