The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Can a screen be had/made to filter my gas tank?

For the second time since July, I ended up on the side of the road because, I guess, the outlet on the bottom of my vertical tank clogged. I have to admit, I let it get low on gas (on the way to the station when it happened), so I learned a lesson there. Fortunately, I pulled the gas hose off at the pump, blew into it a couple of times, and it freed up, and out flowed the gas into my clear inline filter. My question here is, can some type of filter be bought or fabricated for the outlet? I just changed out a leaking petcock on my '03 Indian this summer, and it has a screened intake that sticks 3" up into the outlet, which I know isn't anywhere near the same size as my trucks. Just seems like by now somebody may have come up with a fix. Thanks for any references to this. Lee

Why not put in a new tank. They are reasonably priced. It won't take long before that screen is plugged up. There is nothing worse than being stuck on the road.

Cleaning or replacing the tank sounds like the real solution.

You're thinking of a little tube of screen fit into the pipe nipple stuck in the bottom of the tank. Not much trouble to make, I've made them to replace similar screens on small engine fuel tank valves. Roll up a piece of suitable brass screen, slide it in the fitting and solder the seam as well as at the fitting. Your choice to leave it open or crimp and solder the end.

Or a few years later the fuel sending unit includes a pickup tube and on that is a screen "sock". You could swap and use that type sending unit / pickup.

thanks, fellas. I forgot to mention that this tank is only a few years old. I'm not willing to buy a new tank when this one is perfectly good. It needs cleaned out, no doubt, but next winter when I pull the truck apart to patch and paint, I plan on having it out to clean and reseal, but for now, I'm just wondering if there IS a fix when I get to that point. I was going to pull the hose yesterday on the side of the road (before I thought to give it a back draft blow), but the PO has rubber going right up to the tank/nipple (not sure what's up there yet), but then put the hose clamp on the inside of the truck. I was looking right at it, but the screw head was above the cab's floor level. I've got a new tank drain and fitted hose to put on it, but I'm waiting for a warmer day to do it. Grigg, your idea is sort of what I had in mind, I just didn't know if I'd have to wait till the tank was out to cut out the outlet fitting to install a screen, then weld it up, or if someone had come up with a way to attach one from the sending unit hole or from below. First, it will have to be drained and cleared of the crap, but after that I'd like to have a safety filter.

Check the tech tips under the "engine" category. There is an article on this subject.

Thanks, Forty9. I'll do it.

That doesn't make any sense! If the tank was new a few years
ago, then it shouldn't need resealing. Cleaning.....
sure....because you must be putting contaminated fuel
in it, change gas stations.
My tank has been in my truck for 65 years and even though
there is a little light rust getting caught in the filter
that just calls for changing the filter every few years.
If I had your truck, I'd spend the time one weekend to pull
the tank, flush it out good then re-install it with an inline
see-through filter so I could monitor whats coming out of the
tank and when it's time to change it.
Here....I'll show you:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/155908075

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

What Denny said.

Not that hard or take too long. I put the in line filters a little more forward so it can be seen when looking down at the side of the engine. You don't have to crawl under the truck to inspect it. Easier to change as well.

Drain the tank, then remove the gauge sending unit and shine a bright light through the hole. You should be able to see what's causing the problem and maybe fish it out. The fix is going to be installing a later model gauge unit that also includes a suction tube with a strainer instead of pulling the fuel right off the bottom of the tank.
Jerry

as HotrodLincoln said, it may be best to install a sender unit that has the pickup tube in it with the strainer on it. My external tank on my 58 6400 is NASTY inside. (I just need it to move it around the yard for now and will eventually replace it with something else). It had a small fuel outlet at the bottom, I plugged that and used an extra sender unit I had that I had shortened the pickup tube for my Suburban. It now sucks gas from about 2" above the bottom. True, I can't use all the gas in the tank but for a temp fix so I can move it around the yard while I am getting other stuff done, it works great.

Denny- yeah, I know, it doesn't make much sense to me either, but I can't say what the previous owner (who did most all of the refurbishing work before I got the truck), has or hasn't done. I DO know that I've already changed the gasket on the sending unit once, after getting enough gas fumes inside the cab. When I did it, I used a light line of gasket sealer, but not enough to cause chunks of it to get in the tank. Also, I replaced the old gas cap last spring, but I can't see that as a problem. I really think the immediate solution is to, like everyone here is saying, drain and - at least- open the outlet and sending unit openings and flush it out, look inside and see what's there. I'm not familiar with where you are in Illinois, but down here in the Ozarks, the hills alone is enough to get junk unsettled. I know that right across the Mississippi, it's flat as a pancake. Anyway, whatever's in there has to come out, or I'll be blowing on fuel lines like a Scottish piper from now on. I just hate to pull the tank at this time of the year, without a garage, on my front curb. (The wife and I are going to look at 21 acres today- I've wanted out of this house and town since the day before we moved in. Or as I say to the wife, "Where the hell is my garage?!) 69Cuda- thanks for that info, which is a question I forgot to ask. I was wondering if the top style sending unit would work on this tank. That may be what I do, but I'd rather keep as much as possible original.
Per the fuel filter, I've mounted a clear plastic one just ahead of the firewall along the frame, which is very easy to see and get to. Both times this has happened, I found that the filter was nearly dry, so even when I put gas in (both times), nothing was getting through. The first time, since I was really stumped, I had it towed home. Of course, as soon as the flatbed sat the truck down, it fired right up, so I knew then it must have been crud in the outlet. And even though I have AAA, blowing through the fuel line (thanks, Stovebolters, for passing that trick on to me), is a lot quicker and saves me a hit on my 4 calls for the year. Thanks, everybody, for your input on this. I do appreciate it! Lee

What brand is the new tank?

Lee,

When I drained my tank and pulled the sending unit, I found a piece of cast aluminum about 1 1/4" long x 1/4" thick semi circle in the bottom of the tank. Don't know what it was or where it came from. Must have been dropped in the tank by PO. Other than that my tank was absolutely clean...not rust. Appears to be a newer tank. I would drain your tank and take the sending unit out and have a look with a flash light. Might me something floating around and clogging the outlet. Needless to say that that piece of cast aluminum would have sooner than later ended up in the tank outlet, reducing the flow.

Tim

Lee,

Another thought....might be an old sending unit float left in the tank by PO getting sucked into the tank outlet when it's low on fuel. Just GUESSING???

Tim

On most of the tanks I've seen cut apart, have a pickup tube tacked to the bottom of the tank and the end is cut on an angle like about a 45 degree.
I say drain/flush the tank out, get rid of that rubber hose and DRIVE IT....of course this is just my opinion!!

That same thing was happening to me and after looking around it became clear the old filler neck hose on mine was dropping pieces of rubber in the tank and every now and then it would land on the outlet hole and get sucked down by the fuel pump. Wait 5 min and shake the truck and I was back in business. Nothing lasts forever...

good point, nuts&bolts. I'll change that too.

Also check your gas cap...you said you replaced it...is it vented??? You could be vacuum locking the gas and by blowing back you're releasing the vacuum...just a thought.

Mike B

I remember someone here having a great deal of grief with this issue and in the end it turned out there was a golf ball in the tank which would occasionally roll over the outlet.

There isn't a whole lot in there, an 1/8" maybe 1/4" pipe nipple that threads into the bottom of the tank, that's it. I put a brand new tank, lines, filters, everything except the filler neck, and that is what got me, I mean it wasn't horrid, but it did have a few flakes, and one of them got caught in the fuel pump, itty bitty chunk of rust. I now have the glass bowl fuel pump that has an inlet screen built in. But I do have to question the statement of the tank being basically new. Unless you have been putting water in it intentionally, I just don't see that being the problem. However I have been really wrong before. I just read the part where it wasn't YOU that installed the tank, (at least I think that is what you meant) You don't even have to remove the tank or probably even the gas for that matter to look in there. Just be sure you are using a flashlight/shop light that won't produce sparks. I see where someone else had problems with the filler neck.

The best and easiest solution: Put a filter on the line before the pump. A second filter after the pump and before the Carb. The first saves the check valves, and the second saves the needle and seat. If you can, get the glass sediment type, they look right on these old trucks. A bit of aluminum or copper screen can be rolled tight and pushed into the bottom of the tank . It must be long enough to protrude above the bottom of the tank, but that might cause a restriction in flow, and it might not.

Probably can make one if it is made out of a non ferrous metal but you can buy one already made:

http://www.classicparts.com/1954-87-Gas-Tank-Sender-Unit-Sock-Filter-5_16/productinfo/23-599/

I would have a new gasket, new screws and a new under-cab rubber hose ready. When I worked on mine it took three tries because each time the next bad part disintegrated on me

I already have a filter before and after the fuel pump. The problem is junk in the gas tank, guys.

Then your options are clean it out or replace it.