Dang cracked fuel bowl

[Highbeam]

So I popped the bowl off and mixed up some decade old JB weld from my bag of little tubes of various tube chemicals. I really don't use the stuff but I am now very happy I had it. The JB weld takes a long time to set up. It was overnight until I thought it was hard enough to use.

I first removed the bowl, dumped the fuel, and then cleaned it out with carb cleaner. By the way, carb cleaner destroys the paint on our Kioti engines and also clouds up the clear plastic used for the fuel bowl. I then used some 400 grit sandpaper to rough up the inside and outside of the bowl over the single vertical crack. I applied the JB weld with a toothpick to the inside and the outside extending the epoxy about an inch beyond the crack in all directions. Being a round shape I had to keep turning the bowl until the JBweld set up sufficently to stay in place.

This morning at about 5 am I put it all together in the dark and started the tractor up. It worked like a champ. No leaks at all during the unload and put away. Not sure if our fuel pumps are regulated to a certain psi or if the pressure runs up with rpms but I have noticed that the bowl failures documented here on TBN seem to have occured while mowing at PTO rpm so maybe higher fuel pressure and heat.

So yes, JBweld seems to work with diesel fuel on our fuel bowls at least temporarily.

I am certain the bobcat bowl is the same but I don't know who sells bobcats in my area. The Kubota bowl is another option.

When the new bowl arrives I will replace this one along with a new fuel filter.

 

[IslandTractor]

I'm surprised your fuel bowl lasted this long. My DK fuel bowl bit the dust after two years. I had stopped to clean the radiator and when I lifted the hood saw a thin stream of fuel squirting out of the bowl. Decided it would be ok to drive back to the barn. A quick phone call to Rick Wallace and after the UPS guy delivered a new one I was back in business.

 

[MotorSeven]

HB, next time you mix it use a little more of the hardner(the white) than the black...it will set up way faster. I only waited 30 min & slapped it together.

 

[Highbeam]

Couple of pics, pretty big leak and you couldn't see the crack until the bowl was removed.

 

[Highbeam]

Whoa! I forgot it had been so long. I ran that JB welded fuel bowl until two days ago when it blew out again while mowing the pasture. Good thing I have the part sitting at home on the shelf!

Cut my mowing day down to only 6 hours instead of the required 12.

I now have lttle choice but to install the new milky bowl.

 

[Coyote machine]

Really?!:confused2: I would think you would have changed it over and kept the broken one for a spare?...

 

[MotorSeven]

Baaahh, slap some "new" JB on it and go another 9 months,

 

[Highbeam]

I have no excuse for not replacing the part. The JBwelded bowl was working and I was distracted. Forgot.

As soon as I saw the raw fuel spraying out I knew that I had made a mistake.

 

[IslandTractor]

Is JB Weld the best type of epoxy for this type of plastic (?polycarbonate) repair? I always associate JB Weld with engines and heat resistance and machinability rather than for general purpose bonding. I wonder if one of the other liquid formulations of epoxy might have formed a better bond. Would "super glue" have been a choice as well?

I still have my old unrepaired bowl and am wondering if I should make a spare as suggested by Coyote.

 

[VictorW]

Fixing the old one for a spare sounds like a good idea for just in case times. I should probably order one for just in case. 400 plus hours and still no cracks on the original clear plastic bowl. I like being able to look through the bowl and see the filter but I guess the new and improved plastic had to be milky colored.