[Shop-talk] Drilling into a gas tank

[Brad Kahler]

Here's the situation.  We recently bought a Bobcat 610 skid steer.  We
got it at a very good price because someone sabotaged it (not me!) by
pouring dirt down into the fuel tank.  Hence the entire fuel system
was gummed up with mud when the owner tried starting it.  The fuel
tank is built into the left side of the frame and has a 1/8" pipe plug
at the bottom for draining purposes.  As expected from something this
old the plug is frozen in place and all efforts to get it to unscrew
have only resulted in the plug head to be pretty much non existent
now.

I realize I can syphon the old gas out but that will leave all of the
mud and gunk in the bottom of the tank on the outside near one of the
axles.  What I'm thinking about doing is grinding the plug head flush
with the frame and then drilling through it with a 1/8" bit.  In order
to keep sparks to a minimum or non existent I'm considering filling
the tank with water prior to drilling the hole.

Once the hole is drilled and the tank is empty I would proceed with
enlarging the hole until the drain plug has been successfully removed.
 I could the proceed with a thorough flushing of the tank to get the
mud and gunk out.  I'm sure getting the gas/water mix to drain through
the 1/8" hole won't be easy but I'm not sure what else to do.

Does this sound like a workable solution?

Thanks,

Brad