Chief Fuel Tank Repair Advice

[tomfiii]

The condition from age and bad solder job at factory can be a sobering fact when you see it disassembled.

[41Chief]

Thanks for all the tips and advice. For some reason, even though I can logon and post / reply it is hit and miss if I can read the magazine and even then, cannot view any of the archives. No clue what the issue is.

Anyway, it is worse then I thought. I was going to try to solder some bungs on the outside of the tank, but decided to see if I could clean the inside out first. I taped up the 4 oil fitting holes and poured some cleaner in and then looked at the gasoline side and it was leaking from the oil side to the gas side and vice versa. So, I would assume that the tank has to come apart, be resoldered and then put back together. I do not know if I want to attempt it. I reached out to Vahan to see if he would fix it for me and also to Iron Horse to see if he had some tanks in stock. I was hoping to get the bike back together during the holidays, but this might take a bit of time.


Another thing that concerns me is that the 41 tanks had tank mounts for the tear drop emblems. My tanks do not and there is no evidence that they were ground off or otherwise removed. Although they could have been soldered on and hence easily removed. Anyway, not sure now what year tanks are on my bike now, or if it even matters.

[tfburke3]

If you decide on new Jerrygreers may have them in stock.Also I think Kiwi and Stark maybe sources.
I would not buy any Indian(country)tanks.
Tom

[pisten-bully]

FWIW...I had Vahan Dinihanian look at my 101 tank and give me a price, it is indeed expensive so I decided to go it alone and purchased a reproduction tank and I’ll rebuild the original tank as a long term project...some day after I get the bike finished!

[41Chief]

Again, thanks for all the advice and tips.

After surfing the web and looking at prices, I really do not want to shell out $700-$800 for a repop tank or who knows how much to have someone rebuild my tank.

So, this is what I was thinking, feel free to call me a fool.

Since the oil and fuel sides of the right tank leak into one another, I was going to just shut the cross over valve off on the right tank and fill the whole right tank (gas and oil) with oil. Granted, I will have basically 1/2 of my fuel range, but since I only ride the bike about 100 miles before I stop for whatever anyway, why do I care. When I scrounge up some coin to replace or repair the tank I will do it the right way.

In the meantime, since I blasted the tanks down to bare metal, I will just prime them, slap on a top coat and be done with it. Once I get the coin for the 'real' fix, I will do it the right way.

Feel free to flame.

[PaulCDF]

Flame,

NOPE sounds like you are trying to keep this 70+ year old Chief running and on the road ( And that is always a GOOD thing to me).

Using Right tank for oil only sounds like a reasonable "field expedient" until you have resources for a more permanent repair.

This may be of interest to you:

http://www.gas-tank.com/bike.htm

Joseph Moyer

Moyer's Fuel Tank Renu

2011 Western Avenue
Greensburg, PA 15601
1-800-328-9550

moyer@westol.com

Merry Christmas!!!!

[Tom Wilcock]

I take all my Indian tanks apart and clean, remove dents, tin plate and reassemble before using them. On every one I have had apart I have found poor factory soldering. On ones that did not leak I was surprised they did not. I once had a NOS right side tank on an Indian 4. Within a year it leaked at the rear. When they are apart I usually find that the rear sections have hairline cracks. The stress of forming the steel at the rear causes these cracks. I make up a liner for the rear curved portion and solder it to the inside for added security.
Tom

[stan]

My 37 Chief had a leak in the oil tank dividing panel. When I finally noticed it, The oil was super thinned out. It was still running years later . What I was thinking, look what a two stroke engine uses for lubrication. Stan

[Bubbalowe]

It's too bad radiator repair shops have gone the way of the Indian, these guys possessed the skills to solder tanks back together at affordable prices.

[Lipdog]

I too have a minor leak in my right hand gas tank. It is at the rear, where the mounting tab is attached. The oil side of the tank seems to be fine, it just seeps at the rear tab.

One option, similar to what 41Chief mentioned, is to use only the primary gas tank and leave the other smaller gas tank dry. But I would like to fix it so it's right. I like to ride the bike and am not hung up on completely perfect cosmetics. If there was any way to repair this seam even if I had to touch it up, I'd be fine with it. Cotten mentioned he has made repairs without repainting the tank. If anyone thinks this is possible for the rear tab and has guidance on how to do it, I'd be very interested.

[Tom Wilcock]

First I would flush out the tank with laquer thinner to get rid of any gas residue and then put an air hose in the tank for a while to get rid of the laquer thinner fumes. I would then almost fill the tank with water and cap the openings. Turn the tank so that the leak area at the back is pointing straight up. The water will displace any explosive fumes that may still be in the tank and because the tank was not completely filled there should be a small air space in the area of the leak so that it can be heated enough to melt the solder and not melt any soldered seams in the area. Clean the small area where the leak is really well. Using a large electric soldering iron heat the area where the crack is. Put some acid soldering flux on the bare metal and continue to heat the exposed metal until solder will melt on the metal (not the soldering iron). Use more acid flux during the soldering operation to be sure the metal is clean. Put a good fillet of solder in the joint between the tank and bracket making sure the solder is stuck well to the bracket. That small area can be touched up with paint so that it will be barely noticeable.
Tom

[tfburke3]

I will confess to a similar weep at the rear tab on my 47 left tank.I cleaned the small area of the crack and applied some Marine-tex that I had on hand in my boat emergency tool kit.Its a putty like epoxy that can even be applied underwater.That was about 35 years ago and still doesnt leak.Someday I will get another set of Matts tanks.
Having said that I still would not recommend it unless emergency roadside repair.Good luck
Tom

[Lipdog]

I will confess to a similar weep at the rear tab on my 47 left tank.I cleaned the small area of the crack and applied some Marine-tex that I had on hand in my boat emergency tool kit.Its a putty like epoxy that can even be applied underwater.That was about 35 years ago and still doesnt leak.Someday I will get another set of Matts tanks.
Having said that I still would not recommend it unless emergency roadside repair.Good luck
Tom

Thanks Tom W! Tom B, I tried Seal All https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...0112/7010007-P on this seam but it didn’t last two months. It’s hard to see how something like that can hold up to Gas/Alcohol + the heat from the engine.

[Lipdog]

First I would flush out the tank with laquer thinner to get rid of any gas residue and then put an air hose in the tank for a while to get rid of the laquer thinner fumes. I would then almost fill the tank with water and cap the openings. Turn the tank so that the leak area at the back is pointing straight up. The water will displace any explosive fumes that may still be in the tank and because the tank was not completely filled there should be a small air space in the area of the leak so that it can be heated enough to melt the solder and not melt any soldered seams in the area. Clean the small area where the leak is really well. Using a large electric soldering iron heat the area where the crack is. Put some acid soldering flux on the bare metal and continue to heat the exposed metal until solder will melt on the metal (not the soldering iron). Use more acid flux during the soldering operation to be sure the metal is clean. Put a good fillet of solder in the joint between the tank and bracket making sure the solder is stuck well to the bracket. That small area can be touched up with paint so that it will be barely noticeable.
Tom

I bought a 1 Lb copper soldering iron (https://www.kappalloy.com/copper-soldering-iron-2-lbs/#) and am going to try this myself. I will clean out the tank as best I can, flush it with solvent, run some argon through it, and fill it mostly with water as you suggested. I plan to get the copper iron hot with a propane torch and preheat the mounting tab.

I have two follow on questions:
- What solder should I use (solid core)? 60/40, silver, or plumber's (Pn/Pb)?
- There is a (red) coating on the inside of the tank. I can strip a small area on the outside of the tank where it meets the bracket, but I won't be able to reach on the inside. Is that ok?

[Tom Wilcock]

I use plumbers lead free solder just to avoid lead fumes. If the red coating is in the seam where the solder should be, it would be impossible to clean it without taking the tanks apart. I don't know whether the acid flux would clean inside the seam enough that the solder would penetrate. You should be OK by just cleaning the outside area well and getting a good solder build up. With the water inside the tank you could probably solder it using just the propane torch as long as you do not overheat the metal.
Tom