Lifting the tank on the Honda Blackbird

Lifting the tank

Maintenance on the Honda Blackbird can be made more difficult by access being hampered when you need to be under the tank, whether that's for air filter replacement, spark plugs or other maintenance.
There is a very simple solution so here's our top tip - (try to make sure you don't have a full tank of fuel, otherwise this is a very heavy job indeed)

Step 1: Remove the seat and locate the 2 bolts shown in the picture - remove them

remove these two bolts pictured

Step 2: Lift and remove the two metal bolt guides, leaving the rubber grommets in place

Step 3: Pull out the triangular shaped plastic, on the inside of which is a locating pin. There are one of these either side of the tank, these are located as indicated in this pictures

honda blackbird, indicating pin location

remove plastic locating pins from the side of tank

Step 4: Place one hand under the rear of the tank from where you removed the bolts. Lift gently and with the other hand on the front of the tank, slide the tank towards the rear of the motorcycle. This removes the locating lugs at the front of the tank from the frame. When released, lift the tank so the lugs now it now rests on top of the frame

front tank lugs now sitting on top of the frame

front tank lugs now sitting on top of the frame

Step 5: Now replace the bolts previously removed from the rear of the tank - this time without the metal guides
as shown in the picture, leave them loose to approximately 1 cm above the rubber grommets. This in effect now a hinge point for the tank

Notice how the bolts are loosely replaced to the rear of the tank

Notice how the bolts are loosely replaced to the rear of the tank

Step 6: You can now freely lift the front of the tank - being careful not to overstretch the breather and fuel pipes that are connected to the underside of the tank. Measure the distance of the gap that can be attained between the locating pins to the head of the frame where they came from.

Measuring the distance between the front of the tank and the lugs

Step 7: Cut a piece of wood - ensure you wood is strong enought for this task - we used 3 x 2, cut to length and then cut a V in the top to support the lugs. When in place the bottom end of the wood is rested on the frame.
Resting the tank on the wood

Don't forget, keep your newly created tool (the wood) handy for the next time!

When replacing the tank make sure you refit all bolts, guides and lugs correctly

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