Can you solder, a alloy tank

[mick25]

A mate of mine has a fuel leak on the seam of his alloy fuel tank off his husky, can it be soldered up,or does it have to welded,ive done copper and brass soldering before no worries but havet herd of any one doing alloy ,any help would be great

[oldfart]

Solder is made up of tin & lead  of which none will adhere to Alloy

[Lozza]

I solder aluminium to copper every day. I would try heating it up rubbing with steryne and seeing if 60/40 solder stuck(it should if clean and warm enough. Then taking a leather pad soaked in styrene and wiping the excess solder off. Old school panel beaters would know how to do this maybe google 'lead wiping'

[lc4]

You can get solder to suit aluminium.

[oldfart]

Tallow is used in lead wiping 

[LWC82PE]

http://durafix.com/
http://www.durafix.com.au/index.php
http://www.durafix.co.nz/index.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWxYK3VFysw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijW310xvp4

[crs-and-rms]

hey lozza where can you get styrene from i use to do lead wiping when i worked for telstra  .before heat shrink became the norm would love to find some its the best for any soldering

[GMC]

It may be able to be soldered but why would you bother.
You will find "aluminium alloy" hard to solder at the best of times but with fuel coming out of the split will make it even harder for the solder to take. The remnants of fuel residue in the cracks will often upset the weld but at least you can burn it out when welding.
Soldering would just be an exercise in futility, have you tried to find a local TIG welder to have a look at it?

[Lozza]

Find someone who works for telstra...........or leadlight supplies shops

[crs-and-rms]

thanks lozza i will try a lead lighting store

[firko]

Don't do it. Just find a competent alloy tig welder and do it properly. Soldering is, at best, a temporary measure and unless it's done by one of those old world craftsmen it's likely to go pearshape and ruin the tank. Soldering is so....yesterday and it's surprising seeing Lozza sing its praises considering he's such a flag waver for "new tech"  current technology.

[Lozza]

I was simply answering the question...............

[wmc83]

Yeah dont try to solder it solder wont even stick to zincalume coatings because of the aluminium content. You can braze aluminium but its bloody hard to do (I did it years ago at TAFE after lots of practice) it sounds like you need to get it welded.

[mick25]

Thanks for all the tips guys ,may be the go just get it welded  i will let my mate know

[EML]

In desparation, at track side, I use stuff called ''kneadit'' comes in a clear cylinder and you rub it together and then spread it on. It's fuel and oil proof and sets as hard as.
I used it on an adventure ride a couple years back on the engine case of the Super Tenere and its still as good as new.