Has anyone removed their softail oil tank? Based on Mojotone's pics, it looks like he has. I'm finally getting around this winter to install the last piece of the chrome engine kit, the tranny top, and the oil tank/bag needs to come off. Since I need to do a 20K service and it looks like rain for the next week or so, I decided to go for it. So far what a PITA. I got the battery out last night, took off the rear fender extension so I can get to the rear of the tank. I got the rear electrical panel bolts off. Then the manual says to remove the 2 fuse block bracket bolts and move the fuse block aside. Yeah right. The fuse block obviously has a ton of wires going to it. One is a thick wire harness and then the ECM harness is in the way of moving the fuse block bracket aside too. There's even an electrical connector that I think goes to the rear fender lights that is attached to the fuse block bracket. This is looking like major surgery to me now.

So my question for you folks that have removed your oil tank, did you have to cut off all the zip ties on all these electrical harnesses in order to move the fuse block aside to allow you to remove the oil tank?

I'm beginning to understand why I hardly ever see the top tranny cover replaced with chrome for those that have installed a chrome engine kit. I thought replacing the rocker boxes with chrome was involved, heck that was fun, removing the oil tank is just plain boring.

 

I did cut all my wire ties and just moved everything out of the way to get the tank out of there. Removing the seat post bar makes it easier to get the tank out bit its not a must.

 

chrome-dome-dave

Thanks for the post. Your feedback gave me the confidence I needed to cut away. I only snipped 3 of the main wiring harness wire ties, which was enough to loosen up the harness so I could get the oil tank out. Time permitting, I'll clean up around the tranny and starter tonight and change out the tranny top with chrome. Getting the oil tank off is a heck of a job, but I can see it's good practice, since if the starter ever goes south, you'll need to remove the oil tank to get to the starter or solenoid. I didn't remove the seat post in order to get the oil tank out, but I can see that I'll need to take it off tonight to get to one of the tranny top bolts.

And of course the weather forecast has changed. Now it's supposed to be sunny through Sunday and the Shriner's toy run is this Saturday, but I doubt I'll have the bike back together by Saturday morning. Argh!

 

Yeah I changed mine out, it wasn't too bad a job. The only problem I had was reconnecting the oil drain line. Some reject engineer must have designed that POS. It only has about 3 hose clamps on the one line, and they have to be TIGHT or they will leak. It's also a bitch to get to.

 

No problem bud good luck.

 

Anyone pulled one out of an 84? I think I have to pull mine to replace my oil lines. I split one a while back and am just getting the time to do it this Sunday. Any advice would be helpful. Only one is bad but I figure if I'm changing one I may as well do the rest.

 

i took mine out last december to get it painted to match the rest of the bike(see pic) you can cut the zips if needed,i just cut and replaced them after the tank was back in.you should think about painting to match the rest of your bike while its out

 

Mine's chrome and I like it that way. Your's looks good painted to match, not sure mine would look as good.

 

I don't understand why the moco didn't paint them the same color as the bike in the first place, i lucked out my FXST is vivid black the way i wanted it, and it came color matched to the bike, but what if i wanted to get a different color. Just don't make no sense.

 

+1 on Moco should have matched the oil tank paint to the tin color scheme on the models that don't come with a chrome tank. My bike too is black, so I like my black tank. I especially like the way the chrome oil lines look running along he black tank.

I can't give any specific advice on pulling an oil tank on an '84, with mine being an '06, although there's still a lot of similarity between the two years. However, in general, for "me", this job has been APITA. I mean it ain't rocket science, but jeez, there's a lot of crap you have to remove. You have to spend a lot of time between the battery and the rear wheel up under the rear fender in order to get to the back tank bolts. With my bike being newer, I had several other electronic panel bolts to remove which required disconnecting more wires, etc. You know, it's the peeling of the onion thing. Sure the manual simply states to remove these 2 bolts, but they don't say you have to remove 4 other things in order to get to the 2 bolts. So before you know it, you land up with a table or floor covered in unrelated parts.

For sure, a bike lift to get the bike off the floor makes working in the confined area behind the oil tank and rear wheel easier. A drop light pointing up in this confined area is helpful too so you can see what the heck you're doing. I had considered removing the rear wheel to make working in this dark confined area easier, but I didn't.

As a side note, I tell ya, between the PITA to adjust the pre-load on the Softail shocks and the way you have to remove the dang oil bag anytime you need to work on the starter, tranny or pull the motor, I'm beginning to wonder if I would have be happier with a Dyna from an "ease" of maintenance standpoint?