Rear pads supporting gas tank

[dziadzu42]

The back of my 1979 r65 gas tank is supported by a pair of soft rubber pads that go for $18+.  Has anyone successfully tried an alternative to these high priced items?  

[montmil]

Interestingly enough, the OEM L-shaped rubber cushions, if memory serves, are thicker on one end than the other. Still, one might be able to source some dense rubber foam material and spend a few hours making up something.

[Barry]

Yes they are thicker at the top to support the tank at the correct height. The sides are just thick enough to fill the gap between the tank and the frame rails. You could substitute a thinner strip of foam rubber for the sides and a thicker strip at the top.

[jamestnewsonr65]

I've been trying a few things with varying results, but found nothing worked as well as the originals and just footed the fairly high cost for 2 OEM pieces of rubber.

[marcmax]

I am a cheap b@$tard and refuse to pay that much for a little rubber piece. I went to the auto parts store and bought the smallest length of 1" rubber hose they would sell, about 8" long for $4.00/ Cut two pieces about  1.5" long, slit them lengthwise and put them over the frame at the end of the tank. Put the tank on, pressed it down to compress the rubber hose and slipped the tank bail into place. Holds good, can't be seen when the tank is on and if I happen to lose one during a maintenance session I still have enough rubber hose for another set sitting on the work bench.

Just my $.01 worth (too cheap to give my $.02 worth)

[dziadzu42]

This is what I am doing. Took a bicycle inner tube, app. 9 inches in length and slipped some soft foam rubber into it.  Folded the end back an inch, twice to get a thickness of 3X the tube. Wrapped the tube round the frame. The top of the tube is covered with 4 thicknesses, the sides with one thickness to this inner tube, foam combo.  Used electrical tape to hold it in place. A little wd40 and the tank fits on nice and snug. (Sorry for the blurry image)