Small gas starting tank

Hey guys, just got the small gas tank for my 41H distillate, just going to use it as a reserve, it's in good shape but has a little bit of rust on the inside. Any good ideas or old tricks of the best way to clean up the inside ? I got a few, but wanted to run it by some of you that have been at this fooling around with these old tractors longer than me. Thanks as always for any & all suggestions, AL

Small stones (clean) and a pint of oil, shake it for 15 minutes, or web strap it to the rear tire of the tractor, and go for a 2 mile drive. Empty it out and coat with tank sealer to prevent more rust. Jim

I have had awesome success with the electolosis process in the link. I will say however that I have a 24VDC 10 AMP battery charger I keep aropund just for this process. I can "cook" a gas tank clean in a couple hours. In fact in two hours the tank will be warm to the touch. Also, I built a PVC tee to place the electrode down in the tank without shorting out. I also use sodium bicarbonate in 50lbs bags from the feed store. There is something about this process that seems to leave the surface less vulnerbale to rusting back up. Kind of like the difference between steel that has been wire wheeled and steel that has been sand blasted.
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We do that same thing on motorcycle tanks Jim,(except we use 1/4 or 5/16 nuts instead of stones.)Works pretty decent.

I used the acid method on mine and then sealed it with Red-Kote.

(quoted from post at 21:49:24 01/30/12) Hey guys, just got the small gas tank for my 41H distillate, just going to use it as a reserve, it's in good shape but has a little bit of rust on the inside. Any good ideas or old tricks of the best way to clean up the inside ? I got a few, but wanted to run it by some of you that have been at this fooling around with these old tractors longer than me. Thanks as always for any & all suggestions, AL

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Muriatic acid will make that tank look like brand new on the inside. Rinse thoroughly with water 3 or 4 times, blow it dry with compressed air and you're good to go.

(quoted from post at 07:44:22 01/31/12)

(quoted from post at 21:49:24 01/30/12) Hey guys, just got the small gas tank for my 41H distillate, just going to use it as a reserve, it's in good shape but has a little bit of rust on the inside. Any good ideas or old tricks of the best way to clean up the inside ? I got a few, but wanted to run it by some of you that have been at this fooling around with these old tractors longer than me. Thanks as always for any & all suggestions, AL

Click to expand...

Muriatic acid will make that tank look like brand new on the inside. Rinse thoroughly with water 3 or 4 times, blow it dry with compressed air and you're good to go.

Click to expand...

I used some sort of solvent after the water rinse and air. That was designed to evaporate really fast and absorb the water.

I'll go with some variation of Jim's method as the easiest on the tank. If you use an acid, the first rinse is with water and after that baking soda in water to bring the PH back up to a more neutral number. You best coat it PDQ with oil or similar or it will rust up on you in short order.

I have a tub of be-be s (b.bs?) for just such a occasion, fill the tank & dump in some carb cleaner and make like your playin the gourds