Sending unit removal

[Guest Dave Claussen]

What method has proven the best for removing the gas tank sending unit? It appears there's a locking ring with 4 tabs sticking up that would be used to turn the ring. Is a special tool needed or is there another way to loosen the ring? Any suggestions would be welcome and appreciated. Thanks, again, Dave

[norrism1]

Take a wire brush to the rust. Spray with Penetrate. Then I used a brass drift to knock the ring loose. Brass will not hurt the ring like a steel drift would.

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Ok, I've got those items in my arsenal. I'll give it a try and see what happens. Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks Dave

[bach4660]

brass also doesn't create sparks:rolleyes:

[Guest Dave Claussen]

A very good point! Gas, old or fresh, and sparks don't play well together. Something worth remembering. The gas in my tank has been emptied out for over two years but it's smart not to take any chances. Thanks, Dave

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Well, I had the afternoon off and got around to tackling that sender unit. I had wire brushed and applied penetrating oil as suggested. It was a little stubborn at first but once I got it to move it was a cake walk after that. I also got the outside of the tank cleaned up. It had a layer if undercoating on just about the entire tank. Scraped all that off and cleaned it up with some solvent. I took a look down inside through the sender unit opening with a falshlight and it has a little dusty looking rust and some old flakes of varnish from the last bit of gas that evaporated during the ten years it sat in my barn. One quarter sized spot of patch on the top half of the tank just above the pickup tube, other than that nothing that looks too bad. Thanks for the tips on getting it out.

Next question is whether I can find a 12 volt sender that would fit the existing sender hole. I've seen senders in JC Whitney and Summit but it's hard to tell if the base will fit the original sender opening. Are most tank senders universal? I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it couldn't be that easy, huh? I'm also gonna guess a 6 volt and 12 volt sender are not interchangeable. Any one else had this situation?

If I can figure out the sender, I'll get the tank boiled out and sealed and it will be ready to reinstall.

[Merle Coggins]

I don't know that the sender cares much about the voltage. It's just a variable resister. Voltage would matter to the gauge though. If you use a voltage reducer for the gauge you're set.

Merle

By the way, I got my tank back from the radiator shop a few weeks ago. It cost me $180. They patched a few pin holes, removed the pick-up tube, cleaned it out, and soldered it back in. Then they coated the tank inside and out. It was a bit more than they quoted me, but they also did more work than was expected. I also got lucky finding a sender lock ring that I was missing. I picked up a parts truck, on which the tank had been patched and repainted (still doesn't look very solid). But it has a sender and the lock ring I needed. I haven't tested the sender yet though.

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Well, I'm going to be using a different gauge that will be 12 volt, so having satisfied that condition, I feel confident that I can make the tank usable. I wasn't sure about the voltage issue so it figured it didn't hurt to ask. Thanks for the help. Dave

[Guest Dave Claussen]

I have checked out a couple of gauge alternatives and have found that most of the gauge packages come complete with the sending unit that matches up with the gauge. The only thing that becomes an issue is making the new sender fit the old tank. I am going to try and get some more info on these gauge packages before I lay down my cash. The pictures shown with the gauges are not very clear or specific so I'm going to try and contact those companies directly by phone or by email. More later. Dave C.