I’m in a bind, long story short I have my tank off of my ‘19 Street Glide, dropped a short piece of hose in the tank like a moron, and I can’t get it out. I’ve had the tank upside down, shook it around and I can hear it but I can’t get it to come out. First off, is it possible to get the top plate off without the special tool, and second, if I do will it allow me enough room to see down in there and find the damn hose I dropped in it and maybe get a long pair of needle nose in there ? Thanks for any help, like I said

 

That special tool is pretty cheap, but you don't need it to remove that ring holding the top plate in the tank. Some will use a small piece of a hard wood, butt it up against one of the tabs/ears of that ring, then tap it in a counter clockwise direction. It will eventually become loose enough to turn by hand.

Once that ring is off, that top plate is attached to the fuel pump, filter, and fuel lever sending unit.... To remove the top plate can be tricky, and you need to twist, turn and finagle the internal parts out through that hole. You may want to do a search for how to do it. Some years are trickier to remove than others. I haven't done it in awhile, can't remember off the top of my head how I did it, and mine was an older model bagger... Once that top plate and all the attached stuff is out of the tank, you will have a much better view and access into the tank...

So you know what you're getting into, here's a picture of that top plate assembly that fits your model/year:

 

If you get the top plate off you can definitely get your hand in and around in there to find it.

If you cover/protect your tank really good, you can use a socket extension or wooden dowel and a rubber mallet to tap and turn the retaining ring without much effort... just be careful.
From there you can carefully pull the whole assembly up and start taking off hoses etc to get it fully out. Go slow.

EDIT: More informative post above.

 

I echo the sentiment that you should invest in the $30 for the tool. You'll find a bunch of people using hammers and hacked up tools (same with ignition tumblers). The amount of avoidable frustration, damage and buffoonery is entertaining. Just get the tool, its cheap and makes your life easy!

 

Shop vac and a piece of tigon tubing or garden hose taped to the end.

 

Got it guys…I watched a YouTube vid, real easy just used a brass drift and hammer and a couple whacks and it loosened right up. That was actually the easy part, I spent the next couple hours trying to fish the damn little hose out that I dropped. Still not a lot of room with the ring off, the rest of the unit pulled up and out just enough to get my long needle nose in there, but it was so cramped that I couldn’t open the jaws of the pliers enough to get a grip on the hose. Finally got it though, what a bitch!

Thanks for the quick feedback , I will definitely invest in one. This was a sort of emergency type situation and I was trying to get it off today.

 

 

That Amazon one is what I have.

 

I really hope you are not talking about using a shop vac anywhere near gasoline. You realize two things. One is the static electricity that the air moving through the shop vac hose generates! Secondly, the open motor on the top of most of them that contain the arcing brushes! Sorry, but if this is what you were inferring, that is just plain stupid.

 

I’m sure he was assuming the tank was empty of gas, which it was, although I guess it would only take a drop to cause a problem with a shop vac. I actually had a better (well, safer) idea which was to use my mity-vac brake bleeding tool and piece of hose to suck it out, I think it would’ve worked had I tried it, but the long needle nose got the job done eventually. Thanks to all for the help …