Recommend method for cleaning fuel tank

[Larryg]

I'm now in the process of replacing both of the tanks on my 85K10. About 8 years ago I did one of the cheepies from Rock Auto and when I pulled it last week to do the sending unit which had failed it was full of rust and the gallon or so of fuel still in it looked like river mud. Fortunately I had not been using that tank for few months. Especially glad since I just installed a Holley Sniper on the truck and what was in that tank would have certainly missed up the fuel pump and filters. I bit the bullet and ordered a set of the plastic (polyethylene) tanks from Fuel Tank Depot in Florida. They were just about the same price as quality metal ones, but they will last forever. I've not received them yet so hopefully I won't be disappointed.

 

[shiftpro]

I have cleaned rusty motorcycle tanks with sand blasting. It took a lot of rinsing to get the sand out. Compressed air to dry it out followed by WD40. My first tank of gas was 50.1 premix from my dirt bike. It was all I ahd and I thought the oil in suspension could only help prevent any new rust. That bike is long gone from my hands but it's still used today with the same tank.

 

[Soundmound]

You have to ask yourself what is your time truly worth? Say you earn $40 an hour in your trade and it will take you 6 hours to remove, clean, refinish and reinstall a tank not including dwell time between processes. Is that worth a minimum $240 of your time and not including materials mind you, when a new tank is like $100+/- delivered from Spectra? It makes total sense to restore something like an old motorcycle tank that is hard to procure and would probably need paint refinishing, but an under truck tank it just doesn't add up. This is why I decided to buy a new set of Canadian produced Spectra tanks instead of laboring over 38 year old tin.

 

[CheemsK1500]

Update: Thanks everyone for the suggestions, but after examining the tanks, I realized that they were to far gone to be saved by a simple cleaning and both were leaking. I replaced both with Dorman brand tanks from rock auto.