The propane tank installed by SMB was very rusty and needs some serious attention. Any advice on what to do to restore the metal? half of the tank (the top side) has intact paint and the mid area has paint peeling and bubbling and the lower side (facing the ground) is all rust. Here are the options I'm considering, any recommendations or other suggestions?
1. Take everything down to bare metal, etch, prime and paint. (would it be dangerous to do this with a tank that is 3/4 full?)
2. Use rust converter on the rust, and light sand the intact paint then prime and paint.
Any suggestions on the best primer and paint? I want to use something that is super tough and will resist damage from rocks on dirt roads. It appears that the tank get's blasted pretty bad from sand, rock and road debris which is why it is in such bad condition. I'm considering installing a protective shield to protect the bottom of the tank since it gets blasted so badly.
Here is a picture of the tank.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dn24wPqD3HDpFCTQ8
For anyone looking to do this as well, here is how I removed the tank. Picture above will help explain some of the following steps.
1. sprayed the 2 attachment nuts/bolts at each end of the propane tank with anti-seize penetrating fluid to help loosen the bolts.
2. used a scrap piece of shelving that was about 3' long and 7.25" deep. I screwed 2 strips of wood on the edges of the shelf so that the propane tank would not roll off the shelf.
3. I attached the shelf to a floor jack using screw eyes on the bottom with paracord attaching the shelf to the jack.
4. used a breaker bar to crack the nuts on either end of the propane tank holding the propane tank to the frame. The bolts were rusty so it took some persuasion to get the loose.
5. disconnect the tank from the supply line running to the van appliances. I disconnected the fitting that screws into the tank shutoff valve. NOTE: this fitting is reverse threads!
6. removed the fitting that secures the gas supply line to the frame as it runs to the back of the van. This allowed more movement to disconnect the fitting in step 5 above.
7. position the jack with attached shelf under the propane tank and snug up so that it is supporting the tank.
8. remove the nuts and bolts that were cracked in step 4.
9. begin slowly lowering the tank a couple of inches. At this point you have to rotate the tank because there is an attached bracket under the valve area. You have to rotate the tank so that the valve is pointing up at a 45 degree angle instead of pointing parallel to the ground. This allows you to clear the van body. You may need 2 people to rotate the tank (one on each end).
10. begin slowly lowering the tank again making sure that it is clearing everything and not getting hung up.
11. roll the jack and tank carefully from under the van and you're done.
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