Been noodling around working on the spare SC gas tank today. The old sediment bowl was aluminum or some sort of alloy- and I had a really nice case of corrosion holding it all together.The previous owner had rounded off the bowl nut, so I never could get it to unscrew. I finally took a hacksaw and cut the sediment bowl away from the housing- so I'd have room to get a pipe wrench on it. Finally got the pipe wrench to take a bite, and the aluminum just twisted off completely- leaving the threaded part still inside the tank. Drilled out all the aluminum I could, and then managed to split it in two and pull the threads out with plyers. Even then... the corroded threads stayed behind in the female threads. Short story long- I needed a tap to chase the tank threads and get all the corroded aluminum out. Went to the hardware store, and found a brass fitting in the plumbing dept. that matched my other tractor exactly. Could somebody PLEASE tell me how something that measures around 5/8" or 11/16" is classified as a 3/8" pipe fitting??? The man at the hardware store informed me that pipe taps are not like my regular S.A.E. taps, either... so I bought a 3/8NPT tap for about $8. That was the GOOD part of the story- since it seems like every time I have to buy a "large" tap- they are about $24 bucks. Sorry for the rambling- but I was just wondering if somebody could explain why pipe fittings are different. By the way- I did check, and 3/8" is NOT the inside clear diameter, either. -Schotte
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