I Found a Crack in My 3510 Fuel Tank Today

Stimw · Jun 27, 2013

I drove my 3510 a mile up to buy fuel today. After filling it up (6 gal) I noticed fuel seeping from the seam on the left fuel tank behind the step!
I drove it back home and syphoned 5 gallons back out and the seeping stopped.
I drove the left rear tire up on a 6" X 6" to lean the tractor away from the crack.
I took Brake Clean and cleaned the area very well, then cleaned the area with Acetone, then sanded the plastic to rough it up.
I had a pack of 5 minute Epoxy. I mixed it up, coated the area and then covered the Epoxy with a piece of vinyl coated canvas (to give it some strength) and squeased out the air bubbles.
I had the tractor parked in the sun to help with the curing.
It seemed like it worked very well. I will wait a couple days to put the fuel back in.

I poked a hole in a gas tank on a Buick back in the mid 70's on a dirt road. The Buick had a trailer hitch welded to the frame so I couldn't remove the tank.
I basicly did the same thing, clean very well, Fill hole with Epoxy and that time I covered the hole with a thin piece of aluminum.(throw away pie pan)
It was still on the tank a few years later when I sold the Buick!

mesterly · Jul 5, 2013

hah way to go! I did the same on my primary of my Harley the rubber bumper fellow off where the kick stand rubs.

I epoxied a nickel over the hole as well.

You make consider epoxying some mesh over you patch as the tractors vibrates a bit. Let us know how it works out!

DavesTractor · Jul 11, 2013

It will be interesting to see if this holds up. I did not think epoxy would stick adequately to the tank. Some plastics are about impossible to glue, and I thought these tanks fell into that category. But you may just prove otherwise. Keep us posted.

Zork · Jul 24, 2013

Hey all - many of the plastic tanks can be welded with a soldering iron. I've performed this on two tanks so far and there is plenty of DIY/How to's via the Internet on how to make this repair. The tanks I repaired were gasoline tanks; one with two stress cracks along the mounting flange/tangs, and the other was filling a number of holes that were made from a determined rodent with a bad habit. The one tank with the cracks was repaired a number of years ago and still not leaking and the other is not leaking, so long as that rodent doesn't come back again.

Zork · Mar 10, 2014

Any updates?

Gary Fowler · Mar 10, 2014

I fixed 4 cracks in my LS fuel tank using JBWeld about 3 years ago and it is still holding.

Stimw · Mar 10, 2014

It's still holding!!
I spread 4 loads of dirt with the tractor for a friend of mine up the road today.
The trick with any repair like this is to clean VERY WELL and allow plenty of cure time.