First of all, hello.

So a while back I picked up an 85 Ten out of a barn where it was living with a variety of livestock. It still fired up, but had been surplus to requirements for a while. A lot of stuff has needed attention - basically all the consumables were consumed, big fat gap between piston and barrel (but bottom end sweet), zorst needed a bit of fabrication, side stand fvcked beyond repair, various bearings and cables required. Amazingly apart from fork seals the suspension was fine and worked well, all the more astonishing given that the bike had spent 90% of its time on a farm with a competition enduro track in situ (and still used for that purpose), property of the bike's previous owner.

Having had one of these in the past, I knew that this time I wanted to get shot of the big tank and replace with the 11 litre job off its non ten XT sibling. Now I've been told that any
XT tank up to 89 is plug and play. But - I've also heard that its 84-86 only. Apologies if this has come up before, many thanks if you can help clear this query up. Cheers chaps.

Ummmmmmmm, , and ummmmmmm, why not just get a 43F or 3TB, 2KF or the like instead of tearing apart something which is quite rare, a 55W (or is it a 34L) ? just wondering its your money and bike. On the other hand, I have never heard of anyone putting a small tank on, it's usually the other way round, like in the states, people trying to turn there 43F's into teneres, because they never got them.

Cheers, let me explain. I'm not crossing deserts but I will be green laning locally so there is every reason for bike and rider to loose weight, and last time I had one I found the big tank did compromise handling a tad..... I like the look of the small tank as much as the big one so that aint a problem. And on the financial side, if there is a demand for the big tank then I'm pretty sure it could pay for the small one. I don't think swapping tanks quite constitutes tearing apart - for me its about practicality, getting the bike I want out of it. Tis a 55W btw.

So does anyone know when the cross compatibility re tanks ended? 86 or 89? Obligado.....

A 55w tank should fetch a premium over say a 43f tank anyday. Check out the spotted on e bay section, I linked to a seller with a multitude of nos xt tanks at what I think are good prices, can't comment on compatible years though, sorry.

But, thinking about it, the 43f was the only other xt 600 being produced at the 85 time (I think) with a smaller tank. 84-89 should I thought have all been 43f's, check out the section with codes and dates.

Cheers for that, I'm on it

I notice in the states someone is actually making the larger tanks and selling them.

hal9 wrote:I notice in the states someone is actually making the larger tanks and selling them.

Possibly you mean CLARKE tanks? or there is Acerbis from Italy.

Mezo.

Update.

So we're nearly at MOT time - first time the bike will have seen one of those this century - and I picked up a slightly battered but sound 43F tank, even the same red and white livery, the idea being to keep both tanks for the moment but fit the 43F one, for reasons explained above.

But (inevitably) there's a problem. The tanks are interchangeable with a minor fettle, but the saddle is a different size..... the standard 55W seat leaves a nasty gap between saddle and 43F tank. I'm guessing the simplest and cheapest solution is to find a 43F saddle. However, before doing this I want to ascertain if anyone knows if the fitment - mounting points - are the same on both saddles, and for that matter make sure that the frames are the same so the 43F can be accommodated.

I'm thinking that maybe a list of the differences between the 43F and 55W would be useful, I guess I coud find the respective parts microfiches online somewhere, but is anyone familiar with the ones that affect this project (ie tank / saddle / frame related)?

Hi,
Have you worked it out already, if not, here is some pics of a 34L frame (to the left) and a 43F (to the right).
Tank and seat mount has to be changed and also the 2 rear mounting brackets if you should use the 43F seat.
On the 34L they are located outside frame and further to the rear. 43F has them located on the inside frame.
I think 55W and 34L gotta be very similar in Construction.