Fuel tank problem

[Robertrosen]

Hi, I have a 32 gallon fuel tank (plastic) that the fuel pick up stopped working for so reason. I tried to remove it but no luck, it seems to a toggle bolt type nut inside the tank and it will not come out. Is there a way to plug the old pick up and cut another hole in the tank with a hole saw and add a stainless steel plate to mount a new pick up? I really don't want to buy a new tank over this.

[phillnjack]

why not cut round the original pick up , pull that out.
Make the hole big enough to get a hand in the tank !!!! (incase in the future you need to clean it out )
Then cure the problem with what you have there and put that on a new stainless plate and screw that down with a nice big rubber washer.
(for a large rubber washer a car mat is ideal, sand the bobbles of it where it sits on the tank edge) use about 8 or 10 stainless self tapping self tapping screws to hold the new stainless plate down.
then in future you have a nice hole you can undo if you need to get a hand in there and clean the tank out too.

you might find the original pick up tube in the tank has a small filter on the bottom that ethanol has melted. !!!!
dont put any filter in the tank, put that outside the tank for ease of replacement in the future.

just what I would do .

[XstreamVking]

The challenge of working on active fuel tanks is not blowing yourself up. Siphon out the fuel and add some soapy water. Pull tank and deal with it in the open air, with non sparking tools. jm2cts

[Robertrosen]

Already did that. The tank is empty, clean and dry.

[David - WI]

Can't you cut the fitting off at the outside of the tank and push the stub into the tank... and remove it through the filler neck?

[phillnjack]

Not much chance of sparks, the poster said it is a plastic tank , !!!
I would cut it out and put in a nice big plate so can get hand in if need be. also handy for anything similar in the future.
all fuel tanks should have a removable inspection plate.

[flabum1017]

Not much chance of sparks, the poster said it is a plastic tank , !!!
I would cut it out and put in a nice big plate so can get hand in if need be. also handy for anything similar in the future.
all fuel tanks should have a removable inspection plate.

Use air tools to be safe

[frank jackson]

If its not picking up fuel try putting air pressure to the threaded connection and blow the filter out of the pick up ....... also check to see if it has a stopped up check valve . If all else fails get a gasket for a gas gauge and make a pickup tube ......