l5030 fuel tank repair

[dakota3c06]

Hi all,
Broke off the 2 fuel return nipples on the L5030 diesel tank. Thought to myself just buy a new plastic fuel tank. HA!! Are you kidding me?! How can they charge that much for a piece of plastic?
Anyway any ideas on how to fix the issue? I connected both return lines together to get it running without leaks. I thought about drilling undersize holes and running the lines into the tank, like a small 2 cycle tank has. Scared they might leak. I am hoping there are a few of you out there that have fixed a similar issue.

Thanks

 

[rentthis]

If you can get inside the tank to tighten it, you might be able to use a couple of these with a threaded fuel line barbed hose fitting.

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/48605539

 

[Steve Neul]

If you weld you might weld a tank bung on the hole. Diesel is pretty easily cleaned out of the tank to weld on. Gas is when it gets hard.

 

[rbargeron]

..... I thought about drilling undersize holes and running the lines into the tank, like a small 2 cycle tank has. Scared they might leak.....

Pushing the tubes into undersized holes located high on the tank sounds very reasonable. A fuel drip leak here or there is not hazardous like gasoline would be.

The pressure in the tank is zero or even slightly negative - return flow is always less than what's going out. If the cap vent gets plugged, a running engine will collapse a plastic tank inward until it starves (like happened on my L48).

Take care, Dick B

 

[dakota3c06]

thanks. I will try it and if it fails I can insert a fuel barb. Any idea what would be a good sealant for diesel? I was thinking epoxy but would JB weld hold up to diesel? no pressure on the lines so a good seal should work.

 

[dakota3c06]

that looks like the ticket. thanks

 

[zload]

My tank wall was pretty thick, I saw where someone else had drilled and tapped for a nipple so thats what I did, can't remember what sealant I used on the threads but it was a specific fuel safe sealant. Its held up fine for two years or so with no leaks or other issues.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

thanks. I will try it and if it fails I can insert a fuel barb. Any idea what would be a good sealant for diesel? I was thinking epoxy but would JB weld hold up to diesel? no pressure on the lines so a good seal should work.

Being that it's a plastic tank plastic epoxy will work but black silicone will allow for heat and cold expansions and contractions.

 

[lugbolt]

One reason they're expensive is government intervention. They had to change the material that they're made out of so fuel vapors can't escape. The material is a LOT more expensive. I was working at a factory that built mowers and the fuel tanks that they used (2 on each machine) were about $80 each to buy them from the vendor. When low-perm tanks were mandated, that went to about $260 EACH (2 of them)-which put the build cost higher than some of the competition, so we had to direct the enginneers to re-design them with one tank instead of two to help offset the cost.

One mower I was involved with, 35hp diesel, when they mandated that engines over 26hp required Tier IV emissions (dpf), the cost to build that mower would have jumped about $5500. From $13,000 to $18,500. A comparable Kubota was cheaper. They actually quit building diesel powered mowers because of the EPA mandates that killed that line, which added so much build cost that it would put them over the competitors' mower prices. I'm glad they quit building them, they were loud, vibrating, really crude mowers-but they had a LOT of power.