Cracked fuel tank

[MilkJuGGz]

Hey all!

One of my friends just purchased a bike with a cracked gas tank. He does not have the money to buy a new tank right now, but he's really itching to ride. There's maybe 5 cracks several inches in length that were the result of letting fuel sit in the tank under a very hot sun. It looks like it cracked from internal pressures.

Anyways, as I said the financial situation is very poor right now due to some bad planning, otherwise the bike would have a new tank.

So, how about those plastic welders that weld broken chemical tanks and such? Does anyone know about these guys and what they can do?

The previous owner also suggested JB weld as a temporary fix. It didn't sound too great to me, but as a temporary fix on a bike that isn't going to be ridden hard or very far; it's starting to sound viable.

Suggestions? Comments? If all else fails, it looks like waiting for a few months is the only option.

~JuGGz

P.S. The bike will hold a little fuel, but when sloshing occurs it seeps out of the cracks which are mainly on the side and near the top/back.

 

[Papakeith]

When I had a small leak near the petcock of my old bikes tank, I used Hondabond to seal up the crack.
I would be careful putting any heat source near the fuel tank. So I'm kinda leary about plastic welding in this situation.
JB weld is some good stuff. Surface preperation is the key.
Whatever you decide to do, do it safely. We don't need any new statistics.

 

[SuzookKING]

I would use an epoxy rather than JBWeld. Go to a hobby/craft store and grab some Devcon (2 part epoxy), I have used this on both nitromethane/alcohol & 2-stroke gasoline (weed-eater motor)remote-control boats and it holds up very well to these fuels. It is also less noticeable than big blobs of grey JBWeld (Devcon epoxy is essentially clear).

 

[gwcrim]

Try looking at an auto parts store. There are special two part fuel tank sealers. The last on I saw looked like two sticks of children's clay, one blue and one yellow. (Or something like that.) IMO, it's important to get something designed to work specifically with fuel.

 

[Peer Lovell]

Fixing it yourself is always a hit or miss affair. Look in your local yellow pages for "Welding...Plastic". You can get it repaired professionally and permanently for about 25.00.