86 soverign pulling black water tank

[joel]

I have a 86 31 center bath . Has anyone pulled the black tank .It looks to me like i need to pull the pan and then I will have access to the tank. I need to pull it because the fresh water feed to the toilet leaked and the insulation between the tank and floor is soaked and I need to get it out before the stuff starts to mildew. We use the trailor at least 1 to 2 weeks a month??????

[joel]

Well I started this am and getting the tankk out was easier than I expected.Hard to get pictures but will describe.
Before you start gather that you will need to elevate the back of the trailor.It needs to be at least high enough to slide under the tank pan and loosen the bolts.
1 Pull toilet first. 2- pull toilet flange[8 screws hold it to floor] .It also threads onto top of tank and must be taken off. 3- loosen vent stack from tank,use a thin screwdriver to make sure it is loose from tank.4-you have to loosen the brackets that hold the valve handles so they come down with the tanks. 5-Check under the tank cover for any gas lines that run to the hot water heaterand be sure they are clear. 6- start puling the bolts and leave at least one on each side and one in the middle to keep the cover from falling on you. Now is when you needanother pair of hands. 7-support the cover with blocks and pull the rest of the bolts.8- seperate the caulk around the edges andit will start to come down.As it does the tanks will come a short way down with the pan.Loosen all wires and plumbing.Slide the pan to the rear and lower it to the ground.Thats where I got to today.

[fastrob]

I used a floor jack with a wooden jig to support the tank assembly during lowering and replacement.

Good luck,
R

[joel]

During the removal of the pan I broke 4 bolts off in the frame.I've been putting off buying a Rt angle drill for a while ,but I can't any more.I could probably get the trailor up enough to drill them out but a rt angle drill will be a lot easier.I found a millwaulkie at lowes for 139.00 and a chicago tool at harbor freight in memphis for 29.00 marked down from 59.00.For the few amounts of times I will use it The 20 bucks I spend driving to memphis tn. will probably be worth it.Has any one used harbor frieght tools before and if so how do they hold up.Thanks

[lewster]

Harbor Freight sells cheap Chinese knock-offs of otherwise quality built tools. They are OK if you are buying them for just a few uses. I would not depend on them much after that. They do honor the warranty, but it doesn't do much good unless you are sort of 'around the corner' from a store.

I bought a hot air plastic welder from them for $29.95 that was an exact dupe of a $399 US unit. It basically works, but needed to have a part replaced on first use. Since they are a long distance from me, it was cheaper to replace the bad regulator with a US made one for $50. The welder now works great....just like the expensive one, just less expensive!!!

I would go for it if you will only use it once-in-a-while. You can't go wrong for $20!

[joel]

I finally finished the job.I put a jack on each side of the pan and slowly moved it up.I made sure all the insulation stayed in place as I did .Where the bolts were broken off i just moved 1 inch to the side and drilled a 19/64 hole and tapped with a 5/16 tap . Instead of a rt angle drill I found a 6IN drill bit and was able to drill 3/16 holes and then put in 1/4 in self drilling screws. I used 2 since they were smaller then the 5/16 bolts that they replaced. All thats left is to caulk and put the toilet back on.