I am in the process of taking the bike apart for some winter mods. I need to get to all the wire connections, so I am taking the tank off. The manual sort of explains that the tank needs to be drained by using the crossover fuel line. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to drain the split Dyna tank, and did you just put regular hose clamps on the new fuel line when you put it back together? Any advice as I work through this process would be greatly appreciated.

 

It is pretty simple to do it. First you will need a gas can that is big enough to hold the gas that is in your tank, ie two gallons of gas will not fit in a one gallon can. Get two pairs of vise grips or something that will clamp down on the cross over line at each end but be careful not to clamp down on the metal tank lines as you do not want to crush them. Cut the line near one of the vise grips or whatever clamping method you have used and place the fuel line in the gas can. Open the vise grip and drain the tank. Replace the fuel line and clamps during reassembly. You can pick up a new fuel line and hose clamps at any automotive store for a couple of bucks. You can also use a siphon to drain the tank and then remove the crossover line by cutting the clamps which will have to be replaced during reassembly. Both methods will work it just depends on which one you feel comfortable with. I have heard of a few other ways to do it as well such as using caps once the line is removed but that could get a little messy.

 

I just did this 2 days ago to install a tank lift and what bobnehoc described is exactly how I did it. I put a piece of cardboard around the line before I clamped it but there is no need to do that if you will be replacing the fuel line.

 

This might be a dumb question, but do each of the two sides of the tank have to be drained separately?

 

No you don't. It is a one piece tank. The crosover line is needed because of the tunnel in the tank that sits on top of the backbone. Just drain and remove it.

 

No they dont...once you cut the line - take off the clamp that is on the longer line and completely drain the tank. There might be a small amount left once you have done that but not enough to worry about

 

this post is not about draining...it's about reassembly. there is a guy on e-bay that sells a crossover quick disconnect. im not sure where i read it(probably on this forum...lol) but they mentioned this guy and his disconnect. you might wanna check it out. i am waiting for my wife to tell me where she hid my credit card so i can buy it....hahaha. it costs around 50 dollars and it's like a fitting you would use on air tools......you put this disconnect in the middle of the x-over hose and if you ever need to take the tank off again you don't need to drain the tank. you simply slide the collar back on the disconnect and it opens up....once open it stops the flow of fuel from the tank. like i said i have not used it yet so dont hate me if it dosen't work......but i can't see why it wouldn't. the seller is HERKOPRODUCTS and the ad is listed as-------Harly tank 5/16 fuel line crossover quick disconnect. Good luck....i hope this helps you in the future.

 

I checked out some of these and they are rather long (they look like they're about 2.5" - 3" from barb end to barb end), making the fit of them between the two sides of the tank a bit bulbous for the short distance. I like the idea, but would like to find something shorter, so as not to create a crossover line that has four 180 degree bends.

Does anyone have photos of these mounted?

 

easy fix is just take off one end then drain once of the bike (clamp hose in the middle and hold you finger over the pipe once removed) then lift off tank, if you have a length of hose handy put this on and into your fuel can afterwards and drain, its only fuel guys,

 

While those are good explanations of draining the tank, you do not need to remove the tank to get to the wiring. Just remove the bolts, get a couple towels and slide the tank back and up as much as the crossover will allow. Use the towels to protect the paint. Push the wiring slack up from under the seat as you gently pull it out of the neck. The wiring is all in one bundle coming up the spine. It splits out just before it emerges from the neck.