Black Tank Straps

[luxagraf]

Everyone's favorite repair job. So our black tank sprang its 250th pinhole leak this morning and I went to patch it with some glassmat and resin when I noticed that the rear strap -- always a bit rusty -- had gotten dramatically worse since I last looked at it. Like hanging by a thread kind of worse. In other words I need to bite the bullet and fix it, probably before we move again.\n\nMy thoughts right now are to use my little floor lift to hold the tank up, pull the strap and start hunting out truck parts shops (seems pretty similar to what I see heavy duty trucks using for fuel tanks) or maybe a metal shop if I can find one. We live in it full time though and right now we're on the Natchez Trace parkway, a good distance from any real cities (I think Nashville is about 2 hours away) so sourcing a new strap may be my biggest problem.\n\nI thought I'd post here to see if anyone has tackled this before and if so if you had any tips or a lead on where I could get another strap of similar size/shape...

[KB2CRK]

I doubt the straps are available but you should be able to make some out of 1/8" thick steel. You can get it in varying lengths and widths. 1" width should work. Just drill the holes near the ends and bend by hand to fit. Lowes, Home depot and Tractor supply sells some steel and aluminum stock in different widths up to 6' in length. If the old ones are 2" wide I would go back with the same. Old bicycle tubes would make a decent spacer to go between and new ones are cheap enough at wal mart\n\nTo bad I saw it on facebook first. But I think it is a good idea to share it here too.

[luxagraf]

So made it to the dump station and back without incident, jacked up the tank of the front strap, glassed over the leak. That's still drying. I also picked up a 27in tire tube at walmart that I'm going to pad that strap with. It's still in decent shape so I'll probably leave it for now (it's a lot harder to access that forward strap's bolt on the outside). For the back strap I actually found the perfect piece of 1.5 inch aluminum at Tractor Supply, but it was too short and then only had one. Hoping Home Depot or Lowes will have something similar but longer, but they're about 1.5 hours round trip from here so saving that for another day.

[KB2CRK]

I am glad it worked for you. Hopefully the glass patch holds on the tank. I used Plastimend to repair Nessies' black tank and that was 3 years ago with no signs of new issues.

[ryemadd]

So made it to the dump station and back without incident, jacked up the tank of the front strap, glassed over the leak. That's still drying. I also picked up a 27in tire tube at walmart that I'm going to pad that strap with. It's still in decent shape so I'll probably leave it for now (it's a lot harder to access that forward strap's bolt on the outside). For the back strap I actually found the perfect piece of 1.5 inch aluminum at Tractor Supply, but it was too short and then only had one. Hoping Home Depot or Lowes will have something similar but longer, but they're about 1.5 hours round trip from here so saving that for another day.

\n\nGlad to hear things are working out for you. If u ever get in another bind closer to Nashville or Knoxville (east ten) or even Asheville (western nor caro) give me a shout here or email me at this username at gmail and all that good stuff. I’m no longer in the area converted to a nor cal feller. San Fran is where I park my bus. Haha but I lived well over most my life there and as a fellow full timer I’m in a skirted 66 270 doing a complete do over. Remodel or what ha e you. But yea I’m sure I could get one of my gear headed buddies to give u a hand. After all we are the volunteer state and take that title pretty serious. Thanks great great great uncle Davey..... Crockett that is. Haha. Safe travels. And may the sun be mild over your head, the wind crisply at your back and the road smooth under your trvcos tires.

[raysimmons]

on your tank straps, I repaired mine by cutting of the old strap off but left enough of the old strap to drill and then bolt the new strap (from lowes) to it. it's been working fine for the past 8 yrs. use stainless screws if you can, you never know, you may have to replace those straps again in 30-40 yrs