A mate just rang me from up the bush and he is helping a neighbour get his ride on going as per everybody at this time of the year. Anyway he discovered the fuel outlet spigot has broken off and it is an HDPE plastic fuel tank. Has anybody got any ideas as how it can be repaired. It is a Victa mower but trying to get any info about a model number or a photo from my mate is beyond his capabilities so I have no chance of working out what the tank is. As far as I know HDPE plastic is near impossible to repair. If it was here I'm sure I would be able to fix it somehow but I'm certainly not driving 3 hours up there to pick up the tank.
I'm assuming your mate will fix this Norm, as if you had to drive for 6 hours it would be cheaper to use a courier to get the tank delivered to your home and then delivered back when repaired .
I've repaired broken plastic power steering reservoir hose connectors by drilling out the centre of the connector the same size as a copper gas/ pressure pipe then glue the copper pipe in with appropriate glue/ resin.
With the fuel tank connector you may be able to use some 1/4 inch brass pipe glued into the tank ,you can put a single flare on the inside if you have a length of copper pipe then cut down the pipe after it's installed ,obviously the pipe with the flare will need to be installed from the inside. This way the pipe can never come out of the tank .
That will work if the tank just has a plastic fuel pipe connector molded onto the tank but depends how much of the tank is broken if there is a rubber grommet on the bottom of the tank you would need to replace the tap or fit a threaded insert or tap into the tank with a nut on the inside.
The easiest thing to do is just fit another second hand fuel tank even if you used an old small fire extinguisher and mounted it to the top of the bonnet. The larger extinguishers are stainless and can be cut down easily and welded back together.
Thanks Max, There are several ways to fix these things but there is no way my mate is capable of fixing this sort of stuff. He has rebuilt Triumph motorbikes all his life but when it comes to improvise to get out of trouble like this he just can't do it. I know the bloke who the mower belongs to and he doesn't have a clue either and expects that things like this can be bodged up somehow with something like silicone. No bloody idea.
I’ve tried to fix a few plastic tanks and it seems, with some, they lose their plasticity over time. After a certain period any pressure causes them to crack so they don’t lend themselves to repair. It tends to be the semi-translucent unstabilised plastic (HDPE) that suffers the most from this; the type radiator overflow, windscreen washer liquid and some inexpensive mower fuel tanks are made from. It can become really brittle and if you glue it in one spot it breaks in another. With these the only solution is replacement.
The black plastic tanks (ABS) tend to last almost indefinitely and only really suffer damage through some form of misadventure. I’ve had taps snap off on Victa plastic tanks because someone has been a bit rough. I’m hoping your friend may have had this happen as it’s just a matter of manipulating the remaining stub of the tap out of the base of the tank and bunging in a new fuel tap.
Otherwise with ABS you can drill and tap it to affect a repair. I’ve even seen ABS parts “plastic welded” using a soldering iron, a strip of heat resistant fabric and a little more ABS as filler. This was done when a water tank cracked at a seam. The bloke who did it wasn’t working in anything like an ideal environment and was just using improvised tools and the repair held up really well.
Hi Ironbark, It didn't have a tap on it just the stub for the hose to go on. He went to Hendersons to get one of those inline taps and small fuel filter and they hit him up for $40. I believe it is one of the translucent HDPE plastic ones. Once they decide to split it is all over
get him to bring it to you or send it down with someone.............. who is heading your direction... or take it to tip and buy another mower.... speedy
........................Keep your blades sharp......................
It's always going to be a bit of a gamble trying to fix a fuel tank when it's old and can crack soon after repairs that's why it would be better for the owner of the mower to take the mower to a repair centre and get them to fit another tank.
I don't blame you Norm ,it's not worth spending the time just getting there and back, when I sell items online I always have people ringing me and saying they will buy if I will spend hours dropping the item off , I always say no and more than half of the time they end up picking the item up .
Hi Max, I met this bloke about 4/5 years ago and there is no way he would take it to a mower repair place too much of a tight arse. Hi Tyler, lots of options but I'm not getting involved because I know I would struggle to get some petrol money from him for driving up there.
Hi MF, my mate lives next door to him and he has asked my mate to see if he can fix it and my mate asked me if he could use some 2 pak repair stuff he paid $40 for. I told him I didn't think it would work. I asked him to read out to me what was on the packet and once he got to the bottom of what materials it would repair it had a note, not suitable for HDPE. I could make a 3mm steel tank for it but as you say why bother.
Tell your mate to give him the wide berth. He can go replace the tank or buy another machine. Why impose his problem onto him? Sounds like he doesn't deserve the help. Wouldn't be ethnic by any chance?
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
