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Anyway, I got a tank repair kit from my local auto parts house. It's made by Permatex and worked very well. However, when I moved the tank to one side, I noticed that 2 of the tank support bands were loose. The tank sits between two "C" shaped steel channels and three steel bands are screwed into the channel to support the tank. These bands also serve another purpose. Since the "C" channel is fairly thin steel, the bands prevent the "C" channel from bending and spreading away from the tank. This is what the screw looked like:
As you can see, it is a unique screw. It needs a low profile head because the tank actually sits on the screw.
This is what I noticed when the tank was empty. The band was bent down like the tank was still full.
Notice that there is a gap between the tank and the band on the top band. The lower band in the picture is flat against the tank because the screws are not broken.
When I slid the tank sideways, the middle band moved with the tank and I knew something was wrong.
There's no easy way to remove the tank, so you have to work with it in place. The easiest way to remove this broken screw is with a pair of vice grips. Clamp it on and screw it down and out of the band.
I didn't expect to be able to find those screws anywhere, but I found them at my local ACE Hardware store.
The screw is just slightly larger than the original. I blocked the water tank up as far as I could which gave me about 1 1/2 inches to work. I used an offset ratchet screwdriver to start the screws.
Once the drilling portion of the screw protruded through the channel, I grabbed it with the vice grips and continued screwing it into the channel. Once flush, I used the offset Phillips to snug it down just right. Since the screws were longer than original, I used my Dremel tool to cut off the excess screw and smoothed the end. I don't usually travel with a full water tank, but I hate to think what would happen if I did with two of the three bands loose! Just another thing to look out for!
