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Gas tank rust and sediment bowls

O

old

Well-known Member
Location
Camdenton Missouri
Well I have this D-17 Allis with a very badly rusted tank. Been using it for 3 or 4 years now and as long as I keep the sediment bowl cleaned out never have a problem with fuel. Used it today to bale hay and drove it about 3 miles round trip to where I baled hay, bale the hay and drove it back. Pulled the sediment bowl off and it was half of rust but the old girl never missed a lick. So now what is the big deal with people and having problems with rust in the tank or am I just lucky?? Oh by the way have used it every year on the baler and as long as I clean out the sediment bowl it works fine and starts fast to boot
 
It may be that some don't have the proper screen in their sedimenter, or have it installed right. The right one will stop the frogs and turtles, but fine rust like silt can still be a problem.
 
Rich, My friend has an 83 Mercedes diesel.
and it has a rust problem too sat for many years in a garage. the last inspection sticker was in 1994. It has an inline pre- filter secondary to the one on the pump that plugs often .
Just today he mentioned he was going to try and plumb in a filter they use on a gun style furnace in place of the in line automotive style filter that is on it. That way he believes it would be easier to service.
If you have room , maybe it would work before sediment bowel
 
Ya I have always thought that but this one the rust in the sediment bowl gets like how do I say it but just plain hard and you have to flush it out just to get it out of the bowl but the tractor just keeps on going and going. I do watch it close and it is the only tractor I have like this and when I got it years ago it was bad and I did a ATF flush in the tank which helped but so far never gotten it cleaned out.
 
Well so far this tractor never misses a lick as long as I dump the sediment bowl when it gets a good bit of rust in it. Been running it this way for at least 3 or 4 years and it just keeps on going as long as I dump the sediment bowl once or twice a day. Back when I first got it I did a ATF flush of the tank and that helped but did not stop the problem. Only tractor I have like it and it seems to work fine as it is so I'll keep on doing what I do with it till it either clears up or causes a problem
 
Maybe it's time to have the tank cleaned a& plastic lined. I have had 5 or 6 of them done at our local radiator shop. Just absolutely no problems from then on. Highly successful!
 
ON my Case SC I get the tank all cleaned out with a bit of muratic etc, then the tractor sits for five months at my inlaws, my FIL goes to use it and once again the ethanal gas has separated and there is a tad of water on the bottom of the tank which makes RUST. The pieces of rust clog the 1/4" fitting in the bottom of the tank- the sediment bowl does it's job, but the rust clogs the line before it can reach it.

I plan on either using Kreem or the Evapo-rust product and line the thing for good.
 
ON my Case SC I get the tank all cleaned out with a bit of muratic etc, then the tractor sits for five months at my inlaws, my FIL goes to use it and once again the ethanal gas has separated and there is a tad of water on the bottom of the tank which makes RUST. The pieces of rust clog the 1/4" fitting in the bottom of the tank- the sediment bowl does it's job, but the rust clogs the line before it can reach it.

I plan on either using Kreem or the Evapo-rust product and line the thing for good.
 
A neighbor has a '37 JD A with rusty gas tank, and he took the sedimenter off, cleaned it up real good, then rolled up a four inch length of screen wire (used a nail as an axle to get it formed) and stuck the screen inside the part of the sedimenter that screws up inside the tank. Like making a roll your own cigarette. It really helped keep the sedimenter from clogging so often. Like a pre-filter.
 
Ya years ago when we pulled ot out of the fence row I would have said it would never run again since the cylinders where full of who knows what and all and now it runs real well other then the rust in the tank and it has been that way for years and just keeps on running fine
 
Ah but other then having to clean the sediment bowl once in a while I have no problems plus there is not a radiator shop with in 100 mile of me
 
"sedimenter"

WOW!

What an interesting term!

I've been on this poor old earth for just short of 53 years and NEVER heard that one before!

That's the GREAT part of these Boards... learn someth'in new every day!
 
Ethanol seperates try another thing to blame your problems its not the gas . We have been using the blended gas for 35yrs or so and it doesent seperate. I have tractors that set all winter in unheated dirt floor shed and start and run just fine in the spring and been doing that for yrs.
 
Ive worked on Farmalls that had a 1 inch stand pipe in the tank.A screen can be added to the pipe to keep the floating stuff out.
 
my neighbor thought he could get away with that too until it started pluging the hole right at the bottom of the tank then he would have to take the bowl off and blow air in or a wire to open it up and he thought he could keep doing that until one day he came out and gas was running on the ground. the rust won"t stop on its own it will eat a hole eventually.
 
Your always on here bragging about your mechanic skills and you think it is better to clean the bowl twice a day than to clean the tank !! And you been doing this for 3 or 4 yrs.
 
It has long been my understanding that the key to this is to keep the tank full of gas or fuel to keep out the water vapor that wants to condense on the walls of the tank and then run down to the bottom where it can cause more rust or in the case of fuel make bacteria. You don't mention if you keep the tank full.
 
(quoted from post at 18:53:31 09/30/10) Well I have this D-17 Allis with a very badly rusted tank. Been using it for 3 or 4 years now and as long as I keep the sediment bowl cleaned out never have a problem with fuel. Used it today to bale hay and drove it about 3 miles round trip to where I baled hay, bale the hay and drove it back. Pulled the sediment bowl off and it was half of rust but the old girl never missed a lick. So now what is the big deal with people and having problems with rust in the tank or am I just lucky?? Oh by the way have used it every year on the baler and as long as I clean out the sediment bowl it works fine and starts fast to boot
Click to expand...

My 1940 Farmall H is the same way. It is the H with the belly mower, and runs for about 2 hours or so once per week. When I first got the tractor 12 years ago, I had to clean the sediment bowl every time I used it, but the cleaning schedule has gradually decreased to the point that now I need to clean only once per year. The carburetor was totally rebuilt 12 years ago, and since then, I've had the carb off and apart only once, and that was because I tryed using some nasty, stale gasoline that had been drained out of another tractor.
 
I dont dare keep my tanks full,I have 3 tractors in the back shed with one end open.Every time I leave one in there full of gas it seems to dissappear over night
 
I work in parts in my family's Massey-Ferguson dealership. Massey has several parts books which show a fuel pre-filter/settling bowl. It is called a "sedimenter". I thought it was a strange name too.
 
Where did people ever get the idea that ethanol separates from gasoline? Ethanol is an emulsifier! I've used the stuff almost exclusively for probably 35 years and the only problems I've had is a wrinkled accelerator pump diaphragm on a 76 plymouth and an old Ford ranger. Jim
 
find a sed. bowl off a 4/510mf combine they have a screen that goes up into the tank, I hd a tractor that gave problems after after soaking it and power washing so I took a piece of 5/16" steel line, drilled a bunch of 1/16 holes in it, crimped the top shut and pressed it into the sed. bowl assembly and have had no more problems
 
Every one is missing the whole point of this post. If you have the correct set up a sediment bowl will catch 99% of the junk in the tank and you can run one for ever with a rusty tank. This D-17 starts so easy that it does not even turn over once before it is running and the rust in the sediment bowl has never caused any problems as long as I clean it out when needed
 
This is a gas tractor and no I do not keep the tank full. It was like this when I got it 4 plus years ago and even the cylinders where full of what looked like mouse nests when I first starting working on it but now it runs very well and starts so esy you can not get your hand off the key fast enough
 
This one I did try to clean when I first got it and it did not work so I tried it like it is and it has run fine just as it is and starts so easy the engine does not even turn over once before it is running. So it goes back to if it isn't broke then don't fix it. When I got this one in it was so bad the cylinders where full of junk like grass and seeds etc but now it runs so well that I see no reason to do any thing to it. Plus you like the other missed the whole point of this post. A good working fuel system that is set up correctly will filter out stuff like this one is and work just fine but like always you do not see what is said
 
Not a tractor, but had a VW Rabbit with a rusty gas tank. Would clog the OEM filter in 5K miles. Found a glass bowl filter off a Toyota PU, drop the bowl once a year and no more problems.
 
Nothing to do with rust, but since ethanol was mentioned. I took four pint jars, put 10% ethanol in two and non oxegenated gas (sold for older engines)in the other two. Put some sea foam in two, and sta-bil in two so ethanol ones would have one of each and vis versa. Set in hot august sun in back of old pickup with lids loose so they could breathe. Month later, all samples stunk terrible and had a gummy goo in bottom. I would say the ethanol had less. My mistake was to not try two samples without any fuel stabilizer. I never worry about gas sitting in my vehicles over the cold months, in other words lawn mowers and tillers etc never a problem. Now the snow blower sitting all summer is a different story . Forty plus years ago, when we got a new combine in dealership, carburetors would gum up in a month of sitting out side. No ethanol then.
 
The answers are all here. A sediment bowl with a proper screen and set up properly will do its job well.

I would not take a chance on those liners, I have heard tales of the stuff flaking off.

On all my gas tanks I cut a piece of 1/4" tubing and stick it in where the bowl screws in so it sticks up into the tank 2" or so. I have some fine mesh filter screen that I make a boot out of that goes over the tube. Any water or rust collects in bottom of tank. I like to take out bowl and drain tank occasionally.

Some guys may not like this because you can't use all the gas in the tank but you are better off not to.

My 350 U came stock with a setup like this.
 
I've never really had any problems with rust. Though once I had to pull the fuel valve and unplug the outlet in the fuel tank, but no problem since then.

Christopher
 
Yes I guess you're right-- LOL my spell check is dephective and I don't have an English correct conversion button .
 
I had problems with rust chunks and flakes plugging the passage through the bottom of the tank INTO the sediment bulb. Finally solved it by thoroughly cleaning tank, and installing a tube into the top port of the sediment filter, so that the fuel intake is about half an inch above inside tank bottom. Used a poece of an old car radio antenna. (tubular telescoping antenna.)
 
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