Will a Tank Lift affect my usable fuel capacity?
This is another frequently asked question. Depending on the size of your tank ( 2.1 gallons-6 gallons) and the size tank lift, ( 1.5”, 2”, 2.5”, or 3”), it could possibly reduce your usable capacity by ⅛ to ⅓ of a gallon
However, in the real world, most people do NOT run their tanks until they are dry. Since that is the case there is no practical difference in useable capacity 99% of the time.
With a tank lift your fuel light may come on a bit sooner, but the fuel light acts as a type of “electronic reserve”. Generally there is still a gallon or more of fuel left in the tank when the fuel light comes on.
There are four different fuel gauges on Harleys. Not every model has all of them.
1. Digital Gauge
2. Analog or mechanical Gauge
3. MTE (miles to empty) read out
4. Fuel light.
The digital and mechanical gauges are notoriously inaccurate. While you can get to know how yours works with time, most use the trip meter to let them know when they are getting near needing to fill up.
In our experience, the MTE (aka Fuel Range) gives a fairly accurate reading. Remember, when it gets down to 10 miles, you still will have approximately 1 gallon of fuel left.
As mentioned above, the Fuel light is a type of “electronic reserve” when it comes on you will still have around a gallon of fuel left in the tank (if it is operating correctly). The way to know for sure is to pull into a gas station as soon as the light comes on. Fill up your tank. If you have a 3.3 gallon tank and you were able to put 2.3 gallons in, then you know that your light comes on with 1 gallon left. Do this a few times to get a feel for it.
One factor that affects all the gauges is going up or down a hill, or around a long left hand turn. You can watch your gauges go down even though you have plenty of gas. This is because the fuel pick-up in your tank is on the back left side of the tank. As the level of the gas in the tank is shifted on a hill or in a long sweeper, the gauges will give a false reading until you are level again.
Important Note: In a long left turn, or a steep hill, the fuel light can come on, even if you have a couple of gallons left. When you level out, it will not go off. Once the fuel light comes on, it will not reset until the ignition is turned off.
Now, down to what tank lifts do to the usable mileage. A tank lift could cause your fuel light to come on a little sooner than it did without one, and it could show you have less fuel than what you actually do. This is due to where the fuel pickup is located at on your tank. It is already in a sort of odd place, and leaves fuel at the rear of the tank that does not reach the fuel pickup. When you create a higher angle on the tank with a tank lift, it can leave more gas that will not reach the fuel pickup.
The fact of the matter is, for most, this possible loss won’t even be noticeable. This is because the only way you will notice that small of a loss of usable fuel, is if you drain your tank dry before you fill up each time.
This is from DK tech support DK Custom Products for Harley-Davidson Tank Lifts Coil Relocation Foot Pegs
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