In 52 years I've never .............

[Big Dog]

................ not been able to get a fuel cap off until tonight!

Neighbor called up wanting a load of 2B for his driveway. Went out and fired up the dump and positioned it for loading. I knew the tractor need fueled so I took the cover off the hood and tried to take the fuel cap off, no go. It's one of those that sound like a ratchet when it gets tight. I tried pushing down and turning, holding up while turning, channel locks, WD40, and off course a few love taps .............. Nothing!

Ended up drilling two 1/8th inch holes a half inch from the center across from each other and first tried to screw two 1" long wood screws into them. They never reached the thread insert. Used 2" wood screw and a little elbow grease and they came out. The 2" screws only penetrated the insert about a 1/4". I think I burnt a gallon of diesel in the dump before I got the tractor out of the garage!

 

[bczoom]

Dang, I've never had that either on that type of cap. Now, the RTV is another story and I don't even try without having a strap wrench in hand.

 

[Doc]

Any idea what would cause that?
pressure build up in the tank or what? Strange, I've never had that issue either.

 

[California]

Wow. I would expect that a strap wrench plus a lot of downward pressure would do it, worst case.

Then maybe cutting the top (floating) half of the cap off, like is needed sometimes on an antifreeze jug etc.

Never heard of anything so tight it needed dowels.

Were you PO'd about something when you tightened the cap?

 

[Big Dog]

Wow. I would expect that a strap wrench plus a lot of downward pressure would do it, worst case.

Then maybe cutting the top (floating) half of the cap off, like is needed sometimes on an antifreeze jug etc.

Never heard of anything so tight it needed dowels.

Were you PO'd about something when you tightened the cap?

Now that I think about it, I think I did have the redass!