Petcock tower filters

[Espiritus]

Got my now clean tank back but the guy didn't reinstall the petcocks because they were nasty. He wanted me to see them. My mom always taught me to question the motives of guys who want to show me nasty things, but, on the off hand chance this was on the level, I looked.

The tower (?) has no filtering left, just what appears to be steel wool inserted between the holes. Rusty steel wool.

These petcocks don't leak, so I am not inclined to replace them, but where does one find the replacement part for the towers?

If I have inline filters, do I still need operational in-tank tower filters or are these redundant (actually, since they aren't working, I guess they are ornamental, not redundant).

The beastly carbs are sitting on my kitchen table. One of the advantages to being the woman of the house is that I can chose to bring engine parts into the kitchen!

Thanks to all who have been responding to my questions. You have no idea how much help you all are.

Cam

[tiredoffixing]

Parts in the kitchen???? I cant help you with your question but will you marry me?

[XSPastor]

Yamaha still sells 'em. I don't know if you'll want to pay 18.31 each for them but you can find them at this site. Click on OEM at the left then select your vehicle type, year and model. They're listed under fuel tank.

Tim

[boyat68]

Espiritus:

I do not believe that you can purchase those towers separate from the petcocks, as far as I have been able to discern. The towers are made from a type pf plastic with plastic? screens inside of the towers. I supose that the previous owner either wrecked the towers and used a piece of steel wool to act as a filter medium stuck down in the hole. The new petcocks alone cost $80 to $100 bucks each, so you may want to try and improvise. If the tower material is intact (Plastic Tower), then you perhaps can make a small sock out of a "Nylon Stocking", which should be impervious to gasoline and alcohol. The sock could be wrapped on the outside and held in place with some nylon thread. Dental floss should be adequate. What you want to do is stop the large trash that gets into your tank from passing down the fuel hose.

If the towers are not there, then you could wrap a piece of nylon stocking over the end and secure it in place with a plastic ty-wrap around the base.

[3Phase]

Cam, I've seen the screens for sale at a few places.
They're available if your petcocks are in good shape.

Check the petcocks with a metal pick to make sure the metal is still good.

I had to rebuild mine after removing 28 years of corrosion
masquerading as metal; like taking a hen to the dentist...








Regards,

Scott

[XSPastor]

They do sell the nylon stocking type at mikesxs for really cheap. Might be a good option. The original screens are available as a seperate part from Yamaha.

[tarzan]

I replaced both towers a few months back.I think I got them from bikebadit.Or ebay.But I'm pretty sure it was bikebandit.And they are not sold only with petcocks as 1 unit.The towers just press in.They are kinda tough to get out ,but you can.I think I might still have my old ones.Let me know if you cant find any.

[fredintoon]

Towers are dual purpose

"If I have inline filters, do I still need operational in-tank tower filters or are these redundant (actually, since they aren't working, I guess they are ornamental, not redundant).)
Hi Spirit,
the filter towers are not just filters, they are also the gas tap main/reserve level controls.
If you run without them and rely on in-line fuel filters the gas will be clean enough but you will be running without a reserve except for keeping an eye on your Standard's "I wonder how accurate this thing is?" fuel gauge.
I have experience of those towers falling out to rattle around loose inside the tank. This is a completely asymptomatic failure, you won't know it's happened until your carbs plug up from unfiltered gas or you switch to a reserve that ain't there.
So yes, you do need them.

[tarzan]

You dont really need them however that tower controls reserve so you run out of gas before you are actually out.That way you switch over to reserve and have generally enough gas to get your butt to a gas station.Now this should not matter if your fuel light works ,it will come on even before that.Mine does any way.But for me personaly I like having the reserve just in case.Also I dont like to run my bike very low so as not to suck too much of the junk that inevitably ends up at the bottom of the tank.

[Espiritus]

The tower part is still there

The tower part, per se, is still in tact, it's the screening part that is gone on most of the right side and on 1/3rd of the left. How does this serve to operate the reserve tank portion?

As to the nylons, wouldn't the gas erode them? If I use nylons, do I replace the steel wool in there to continue to act as a filter?

Lord, I will have to go out and BUY nylons. . .unless my daugher has a pair that are (literally) lying around. . .do I use the thin leg part or the heavier parts ("parts ain't parts, Mildred").

I always get silly when I'm tired.

Cam

[fredintoon]

Steel wool?????

Hi Cam,
what that tower should look like is a flattened oval column made of plastic gauze with a solid plastic tube built in on one side. The solid tube part acts to stop fuel flowing when there's perhaps a gallon left in the tank. Then you switch the tap to "reserve" and that lets the rest of the gas run out down the other hole in the filter tower. If your filter towers really have been stuffed full of steel wool they are FUBAR and need to be replaced.

[Miti-Babe]

Cam

Here's a picture of a "similar" tap to the XS's...



As Fred decribed, the "Tower" filter part divides the fuel folow into "Main Tank" and "Reserve Tank".

In answer to your previous question: NO, you don't need the tower filter in place if you fit in-line filters, BUT you do need to make alternative arrangements for main & reserve tank outlets.

I ran my XS for 7 years without the tower filters and with regular in-line auto filters...

To preserve the main/reserve switching I sliced the remains of the tower filters off with a craft knife, level with the lowest part of the original filter media. Then using a VERY sharp HSS twist bit, I overbored the MAIN inlet hole in the remains of the plastic to accept a length of 8mm copper pipe (I used a 7.9mm drill for a nice, tight fit - drilled in about 10 - 12 mm). I cut this pipe AFTER fitting it to the petcock and used the remains of the tower filters to estimate correct length.

This gave me main/reserve switching damn close to what I'd had before and IMHO MUCH better fuel filtration than the tower filters could have ever provided...

Good luck

Miti

[Beav068]

Cam,

I just had to replace both petcocks on my '80G (bodies being held together by resin), but the towers were in good shape. If you need them, they're yours.

I will double check to make sure that they are still good.

Tim

[Beav068]

Cam,

Here are those towers. They are in good shape with no tears in the screens and no cracked plastic. Just bent a little.




And here is why I had to replace my petcocks. I think the PO actually fabricated them out of epoxy. :-)



Let me know if you still want them.

Tim

[Espiritus]

Epoxy mania

Dear Tim

That epoxy might have been creative of the PO and it might have kept him on the road just alittle while longer! I think sometimes that I tend to criticise without thinking of the situation that created the need. If anyone would have told me in 1982 that the day would come that I would use nylons on my XS, I would have told them they were crazy, yet here I am! I painted the pipes today with low gloss, hi temp manifold paint rather than go shopping for new pipes, another thing I would never have thought I would do back in the day when appearance was more important than budget. My petcocks are holding. I removed rust, et al, reused the same rings with a bit of gasket material lining under the rubber gasket to raise it just a tad. They aren't leaking. I reinstalled the old towers just to run it today to try to get it back up and running. My #2 is still as cold as ever and I am not sure that the others are running any better. My idle was way off. Can't tune it properly without the #2 firing. Whine, whine, whine!

Yes, I still want your towers: let me know what you need from me and I really do appreciate this.

Cam