How to remove the gas tank

[naughtyG]

It doesn't *have* to come off, but yea it's a helluva lot easier if it's off!!

I did mine and I won't bother leaving the wheel on when I fit my 21L tank to the 2000 Max when it eventually gets here.

 

[AMechEng]

With a 180 on the wheel, I HAS to come off.

 

[V-Pilot]

:ummm:JEEEEEESSSSSSUS!!!!! wish me luck on mt 96.Reasonably bright, good with a wrench, but easily frustrated................ Pilot, not a mechanic.

 

[[email protected]]

Check the how to section. Gas tank removal is covered.
For the little amount of work it takes to remove the rear wheel and swingarm, I choose that route. It doesn't take long and it makes pulling the tank so much easier. Plus, you get a chance to clean everything up.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2

 

[marsmax85]

I will be tackling this job pretty soon along with a mile long lists of haves and needs that friggen little hairy monkey talked me into buying ..

 

[Docwade]

Thank you for the write up. I have a 93 that I have to swap tanks on.

 

[Fire-medic]

I'm going to add some things that worked for me, recently. A bit more disassembly but it made it easier for me.

If you have aftermarket canisters for the exhaust, you can access the bottom better. If you have the OEM resonator/megaphone exhaust, I think you'll need to pull the gas tank. It's not hard, I did one yesterday, following Buster's instructions, but decided to make it easier on myself by removing the rear wheel, the rear brake caliper, and moving the caliper mounting bracket out of the way. That took an extra 20 minutes, perhaps, and made it much-easier to articulate the gas tank out of the frame.

This allowed me much-easier access to the screw at the bottom of the plastic rear fender splash guard, you need that off to give yourself room to rotate the gas tank clockwise once the left rear footpeg mount is removed. I also removed the top left rear shock mount, but just backed-off the bottom nut, I removed the top shock eye from the frame, and rotated the shock, still attached at the bottom, backwards to give me the additional room to move the loose tank out of the frame.

On reassembly, I found it easiest to first locate the frame member that attaches under the seat, on-which the rear footpeg bracket is mounted, before attempting to fasten the three 10 mm machine screws holding the footpeg aluminum mount to the frame. Buster mentions about making sure the top footpeg mount is shiny-clean, as this serves as the ground on early bikes. Use some dielectric grease there, to retard corrosion, and a lessening of your regulator/rectifier ground. Later R/R's use a separate ground.

 

[yoshimasters]

I purchased a 2001 vmax this year that had many issues. One of them being a very rusty gas tank. I am not a mechanic; but after reading this forum I felt I could swap the tank. Since this forum helped I thought I would post what I did. This Vmax has a Kerker exhaust that may have made this easier then if I had the stock exhaust. I was able to replace the tank without removing rear tire.

I opted to purchase a new tank, fuel filter, fuel sensor, screws & washers for the sensor.

Part#'s

Tank - 1FK-24110-10-33
Fuel sensor - 1FK-85752-02
Fuel Sensor gasket - 42X-85753-00
Screws & washers - 90202-05187, 90149-06011
Fuel filter - 1FK-24560-10

All ordered from Partzilla: OEM Motorcycle Parts, ATV Parts, Marine Parts

If standing in front of the bike looking at the headlight . . . I removed these parts from the right hand side (left hand side if sitting on the bike)

Removed, seat, battery, side panel, passenger foot peg, rear shock & support bar. (see pic)

On top of the tank I removed the fuel cap and removed the rubber boot.

Unbolted the two bolts on both sides of the gas cap that hold the tank to the frame. (see pic)

On the other side of the bike I removed the Vmax cover to disconnect the fuel sensor. (see Pic)

Disconnected the fuel filter and lines.

Now the challenging part . . . The little screw that holds the mud flap to the lower part of the fuel tank. I decided to drop the rear fender to get better access. I tried with a small Phillips head in the end of a ratcheting wrench but could not get a good grab on it. What worked for me was super simple. I used a channel lock pillars from under the bike to get a good bite on the screw head. It came loose and removed easily. (see Pics)

Worked the mud flap out to give as much room to move the tank.

Used a long heavy duty screw driver, carefully to push/wiggle the tank back towards the rear tire. This unseated the rubber boot on the front of the tank by the battery box.

At this point the tank was fully loose. I pulled the rubber boot so it did not get damaged while working the tank out. (see Pic)

Since I had the rear shock loose I tied a rope the a rafter and the back of the bike to raise up the rear as much as possible for better frame/tank spacing on the right side of the bike.

I was able to turn the tank counter clockwise from looking at the top slightly and then tilted back towards the tire to wiggled out the right side of the bike. With the battery removed, It gave a bit more room to allow the front bracket to turn.

Prepped new tank (installed sensor and gasket, etc) and tested for leaks (before I started removal of old tank)

Putting in the new tank was super simple and it slid right in. Reconnected everything.

Also since this was a rust issues I drained the floats in the carbs, added fuel to the tank, cycled the key a few times to prime the system, started and drained them two more times. I got small specs of rust from the first drain but none after that. I performed a carb blowout as well.

Went for a ride and the bike is performing great!

Hope this helps someone else.

I uploaded some pictures for reference

 

[tvmax]

Does the stock muffler assembly have to be removed to remove the tank?

 

[one2dmax]

I don't think so? Been awhile since I took one out of a complete assembled bike but I think just remove the wheel/tire or get it way off the ground so the arm and wheel can hang down with the shocks unhooked.

 

[CaptainKyle]

Does the stock muffler assembly have to be removed to remove the tank?

No

 

[tvmax]

Thanks guys. I remember when I put the muffler on before and it was not the easiest thing.

 

[maleko89]

Inner fender needs to come off, just one screw for that. Then remove the left side removable frame near the passenger peg. It's all pretty straightforward and pretty well documented in the Clymer manual.

Mark