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Are new tanks available from Harley?

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CoreyDSFA

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#5 ·
Fuel Tank or Fuel Tank Cover? Either way, both are not available to order H-D anymore, unless like mentioned, some dealer has one sitting on the shelf.
 
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CoreyDSFA

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#7 ·
Tank swelling is common tale on our bikes. You are part of the club. :ROFLMAO:
 
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Phaedrus

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#8 ·
Buying a new tank is no guarantee of fixing the swelling problem.

But if you go that route, you'll need new gaskets too, to transfer over your filler and bottom panel. And you might as well replace fuel pump filters.
 
S

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#9 ·
But before you commit to all that, get the bike home & take the cover off. You will notice the tank cover is intended to clip down on to the tank at the rear with a couple of small tabs which are designed to slot into moulded recesses in the tank material. My tank wasn't swollen but my tabs were slightly high & thus slightly proud of their intended recesses on both sides. No amount of heaving & pushing down on the the tank cover would make the tabs locate properly, so after consulting through the relevant posts here, I just sliced the tabs off with a Stanley knife. The cover still sits fractionally high at the rear, like a few mm, but is back to design width. And anyhow, in 12 years of ownership, no one's ever suggested the whole thing doesn't look 100% stock. So you might consider the minor surgery option, a lot cheaper than forking out $500 you're never going to see again and which is also rolling the same dice, swelling wise.

J.
 
Derek

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2011 XR1200x
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#10 ·
thehangryrider said:
I'm not 100% sure but I think it has the swelling problem that I'm reading about. I just bought the bike and it's on a truck on it's way to me but I took a closer look at some pics from the seller and I'm guessing the tank is swollen.
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thehangryrider said:
I'm not 100% sure but I think it has the swelling problem that I'm reading about. I just bought the bike and it's on a truck on it's way to me but I took a closer look at some pics from the seller and I'm guessing the tank is swollen.
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Welcome to the club! LOL 😂
Well you’re just going to have to live with this. I have like everyone else the same problem. I bought another tank and went the extra mile and had it coated inside to prevent the swelling. Did not work. I have heard that taking off the tank and emptying it then letting it dry out is supposed to let the ethanol evaporate that causes this. I have not verified that with the tank that I have removed. The plastic used in construction of gas tanks by other motorcycle manufacturers like KTM, Ducati and Triumph has experienced this problem with some of their models as well.
By the way if you take the tank off you might want to check out the fuel filter and fuel level. It’s a good idea to replace both with assorted gaskets while you’re in this area. Some of us have had a fuel level light go on and not go out when you fill the tank up.
Every motorcycle has its own funny quirks, the XR has that one but it doesn’t stop it from being a great motorcycle which it is. By the way looks like you have the XR1200x. Looks like you have a nice bike.
Enjoy it and have fun. This is a great forum to learn, share, buy, and sell your stuff related to this bike. Have a good one. :)
 
H

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#11 ·
I can confirm that if the tank is off bike and aired out it will return back to normal, ie the swelling will go down.
I installed my alloy tank on the XR about 5 years ago and had the stock tank sitting on a shelf in the garage for that time. Over Christmas I removed the alloy tank for some repairs and re installed the stock tank for a few weeks and noticed the tank cover definitely clipped on and fitted better at the back were the clips are.

I don’t know how long it takes for the swelling to go down, could be months or years.
Just for reference I never used ethanol blended fuels.
If it was me I wouldn’t worry about the tank swelling as a new tank will do the same.
 
geno

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#12 ·
Shackman said:
But before you commit to all that, get the bike home & take the cover off. You will notice the tank cover is intended to clip down on to the tank at the rear with a couple of small tabs which are designed to slot into moulded recesses in the tank material. My tank wasn't swollen but my tabs were slightly high & thus slightly proud of their intended recesses on both sides. No amount of heaving & pushing down on the the tank cover would make the tabs locate properly, so after consulting through the relevant posts here, I just sliced the tabs off with a Stanley knife. The cover still sits fractionally high at the rear, like a few mm, but is back to design width. And anyhow, in 12 years of ownership, no one's ever suggested the whole thing doesn't look 100% stock. So you might consider the minor surgery option, a lot cheaper than forking out $500 you're never going to see again and which is also rolling the same dice, swelling wise.

J.
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I did the same on mine as Shackman. Worked a treat for me.

Automotive tire Grey Road surface Asphalt Wood


The cracks in the paint on the cover are from the tabs being forced outward from the tank expansion. If you cut the tabs off the cover, the cracks might disappear.
 
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