Farmall Cub

I've got a cub with a lot of rust coming through the fuel line, out of the gas tank. Does anyone have good ideas for the best way to clean it out?

Thanks!

you could try a weak mix of water and muriatic acid. i would wear a face mask to be safe.

Personally, I would take your tank to a local Radiator/Gas Tank Repair Shop. They can boil it out (they use acids of some sort) and then Red-Kote it. I had my '48 - Ellie done and haven't looked back in almost a decade by now I would think -- it has been a long time.



How To Upgrade A Cub Fuel System

Search this site. There are a couple of good products that you can use to coat the gas tank interior and some tips on how to do it yourself.

having a rad shop do it for you is better but if your on a budget you can do it for under $10 with the acid.

If you want to clean and seal it yourself you can drain it all out then add about 1 gallon of pea gravel and shake well.
I've seen some strap the tank to a rear wheel of a tractor jacked up to let it tumble. I myself have straped them to the rack of an ATV to shake while riding.
Then I picked up my Red Coat sealer at the local welding shop for about $24
That was enough to probably coat 2 tanks.
When using the Red Coat you'll need some fast dry thinner to add.

Probably the most important thing is to have a clean gas tank...I was going to go the Red Cote route, but I attacked the issue as Yogie suggested with an aggregate to loosen up the rust and that worked wonders...good luck!

Muriatic acid will eat the rust,make sure to flush it with baking soda after using or the acid will keep eating away at the metal
Tim

Three Hands - I sent you a PM about a can of Red Kote I'm not using. Al D

I've put 1/4 inch nuts in a cub tank, and left it in the back of the pickup, for a couple of weeks. Shined it nicely. Ed

This is a very old thread so maybe nobody's reading anymore, but since I just resolved the problem I thought I'd post an update. As mentioned, I'd used an electrolysis, the nuts and bolts method, a number of flushes and installed a good petcock with a screen all to no avail. I finally decided to do the multi-step cleaner process. There are two cleaners--one for rust and one for gas buildup. Since the rust should have been dealt with from the electrolysis and the gas treatment is only $10 vs. $40 for the rust treatment, I just bought the gas solvent. After 1 afternoon of soaking and sloshing I rinsed and refilled the tank. I've been driving the tractor everyday with no trouble since. Turns out the buildup of 60 years of gas looks just like rust in your fuel filter but costs a lot less to get rid of. Thanks for all the help!

I'm painting a tank new to me today. I used lye to dissolve most of the junk and then put pea gravel in the tank along with some Evaporust, strapped it to my ATV and went for a ride through the hills. Mine had the oddest green coating in it. Not sure what it was but it came out only with a lot of effort.

when I get a tank that is really rusted bad I put about 10 lb of 1/4 nuts bolts and washers inside. I then strap it to my cement mixer. let it spin for a few hours.. I uses cemnet mixer only because the angle of spin can be changed easily. I have straped them to the rear wheel of a cub. jacked it off the ground to let it spin in 1st gear also.

Clark Thompson wrote: I have straped them to the rear wheel of a cub. jacked it off the ground to let it spin in 1st gear also.

I made that attempt but my jack wasn't tall enough for the tank to clear the ground.