1981 GS750E fuel tank rubber cushions

[eil]

Hi all,

The fuel tank on my new-to-me GS750E fits rather poorly. Fully bolted down, it still rocks quite a bit from side to side. I was perusing the parts fiche tonight and identified part of my problem:



The front "pucks" on mine, although a little hard, still seem to fit the tank snugly. As do the two rubber bushing things on the mounting bolt. However, I'm missing part #10 (the flat cushion that sits on the frame near the rear of the tank).

But I'm curious about part #9. I don't have one (or any) of these and the fiche sites show them as NLA. I'm not clear exactly where on the frame they should go (front or rear) or how many of them there are, or where to buy them. (EDIT: I guess the part number is 44542-49200)

Advice welcome!

[Steve]

There is only one of those cushions on your bike. It straddles the top frame tube.

Although your front pucks might fit snugly into the pockets on the tank, how snug are they on the pegs on the frame?
Those holes are usually a bit enlarged, requiring adhesive of some sort to keep them in place.

.

[eil]

Thanks, Steve, that helps with the location. The front pucks seem to sit okay on their pegs.

I suppose I could probably make do with water pipe insulation or something similar. But I have no idea what the outer diameter should be. Trial and error, probably.

It occurs to me that I have old inner tubes that I can cut up and hack something out of.

[Steve]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think that piece was there primarily to keep the walls of the tank from vibrating and making noise, not really for support.

You have the pucks at the front and the pad at the rear, as well as the bolt that keeps the tank in place so all the rubber bits actually support it.

.

[eil]

Yeah, it's not going to fall off or anything... it's just a little worrisome how much it can rock back and forth. A couple inches at least. By comparison my 850GL tank stays put. You can rock it a tiny bit, but otherwise it sits tight against the rubber cushions.

I'll tinker with it over the winter to see what I can come up with. Maybe the rear pad will eliminate it.

[Steve]

Any side-to-side rocking will be mainly prevented by the pucks at the front and the two bolts at the rear, if you have two bolts.
Otherwise, it's just the pucks at the front.

.

[Guest]

I installed new rubber on mine when I did the rebuild. Just the two pucks up front, the flat one on the frame and the mounting bolt/rubber on the back, never had #9 ever. Even with the new stuff the tanks can rock just a bit from side to side. Nothing to worry about though.