there are two bolts under the nose of the seat,take those out then disconect the fuel and breather lines from the petcock.then just pull it back and to the left it should slide off.
good luck

Before you start, turn fuel lever so the handle points forward to shut off the fuel flow.

Besides the fuel line and vacuum line, you must also take the spedometer cable (large sipiral covered) loose from the tansmission.  The only special thing here is that there is a small gasket where it mates to the transmission.  It is kind of like a water hose washer, but smaller.  This always pops out when you are not looking and can lead to oil leaks if you do not put it back in.  The key to putting the transmission cable back on is to 1) route it outside ther frame, 2) put the gasket back in, and 3) line up the cable end that has a keyway with the slot in the transmission housing.

Also, as you are removing the tank, you will find the fuel petcock wants to scrape the paint from the frame.  You can put tape on the frame to keep the scraping down.  This hitting of the frame by the petcock is why you slide the rear of the tank to the left when you initially remove the rear bolts and pull up on it.

After the petcock clears, you begin to move the tank up and reaward.  There are two rubber frame bumpers hidden towards the front of the tank that  you must get the tank off of.  The slots in the tank are open to the front, that is why you must move the tank to the rear.  Once it is clear of these bumpers you must lift straight up.

Do not forget that there is an electrical cable attached to the tank.  Once it is clear of the bumpers, hold the tank in one hand (helps if the fuel is nearly gone) and against your knee.  Use the other hand (or someone else) to unplug the single electrical connector.   This must be plugged back in of course when you reinstall.

Putting it back on is the reverse

1) plug in electrical connector
2) make sure rubber bumpers have not fallen off
3) place tank with downward mostion until bumpers are in front of the tanks slots
4) Slide tank forward and to the left so petclock slides by frame
5) Route speedo cable and attach (watch for washer)
6) Reinstall bolts into tank rear being careful not to pinch the small wire that runs on the left side of this area.
7) Reinstall vacuum hose and fuel hose
8) Turn petcock to on positiion (handle down)
9) Ride

You may want to add a small motorcycle fuel filter while you are at it to the fule line from the tank.

The whole process is not that bad, it only sounds like it.  You get the feel for it quickly.  My tank has been off 20 times now for carb adjust, oil leak fix, etc.

Clark

PerrydaSavage wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08:

I agree. I highly recommend removing your petc0ck. I did this when I rejetted and removing the tank without the petc0ck on was a breeze. Removing and reinstalling the petc0ck was very easy. If you leave it on you are almost guaranteed to scratch up the frame if you manage to get the tank off.

thanks for all the posts, had to use them to take the tank off for a wet spark plug.  Worked perfect!!

Another way to take care of the problem with the petc0ck is remove it when you take the tank off and then when you go to re-install the tank just get some hose and relocate it away from the tank.

What's the easiest way to drain the tank?  Without a massive spill I mean.  Do you remove the fuel line from the petthing while the valve is shut and adjust it to on?  Thanks.

torque wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08:

That's the way I've done it too.  I sit the gas can on top of an upside-down Home Depot bucket and it's at just about the right height.