Heritage Softail, Fatboy and Springer models had the 4.2 gallon tanks. Softail, Softail Custom and FLSTN (Nostalgia/Special) had 5.2 gallon tanks.


For the record, the petcock location was moved rearward in 1995, at the same time the vacuum petcock first appeared.

 

I thought my tanks were original but I have put 4.7 gallons in them before after running for a while with the petcock in reserve position.

I wish could get 50 more miles out of a tank but I don't like the way the aftermarket 6 gallon tanks look. I do have some small plastic gas containers that fit perfect in my saddlebags but that's still not as convenient as having the main tank slightly bigger.

 

You can't run larger tanks with either the OEM windshield for that bike or the Memphis Shades windshield for your bike.

If you get a new quick release windshield from Harley then you can run bigger tanks.

 

Yep. I usually get 147 miles out of a tank. If I could get 200 before switching to reserve it would be a lot better, but it is hard to justify the cost of trying to get only an additional 50-60 miles out of a tank. The 6 gallon aftermarket tanks look like crap and remind me of a Honda VTX in a very bad way. They are ridiculously wide.

I have similar tank capacity issues with my Jeep. If I drive carefully I can get 267 miles out of it. Putting my foot in it reduces that substantially. It's hard to keep my foot out of it because 4.88 gears turning 35" tires is a lot of fun to drive both on and off road. On the street, I have smoked sports cars. Off-road, I have pulled tractors out of the mud.

 

Anyone know why the petcock was moved to the rear?

My `89 had the petcock at mid tank, easy to find, but I retired the OEM sheet metal a few years ago, and currently have tanks from the late `90s.

I`m still not used to the petcock being located so far to the rear, I`m still fumbling around when I need to switch to reserve...

 

my thought, since the rear position appeared along with the vacuum petcock, is that they moved the position for better tank draining. This was possible because, with the vacuum petcock, it was no longer necessary to reach down to turn the gas on and off.

Or not. At least that's the only reason I can think of.