Fuel tank removal problems

[crumble]

I'm trying to undertake the very simple task of removing my fuel tank off my 1990 Defender 90.

My small problem is that the heads nuts and bolts at the rear mount are all rounded off leaving me no way to remove them.

The front mount bolt sheared when I tried tried to undo it, but at least it's off.

Have tried hacksaw blade with tape around it, but unfortunately the blade is too thick to fit in the gap.

Anyone got any ideas?

[fezzy192]

i,ve just done this on mine and i just ground the bolts off with a cut off saw then used a big hammer
took me about 5 minutes just put stainless bolts in now

[Mash]

Hi....
Have you had some heat on there ? Other than that try some Bolt Grips. (The sockets with a left handed thread).
Or even chisel the nut off !

Oh welcome to MC by the way   :lol:

[crumble]

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

I have some bolt grips, but as you can see in the photos, there's no way of getting the things on in the first place!

What do you mean by a cut off saw?

Have not tried any heat - a bit wary to try as it's attached to the chassis, and I'm very inexperienced in this sort of thing!!

[Dr.Ed]

could try some nut splitters - may be enough room there for those.

cut off saw = (usually) 12" petrol powered angle grinder, you could try a normal angle grinder!

Ed.

[topless matt]

See if you can get an angle grinder in there, you only need to get rid of some of the nut.
If you remove enough to see the thread of the bolt you can chisel the rest off with 1 big blow!

[crumble]

Nowhere near enough room for an angle grinder.

Played with a chisel last night, and no luck :-(

[gnasha]

could try a dremal and use cut of disk's as long as u dont apply a lot of pressure the should do the job

[topless matt]

Gas axe? Just make sure you put a good thick plate behiend to stop cutting into the tank or the rubber filling pipes or you will know about it :lol:

[trickydicky]

when i removed my tank i hammered a bolster chisel in between the chassis mount and the tank mount 1 nut snapped off and i cutt the other with a hack saw blade the chassis mount got a little twisted but it all looks ok now after a bit more hammering. P.S wen the last bolt came out the tank smacked me in the head its very heavy when its full of fuel so you mite need a wooden block.

[Ja1983]

marvellous.. thats a "to do" on mushroom.... i would have said brute force, and a light serving of ignorance.. as fuel tanks are
a) generally contaning combustable material
b) heavy!

could you not sacrifice the brackets, cut off with angry grinder when the tanks out (thus more room) and replace with new brackets, stainless bolts, and of course nylon washers (to avoid bi-metallic corrosion between diss-similar metals)

[bogie]

small drill through middle of bolt then go larger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[crumble]

As previously said, there's no room whatsoever for a drill or anything - look at the pictures!

I bought some bolt splitters. They worked, but seized in the middle so I now have only one bolt to remove, and a broken set of bolt splitters. Trip to Screwfix later to complain!

I also got a dremel and tried to grind - it wasn't helpful, and the cutting discs couldn't get in at the right angle :-(

[topless matt]

Use a drill on the flat of the bolt.
Drill holes one above the other till they almost join up or do oin up and then clout it with s cold chizel and a lump hammer, that will split the nut off the bolt.

[bogie]

thank u,at least someone also has some imagination. hit n drill it until it brakes!

[Tiki Al]

I've recently done the tank on mine and had the same problems.

On the end plates of the bracket i used a chisel to spilt the welds then got some mole grips on it and wiggled it till it snapped off, that made enough room to get a hacksaw in to cut the nut's off.

Though i'm sure by now you would have solved this  :)

[topless matt]

thank u,at least someone also has some imagination. hit n drill it until it brakes!

Well, i dont see you coming up with any ideas!

[ChrisV8]

Had this problem on a very rusty tank on a tdi that had stood in a garden for 4 years !!

We managed to get a drill in and drill into the bolt carefully, then a bigger drill until a sharp chisel and a good smack split the nut off, not easy but do able just don't rush at it.

I will be having the same issue on the Project 90, a few yaers on Bridlington beach has done nothing for making bolts undo-able at present none have come undone without Mr Angry (angle grinder) or LR tool Nr 1 (large hammer)

[Xtremeteam]

i used a gas axe on mine to undo the bolts