1. Here is the tank ready...
1. Here is the tank ready to get installed. Nolan thoroughly cleaned the inside of tank before he started to ensure that everything was dry by the time he was ready to fill it with gas.
Gunslinger Custom Paint based out of Golden, Colorado, (yeah Coors country) has come up with a bolt-on solution for customizing the look of your stock Cross Bones. The Gunslinger X-Bones tank will give your bike a custom look by stretching the back of the tank 2 inches to cover the distance between you and your seat. Gunslinger provides you with three different options. First you can order stretched a bolt-on tank in vivid black or flat black, with pin striping ($1,000) or custom painted to your liking, (price depends on what you want). The next option is a stretched primered tank ready for you or your painter to spray ($600). Lastly is the do-it-yourself tank sleeve that needs to be welded to the back of the tank ($200). With the painted and primered tank Gunslinger asks for a $350 core charge which you will get back when/if you send them back your stock tank.
2. Techs Robert and Nolan...
2. Techs Robert and Nolan began removing the stock tank by draining all the gas, removing the seat, disconnecting the battery, disconnecting and removing the dash, then disconnected the fuel lines, unbolted the tank and removed it from the bike.
3. Once the stock tank was...
3. Once the stock tank was on the workbench, Nolan removed all the components from the stock tank, starting with the fuel gauge and wires. Then the mounting plate for the fuel pump and fi lter was removed. After Nolan carefully disconnected the wires and removed the pump and filter from the tank...
4. ...the fuel level-sending...
4. ...the fuel level-sending unit was removed.
5. Here are the two tanks;...
5. Here are the two tanks; the stock tank on the left is about 19-inch long and the X-Bones tank on the right at
21-inches long.
6. Here is a look at the difference...
6. Here is a look at the difference in the graphic of the two tanks (stock on the right and the X-Bones on the left).
7. Once we were done snapping...
7. Once we were done snapping photos, Nolan installed all the tank components back into the new X-Bones tank starting with the fuel-level sending unit. Then the fuel pump and filter with the mounting plate, followed by the fuel gauge.
8. The new tank was installed...
8. The new tank was installed back onto the bike, and Nolan reconnected the fuel lines and bolted the tank in place.
9. Here is a look from the...
9. Here is a look from the riders position, clean seamless line and fi ts the seat just right. If needed, the bracket on the seat nose can be adjusted a bit to sit closer or back on top of the tank and not mess with the paint finish.
10. There you have it, in...
10. There you have it, in just about two hours the Horn crew customized the look of the bike with out changing it dramatically but still noticeable. As you can see the owner of this bike swapped out the stock spring seat for a H-D Badlander seat, the X-Bones tank will still fit with the stock sprung seat.
Since the X-Bones tank is stretched and the stock tank panel won't fit it, Gunslinger smoothes out the seam that runs down the center of the tank below the dash, for cleaner look with no tank panel. Horn Cycles Works in Pomona, California, had a Cross Bones at its shop that was getting the tank swap done to it so we stopped by to snap some photos and see just how easy it is to swap out and change the look of the bike.