[UZI4U]

Hey guys, several years ago I bought a U.S. gas can from my local flea market and have just now gotten the time to fix it up a little. I noticed it had a slow leak around the bottom where the seam is, so i reenforced it with some jb weld all the way around and even up the side seam as some preventitive medicine (even tho it showed no signs of leakage). The thing I was needing some advice on was this. The inside of the can has some flakeing that comes off, i guess like how paint will flake after a while and its baige in color. Is there any way to get this stuff out compleately? Im sure paint flakes are not good for ones gas tank so I was needing a way to remedy this little snag before i use this. I have thought about filling it half way or so with dry sand and kind of sloshing that around and looking to see if that helps, but figured i'd better ask some of the more experienced people here for their insight. Also if I do get all the flakes out would i need to coat the inside with something like rustolium or just leave it as is? Thanks for all your replys and advice. Other than those little thngs it seems like a good gas can that still has a number of years worth of sevice left on it.

 

[SamboRoberts]

That idea will work, although I don't think you'd need to half fill it, a couple of pounds will be more than enough.

 

[Jax]

http://www.amazon.com/KREEM-COMBO-PAK-LINER-TANK-PREP/dp/B001J0DHZK Try this. I've used it before on Harley split gas tanks. Good stuff!

 

[fisck]

Never used it my self but I've heard that some nuts and bolts is about the best for getting rust flakes out of a tank. Just toss a few hand fulls in (I've also heard of people loosly tying them together with wire) and shake the hell out of it till you think your going to die, then shake some more. Just make sure when you cote the inside of the tank use something made for gas tanks. Gas will dissolve a lot of paints.

 

[Al Diehl]

Is there some reason that you absolutely have to have a metal gas can at all?

The reason I ask is, Since I tossed all of mine and replaced them with the plastic ones I have never missed them for a second. As long as they are not overfilled and stored properly they last a long time and you never have the problems you are describing.

But, if you must have that can, they do sell a gas tank lining and sealing kit that would fix you up. (see post by Jax above) I used one a long time ago on a dirt bike tank. Came with everything to clean, seal and leave coating inside of the tank that's not supposed to peel or flake.

Good luck.
Al

 

[El Gringo Perdido]

Pea Gravel and a lot of shaking

 

[gamgee]

I thought a guy named Jerry was going assist us.

 

[svxak47]

I use 3" drywall screws and CLR and slosh it around inside, the screws get the heavy rust scale and the CLR cleans it to bare metal, follow up with Kreem tank sealant.

 

[Mr. Beef]

I thought a guy named Jerry was going assist us.

Yeah... Who's Jerry?

 

[UZI4U]

lol thanks guys the title was kinda misleading ... naw it aint rusted on the inside just a lil flakeing pretty much i had it laying around and i remember the old saying waste not want not so i figured i had it why not fix what lil probs there were and find a use for it thanks for all yalls replys i learned something and got a few chucks in the process.

 

[Optimist]

Germans brought the first ones out. We adopted 'em. Jerry cans....

 

[bayez]

I think what you might have is an old water can....good ideas on gittin rid of the flakin paint.I got some compadres over at ANG by me and see what they're usin that's fuel friendly and post it.

 

[northernguy]

You can use aircraft fuel tank sloshing compound and that will seal all your leaks and stop any flaking. It's not cheap but if you have other tanks to seal it might be worth getting some.

Aircraft Spruce and Specialty has is.

The price will probably scare ya...I think you could buy several jerry cans for the price of one tin of sloshing compound!

 

[MrZombieHunter]

Media blast the inside. Then cote with solvent proof paint.

 

[captianpattson]

I just cleaned out 4 of them. To do a proper job, you'll need to use a paint stripper on the inside to remove all the paint, otherwise the tank sealer won't properly adhere to the inside and may start to peel itself after a while.

The best product I know of is by por-15, you can buy a kit for doing motorcycle tanks for cheaper than the automotive kit. The kit comes with a product called marine clean which cleans any and all gum or varnish from the inside of the tank, then you follow up with a product called Metal Ready which etches the metal and deposits a layer of zinc to prevent flash rusting. Then you put in the tank sealer and slosh it around, it'll be hard as a rock and you'll never leak again.

Now all that being said, that's a lot of work and expense for one jerry can. I did the tank on my willys jeep and 4 jerry cans all with the motorcycle kit. I recommend doing more than one to make it worth the effort.

The upside with metal cans is you can strap them to a vehicle and they won't be affected by the sun as plastic ones will. Plus they just plain look cool. New ones can be bought for about $35 dollars.

 

[zyklonalpha]

Another option is to take a die grinder with a cutting wheel and cut the entire bottom out of the can followed by blasting the inside with some type of media then weld the bottom back on and finish the welds off with a die grinder. Afterwards coat the inside with a fuel tank sealant nice and good. In my opinion this is your best option if you really want to prevent further troubles in the future.

If you go this route make sure there is NO fumes inside the can. You could use water or sand. I prefer used engine oil because it absorbs heat nicely which will prevent burn outs while welding. I not trying to insult your intelligence or anything, I had a leak in my heating oil tank some years ago and they sent a repairman to weld the leak and he did not check the oil level and blew the tank across the yard which ended up cause a big ol brush fire. If someone who does this stuff daily forgets to check, anybody could.

 

[cj06]

steel shot from a shotgun works !

 

[Hotdog]

I just cleaned out a couple of gerry cans with gravel, then I rinsed them out good with water and dryed them with a heat gun. It took out the flakes and the rust and left it all real purty. (If you use a heat gun, make sure there are no fumes.) and actually, that just reminded me of a funny story at least I thought it was funny. I was walking home late one night, drunk, when I saw a fire and several firetrucks, a man came running up to me and started screaming "It's karma man, it's karma, just like John Lennon said man, it's instant karma!" I said dude what the hell you talking about? what's karma? after he had rambled on about karma and cosmic justice and such for a few more minutes I finally managed to get out of him just what had happened. Evidently he and his buddies were about to go on a beer run but they didn't know if they had enough gas, so they held a match up to the gas tank to see if they could see any gas in the tank. At that point I realized just how really stupid people could be.

 

[USJudo]

I have used POR15 gas tank repair before for fixing old Dietz lamps works great. Clean it out as best you can. Pour in some POR15 and then turn it to coat the inside. Dump out the extra and let it dry that stuff is amazing.

 

[captianpattson]

Or if your a little creative you could also make something like this...
http://autoshepherd.com/product/Gerry-Can-Style-Tool-Box/13054