Gas tanks!!!

GoldenMotor.com

Cylon

Member
Jun 26, 2015
346
9
18
Maine
Hey all I have another issue with my motobike, for the 4th time I have a gas leak from the tank, last leak was coming from a stud that completely fractured from the tank. One before that started leaking from the weld on the petcock, on the gas tank its self. Third one started to leak from the studs so I JB welded it, didn't work. The most recent leak was my fault. I have a pretty built up bike and stupidly I decided to try to take a rotary at 41 mph according to my GPS and the bike slid out from under me and got stuck under someones truck. Now my 4TH tank is leaking AGAIN!! Can someone please, please link me to a better tank. I've spent over $80.00 on gas tanks alone. I'm willing to spend that much on a single tank if I can avoid having to replace and 5th, 6th or 7th one.
 

Davezilla

New Member
Mar 15, 2014
2,705
10
0
San Antonio Texas
Check ebay for small motorcycle tanks or moped tanks, you'll need to make some brackets for them to fit, but won't have that problem with the studs pulling and causing leaks.
One nice tank that's fairly decently priced is the Suzuki JR50 tank, it's small narrow, and holds about a gallon of fuel, these can be had for between $35 and $75 depending on condition and the newer on es are plastic. The older steel tanks are really nice as well.

The 80's moped tanks work really well too, but can be quite pricy for a good one.
 

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
4,032
158
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USA
I have had customers that break their tanks a lot (usually same ones that rip out motor mount studs), after while, they usually figure it out and stop doing that. Somewhere on the board here, I've listed instructions for repairing leaking tanks so they won't fail again.
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Broken/leaking studs are usually caused by over tightening them. If the tank is slipping on the top tube there are many suggestions here for mounting a tank and not over tightening the fasteners.

Use the 'Search' and type in "mounting fuel tank". You'll see lots of advice.
Of course none it, or a better tank will help when your bike gets run over by a truck :)

Tom
 

Tony01

Well-Known Member
Nov 28, 2012
1,730
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sf bay area
My bike has been dropped, hit, low sided at low speed, and no probs. sounds like your mounting needs work. I use a 1/4" thick sheet of rubber between tank and frame. It's bolted but not super tight; I can rotate it on the top tube with minimal effort. But it will "give" in a mishap.
 

Cylon

Member
Jun 26, 2015
346
9
18
Maine
My bike has been dropped, hit, low sided at low speed, and no probs. sounds like your mounting needs work. I use a 1/4" thick sheet of rubber between tank and frame. It's bolted but not super tight; I can rotate it on the top tube with minimal effort. But it will "give" in a mishap.
I did use about 3 layers of tire inter tube superglued together. I had it loose before but the tank kept going completely sideways when I would ride at speed. I guess I'll look for the sweet spot. I think the main problem would be my top tube is curved so the tank sits on one point. I'm going to add a lot thicker rubber between the studs so it sits directly on those two spots.
 

Davezilla

New Member
Mar 15, 2014
2,705
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San Antonio Texas
Very Nice Tank... And the price is really good too... I would prefer something more in the 2 to 3 liter range just for appearance reasons, but with 5 liters of fuel you can go a really long way between fill ups, The nice thing about this one tho is even tho it's a 5 liter, it's not too tall or wide like most other large bicycle tanks... I'm gonna bookmark this one too as I could see myself putting this on one of my future builds.
 

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
4,032
158
63
USA
yes, for curved mounts, only build up right at mount points (the tank will NOT bend to meet the curve)
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
You could have gone to an automotive glass shop and scrounged a foot of 'glass seating tape' and it would work just as well. This product is used for setting auto glass in the door channels. It becomes sticky when wetted with a solvent like WD-40 then dries and holds two parts together.

I short strip of thick double sided tape will also suffice. But, since you've already ordered the stuff you might want to report here how well it works. Good luck.

Tom
 

Tony01

Well-Known Member
Nov 28, 2012
1,730
1,722
113
sf bay area
I also have a curved top bar and I put 1/4" rubber between the studs but not in the middle. Use common sense when tightening. The inner tube rubber is way too soft for this! Rubber sheet 1/4" is much less compressible and costs only $2 at the hardware store. I would cancel your order if you still can. Of two orders I cancelled recently, one got mailed anyway! :)
 

Davezilla

New Member
Mar 15, 2014
2,705
10
0
San Antonio Texas
Looks like something you could make yourself next time out of some L brackets and zip ties, I can't tell from the pictures if the L brackets are made of plastic or metal, but either way, they should work.... but yeah, come back in and report how it works once you get it...
 

Cylon

Member
Jun 26, 2015
346
9
18
Maine
Looks like something you could make yourself next time out of some L brackets and zip ties, I can't tell from the pictures if the L brackets are made of plastic or metal, but either way, they should work.... but yeah, come back in and report how it works once you get it...
Plastic and will do, I was going to consider making it but for only ten bucks I don't mind supporting someones elses idea. If it does work I will copy their design and find out what kind of plastic material they used.