Draining tank and carbs

[Syzygy]

Hello folks,

Picked up my GS500 on Sunday, now I gotta get the old gas out.  Is it possible to do this without pulling off the tank and carbs?  Everything is in so more tighter (read, better designed!) than my Ural, where it's all just laying out in front of me.  Pardon me if I have missed an obvious search result, I am not having much luck with my selection of search terms.

Peace,
Syzygy

[lamoun]

Hello!

You could set the fuel petcock to PRI and just open screws No.11 (Slow)
Or. Drain the carbs (No.11). Then remove the tank hose from the carbs (can it be done without removing the tank?  ), and set the petcock to PRI (Faster)

Both ways, some gas will probably remain to the tank.

http://www.bikebandit.com/showschematic/m6058sch246854

[The Buddha]

No I'd almost say a Ural gotta be better ...
Anyway, yea put petcock in prime, and attack drain hoses to the bottom of the carbs and into a container.
You can clean off some junk off the bottom of the carbs when you're at it.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Syzygy]

Thanks, I've got to pick up some odds and ends at autozone before I get cranking but I'll keep you posted how it is by this weekend.

Peace,
Syzygy

[DoD#i]

You could set the fuel petcock to PRI and just open screws No.11 (Slow)

Slow, yes, but not horrible, if you have enough 1/8 inch hose that you don't have to hold it to keep the gas going into the can. Use a large enough can/bucket and open the drain, then putter around doing other things where you can keep an eye on it in case the can isn't really big enough and you have to stop and empty it. I used this method on my bike (with a full tank) because the hoses and petcock were all done wrong/bass-ackwards so I could not get to the tank shutoff when I first needed to remove the tank.

[Syzygy]

Whoops, meant to ask - what diameter hose?  1/8th inch?

[DoD#i]

Yup - 1/8 inch, for the carb drains.

Supposedly 7mm for the main fuel lines (if you were replacing them), debate carries on (and on, and on) about 1/4 or 5/16 - I bought both sizes and 5/16 worked best for me (stays on, no clamps needed), on a 1990. Thick-wall polyurethane, rated for gasoline (some choose to use non-fuel-rated vinyl from the hardware store - not a good practice, IMHO. They get brittle, fast. Would be fine for carb draining if proper fuel line is not easy to come by - I just added some to an on-line order, so it was easy.)