Where to source gas tank for 1987 Cushman Truckster

[1987truckster]

I recently took the gas tank out of my 1987 cushman truckster with 22 omc engine and it appears to be in rougher shape than expected. Instead of resealing it, I'm now thinking of replacing. I'm at a loss of where to buy a replacement, google nor the search here seems to pull up anything, does anyone have any experience sourcing a new tank.
Also, there are 4 outlets at the top of the tank that connect to fuel lines, any idea what those are for? I believe 6 outputs in total, which seems to be a lot.
Thanks.

[Lochlin]

We had this issue with older HDs / Columbias as well.

This supplier has some generic tanks that fit many applications:

https://www.usplastic.com/

You may want to navigate to the "fuel tank" section and see what's there. There is a good chance that they will have something that will work for you.

[1987truckster]

Thanks for the link, Lochlin, I'll take a look.

[CharleyL]

There are many different versions of 1987 Cushman Trucksters. Mine is a 4 wheel and I believe that it originally had a piece of quarry machinery attached to the back half of the chassis behind the cab that ran off the power take-off shaft on the right rear of the transmission. It had and still has a home built wooden stake body bed on it that the prior owner had built and I restored, building new fences from TREX so they won't go bad again. The 3 wheel Trucksters had a wide flat tank behind the differential and way at the back end of the chassis. I have also seen a Truckster with the gas tank on the right side of the chassis behind the cab, and kind of opposite where my tank is located.

The gas tank on mine is on the driver's side just behind the cab and it has two outlets, one at the bottom to connect to the fuel pump and one at the top that's actually a return for the excess fuel coming back from the bypass filter just before the carburetor. The original fuel pumps on the OMC engines needed the bypass filter to control the fuel pressure to the carburetor. The only other openings in the tank are the fill port and a hole in the front side where the fuel gauge sender gets installed. I gave up trying to find an original fuel pump and installed an electric fuel pump on the side of the chassis and just forward of the fuel tank outlet port. It is self regulating for fuel pressure, so the bypass filter isn't needed any more. The fuel line goes direct from the fuel pump to the carburetor, and my 22 hp OMC starts on the first revolution every time after the first cold start in the morning when a little choke is needed. I also wait a few seconds after turning on the ignition switch to let the fuel pump build pressure before hitting the starter position. With a little choking it will almost always start on the second or third revolution, which I think is pretty good for a true cold start in the morning. I push the choke gradually off as the motor idles and warms up. Then I almost never need the choke the rest of the day.

I first tried to find a replacement gas tank for my Truckster, but my efforts proved fruitless. My tank had a 1/4" thick layer of rust caked in the bottom, as the fuel cap leaked water into it, probably a little every time that it rained over the 12+ years that it sat untouched. It was a mess inside, but it didn't have any rust through pin holes. On the recommendation of a friend, I bought a gas tank re-lining kit from KBS Coatings. (they sell through Amazon or direct). The kit contains a strong detergent, an etching solution, and a kind-of epoxy-like paint. I spent a total of a couple of hours time spread out over about a week using this kit and a hand full of 1/2" blue stone gravel added to the tank during the cleaning process, and then an impact air hammer on low air pressure to shake the tank to get the gravel to chip away at the rust cake in the bottom of the tank. Once the cake broke up and and removed, the etching solution was added and the tank rotated slowly to coat the entire inside. After a good rinsing and 24 hour drying time with the tank drained as much as possible and then left in the hot Sun with all of the vents open, I closed up all of the openings and added the coating material. Again the tank was rotated in all directions to coat the entire inside of the tank. I then dumped as much of the excess material out as possible and ran an oversize pipe cleaner through the two fuel ports to clean the excess material out of them. I also cleaned off any leakage from the outside of the tank and then left it with all ports open to dry. The next day I painted the outside of the tank with black Rustoleum paint and let it dry. Then I re-installed the tank, fuel level sender, hooked up the fuel lines and installed a new fuel cap. They say that it isn't necessary to remove all of the rust as long as their coating can penetrate and cover it, but I took extra time to get the rust cake out as much as I could anyway. Their coating will actually seal pin holes, even larger ones, if you can put some duct tape over them when adding the sealing coat inside the tank. Then when it's dry you can peel the duct tape back off and the coating will have sealed the holes. A coat of black paint outside and it's as good as new with no welding required.

That was several years ago and I can still look down through the tank opening and the gasoline in the tank and still see a clean blue-gray coating on the whole inside of the tank with no evidence of rust inside it at all. It's actually better than a new tank now. It took some effort to clean and reline the tank, but it was so successful that I have refurbished two other small fuel tanks since then with the same success.

I would like to see some photos of your Truckster and this strange fuel tank. Can you post a few photos? To do it your photos need to be on your hard drive. Then open this forum and create a short note. Before clicking on the "Post Quick Reply" button click on "Go Advanced". You will then find at the bottom of the page a small box called "Attach Files". In it click on "Manage Attachments". This opens a pop-up windo where you can select "Choose File"
Clicking on it lets you find the photo in your hard drive directory that you want to upload and post in your note. You can then select and click on the second "Choose File" and pick another photo from your hard drive. Repeat this until you have selected all of the photos that you want to upload. Each file name that will be uploaded should show next the the "Choose File" buttons.
When you have all of the photos selected, click on the "Upload" cutton on the right of the window.

Your photos should then upload and appear attached to the bottom of your short note. That's all there is to it. I think this forum requires that you post a number of times before it will allow you to post links to photos or websites on the internet, but you should be able to post your own photos from your computer hard drive now.

Charley

[1987truckster]

Ok, here's a picture of the fuel tank that I marked up. I tried attaching it, let's see if that works.

[1987truckster]

There are 2 outlets on either side of the filling neck that I marked in red. I assume one is gas supply and the other is the return for the bypass fuel filter. Then there are 3 on top that I marked in green, those are the ones I'm confused by. Each attaches to fuel lines, but I haven't traced the lines yet.
Lastly, on the far, flat side of the tank is a plate with some bolds and wires, this is the fuel level gauge, right? Can I unbolt this to get a better picture of the interior and better decide whether or not I should reseal with KBS?
Thanks for all the help, guys.

[1987truckster]

And it's a three wheeled truckster, model 898454-87

[1987truckster]

If this helps, the 3 metal outlets coming out of the top are made of copper (I snapped one off trying to get the stiff hose off it), so I'm wondering if it's after market.

[Turfspray]

I believe the 454 model was an on road police vehicle. Those fittings may have been for the emissions system. Not important.

[1987truckster]

I think it was the police model, it has the paint job to make me think so. Would it be safe to crimp those upper outputs? And where do those hoses even go?