Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Wayne 60 Removal

After a couple of polite purchase offers that were politely declined, a distant sweet old lady neighbor called and said, “Call me if you still want that “oil” pump”.
It’s still plugged in and connected to the underground tank. I want to make the spot safe after I figure out how to disconnect it. Any concerns with methods for capping off the tank or am I over thinking it? I don’t want to leave her with any issues.

you definitely want too cap it off for safety reasons,

most likely still fumes in the tank .. ...

Hey BTL that is a nice pump. There is a lot of info on this site on removing pumps from their perch. Just use the custom search bar above on the top of the web page and you'll find multiple threads on managing the task. In my short time here I've seen two threads on it. It reminds me of dearly departed DB who always recommended heat and beer as part of the process for stuck metal bits.😜
Also Gas Pump Rob has a few videos on pumps on YouTube including whether to leave the guts in or not. Hint he like his guts and he likes them running.
Good luck and very nice first pump. And a nice seller too obviously.

I believe the federal government required these tanks be removed, this was around 1998.

A quick story. Around 1998 I knew where there was two M&S 80, still attached to the tank or tanks. I happened to be driving by this day and saw the gas pumps had about ten people around them. I pulled in and asked what was going on. I was told they were removing the pumps and tanks. I asked who all the people (wearing suits) were. He said those two were federal, those two were state, those two were county, all watching the tanks come out. Their main interest was, had the tanks ever leaked, and were they leaking now. I watched for awhile and asked what they were going to do with the pumps, after a short discussion, they were loaded in my truck. I asked one last question, how much was this costing to remove the pumps and tanks, he said around $10.000.

A second quick story. Very near my home here in St. Louis County, the QT Oil Co. purchased a piece of property. A building sat on the property. After the building was removed they started to dig down to put the tanks in. All they found was the entire piece of property was gasoline contaminated. It just so happened that next to the property was a garage for a taxi company. Many years before they had installed a tank and a pump to refill their cabs. There was so much contaminated dirt they had to go down almost 20 feet removing all the dirt.

Be careful about what you are getting yourself in.

Jack Sim

Many of the pumps I got in the '90s were farmers concerned about having to dig up their tanks if they got caught. Nothing says you got an underground tank like a gas pump sitting there. I'd cap it off best you can, not a whole lot you can promise beyond that.

The first thing to see is that the power is SHUT OFF. Had that happen one time where the owner thought it was and low and behold the thing sparked on me when I cut the wire. BIG PROBLEM, luckily I had not disconnected the actual gas line yet.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. My biggest concern is not knowing what I’d be getting into. Seems straightforward on the surface, but that is usually how I get myself into trouble. I’ll evaluate it more today.

Take a four foot pipe wrench and a small sledge hammer with you to knock the union nut loose that attaches to the pipe going to the tank. A chisel might also come in handy to break away concrete to the bolts on the base. Be careful around the base, it's easy to break. It's not as much fun as a few beers to finish the job though.

Great idea Brady. I've removed a few pumps and I always end up putting a 3 or 4 foot pipe on the end of my pipe wrench. Also bring a regular pipe wrench (with teeth) and a flat pipe wrench for the nut. You may want to bring two 3' pipes. One for each wrench. After you remove it, run up to the hardware store and buy and install a cap on the ground pipe. Especially since she was nice enough to sell it to you.

you might take along a can of spray solve or WD 40 .. ...

As I begin to research a little more about this pump, it clearly has a Wayne 866 ID tag. In it’s current computer face configuration, is it likely that is was converted to a computer? The face plates are Tokheim. Was it a practice to change clock face pumps to computers in the day?

Here are some pictures of the 60 that are on my website: http://petrolianacollectibles.com/wayyne%2060-2.htm

Jack Sim

Thanks for the resource.

I forgot to mention that I always took a can of wasp/hornet spray with me when buying a pump that was still hooked up. Good luck! Brady

You got this pump home yet?!