Motosportz Damper fitment HELP

First of all let me say this is for an 08 TE 250 with factory tank - never been messed with. Second, let me say that this was probably one of the first ones to hit the states because I had a deposit on it in the summer of 07 and finally received it in January of 08 - I tell you this because when talking to Kelly last night, we think that the "first batch" of bikes quite possibly had some slightly different gas tanks.

Essentially, the problem is that the center leg of the "gunsight" logo on the front of the tank all but touches my steering tube and therefore doesn't give me enough clearance to get the damper frame clamp in place.

Kelly and I spoke last evening and he suggested heating up the front of the tank to soften the plastic and then pry it away from the tube or push the frame clamp down on it. I tried that and got no where with it. I have way too much plastic in the way for that to work.

I then took the tank off, put the clamp in place and then tried to force the tank on over it, but as soon as I tried to force it, the tank popped off the 2 post mounts on the frame near the seat.

My only thought to get this to work - and where I want some input - is if I use a cutting wheel and grind the center part of the gunsight off the tank. My 2 items of concern are if that part of the tank actually holds gas (which I doubt highly) and assuming it doesn't and I grind it off, will it weaken the mount? Ultimately I want this to work smoothly so I can remove the tank for valve adjustment and any other maintenance without removing the damper.

You can see looking straight down how much plastic would have to be removed to get this to slide down past the frame clamp. You can also see by the burnished marks in the plastic made by the trim washer under my tank hold-down bolt, that the tank has been in this position from factory - I didn't move it.

I saved too long to get this damper and my mouth is watering to get it on, so please don't tell me I have to return it

Hello-
I have the Motosportz dampner

I am using an Ims Tank with it

Jmetteer- used that exact tank you have (stock) as well as the IMS tank in <This post here>

You should be able to gind or file that tip- it appears solid to me and Jmetteer apparently did have to gind his to get it to work. You might not have to grind or file as much as you think toget it to work...

Here's his quote from then....

Be careful - that part of the tank is hollow and, amazingly enough, allows gas to circulate. I found out the hard way - ground about 1/4" off only to find i'd exposed a hollow. I threw some liquid nails (what can i say, i was desperate) in the hollow and never had a problem - goop, silicone or epoxy might also work - i doubt much gas gets up that high but you do not want something that is gas soluble. I just installed the 3.0g IMS tank and had to use a heat gun to mush it - very very carefully.... The IMS is much thinner so grinding is out of the question. Mine is an 08 TE450. Good luck

I ran into this same issue with my '09 TE250.

I didn't want to mess with heating it and flattening it, so I ended up having to use the old type clamp that extends (and fastens) to the tank mount. It's a PITA now to take the tank off, so I wish there was another solution. It appears that there is some variation in either the tanks, or the distance to the rear mounting posts for the tank which means not all installations are straightforward.

I may actually look into heating/flattening if it means I can have normal tank access, but I'm also considering a larger tank, so don't want to make the effort if it's not necessary.

There were other problems with mounting the damper on my '09, but Kelly was very helpful in finding a working solution!

Sweet success This weekend I propped the front end of the tank up off the frame and used an oak board as a heat shield while I heated the center section of the "Gun Sight" with a blow torch. While soft, I put a large pliers through the slot in the tank that the hold-down bolt goes through and squeezed the plastic gun sight towards it. It didn't appear to move much, but surprisingly, when I put the tank on and slid the front under the damper frame clamp it took almost no effort to get the back of the tank to slide down on the 2 posts. I bolted everything up and it sure looks well thought out. A neat, clean setup compared to many others I've seen. If it works as good as all the reports I've read, I'll be tickled pink. Now if all this @#%& snow would melt so I could try it out

I thought the same thing with such a long slotted area in the tank for the hold-down bolt - leads me to believe they give themselves plenty of room for variation. Since mine seemed to always bolt down on the bottom edge of the slot, that tells me either the tank was longer than most, or the two posts were welded farther front than most....or both. It's all good now.

My stock tank on an 09 TXC 250 was just as tight. I took a slightly different approach. I put the front/nose of the tank on the frame first, then used a few 2x4s and created some leverage against the subframe pressing on the rear of the tank -- effectively squeezing the tank from the front and the rear until the rear tank mount posts lined up to their corresponding holes on the tank. Then I pushed the tank down onto the posts. So the tank is now on, but under a great deal of pressure. Next I took a heat gun to warm up the nose section of the tank. As it softened it "self adjusted" under the pressure of the tank until I was able to wedge a putty knife between the tank and the damper mount. A little more heat and some more soft leveraging with the putty knife added a little more play. Now the tank fits fine.

I'd be worried about getting an IMS tank for my bike at this point. I'm assuming they tend to be even tighter than the stock tanks.