So there I am, at the last petrol stop on a 1,500 mile round rip to Berlin, when the lock on the gas-cap breaks!

Luckily we were only 80 miles from home and I had a half tankful left, so I made it OK.

Next day I decide to try & get the cap off. No amount of fiddling with screwdrivers etc, would get the inner to engage with the outer threads. So, I decide it's time to activate the ***** of steel & grind/cut the top of the cap off to see if that would expose anything useful underneath.

Sure enough, there was the doodad lug & spring which was then engaged (see the pic) and it unscrewed easy as pie.

The standard cap is back on now!

Oh, and the top chromed cover is brass, so there were no sparks. Of course I didn't know that beforehand. I'd call that dumb luck!!

Hope this helps anyone who gets in a similar predicament.

Cheers!

Andy

'13 Softail Slim
'95 883 Sportstser
Hampshire
England

 

Thanks for the heads up. Your luck is way better than mine.

 

Thanks for the "to do" instructions.
This is the kind of information I search for when I'm in search of help.

I think another thing I take from this thread is unless there's a big gas theft problem don't install a locking gas cap.

 

I don't know if I would have used a grinder in a gas cap, locked or not. Just too scary to think about what might happen.

 

I'd rather be lucky than good any day!

 

A gas cap lock? Really?

 

I am not a trusting person.
When the wife and I go on a trip, I only stay at upscale motels. I reasoned that no one would mess with my bike at a better quality hotel.
Still, I got to thinking about someone putting something in my gas tank, so I bought a 'locking Harley gas cap'.

A month or so later, I read some reviews about people that had the Harley 'locking gas cap' having this very problem you speak of. So off mine came and on went the stock cap.

On my '14 Street Glide, I put the 'lock' on the fuel tank door.

 

I know this is an old thread, but my locking gas cap (same as yours in the OP) decided to crap out on me today. Luckily, it stopped working when I tried to screw it it back on after filling up (just kept spinning without tightening).

Do you know how to disassemble the cap without cutting it?

Thanks.

Cheers!

 

Will it re engage if you put the key in. I have one and if I leave the key in the open position, it will just spin. I pop it out and twist it by hand while setting the key right.

 

Does the mechanism need to be lubed with some Door-Ease or something similar?