R3039 Fuel Tank Leak

[bruceatlam]

As far as I know, there hasn't been any change in design that would resolve the issue. That horizontal seam apparently isn't designed for the stresses that naturally occur at that point. Every photo that I've seen shows the break on that same seam. Does your new tank have the same seam??

 

[Ritothebull]

I don't know of any epoxy that will stick to a polyethylene for a permanent repair, I have one that I fixed with 3m 5200 about 10 years ago that's still in use. Some of these tanks are just cracking because of poor structural designs and those should be replaced.

 

[Bentley Meredith]

Yes exactly the same as OEM.

Does your new tank have the same seam??

 

[Bentley Meredith]

I agree.

And LS said they would be happy to give me a new tank after looking at my photos, they just would not send it to me, I had to get to a dealer and have them install it. The reason I bought the tractor from the dealer I did is because that dealer was 1 1/2 miles from my property. They went out of business 2 weeks after I bought it! Just up and gone. Next closest is 30 miles away and I don't have a trailer that will haul my 3039...So it would have cost me more to get it to the dealer then the tank cost! To say I am not a please customer is putting it very nicely. If this tank fails in a short period of time, I will seek a remedy against LS USA! Not sure exactly what, but I will try something!

Some of these tanks are just cracking because of poor structural designs and those should be replaced.

 

[joemd11]

It took about 5 years but my tank started leaking last summer. I was going to order a new one but my dealer said he could fix the old one. He said he has a machine that "welds" plastic. I went that route and it has held so far. I was trying to figure out why the tank cracked. The only thing I noticed was that my tank was building pressure between fill ups. Maybe the expansion and contraction caused the tank to fail? I checked the vent in the cap and it seemed ok but the tank was still building pressure. I experimented with not tightening the cap down as much as before and this seems to have solved the pressure building up. We'll see if "weld" holds up. Have any of you noticed the pressure escaping when removing the fuel cap?

 

[bruceatlam]

It took about 5 years but my tank started leaking last summer. I was going to order a new one but my dealer said he could fix the old one. He said he has a machine that "welds" plastic. I went that route and it has held so far. I was trying to figure out why the tank cracked. The only thing I noticed was that my tank was building pressure between fill ups. Maybe the expansion and contraction caused the tank to fail? I checked the vent in the cap and it seemed ok but the tank was still building pressure. I experimented with not tightening the cap down as much as before and this seems to have solved the pressure building up. We'll see if "weld" holds up. Have any of you noticed the pressure escaping when removing the fuel cap?

I had that same issue and, at the onset of this cracking problem, I thought that the pressure building was the cause of the cracking. I bought a new cap which did resolve the pressure building issue but certainly not the tank cracking issue. There was clearly something wrong with my original cap that caused it to not vent properly.