Help with Expanded? Fuel Tank Rubber Mount?

I assume I am doing something wrong, although at present I can't think what it is. I took the tank off my 96 1100RT about two months ago to do some work on various items. Of course other jobs put the BMW on the back burner. I went to put the tank back on tonight, got all the hoses hooked up, and I can't get the rubber insert set that goes in the rear of the tank back into the bracket. And it's not just a smidgen to big, it's more like 1/4" too large to fit in the "U" shaped bracket for the tank lug. I'm assuming all parts need to be in the bracket, including two large metal washers, and the two interlocking rubber parts. All put into the tank hole, then slid into the bracket, and held with the long bolt. How is it possible then, that they will no longer even come close to fitting down in the bracket? I'm left with four options:
1) The metal bracket shrunk
2) The rubber pieces lengthened, (although they seem to be a perfect fit on the tank)
3) The lug on the plastic tank expanded by 1/4 of an inch over that time.
4) I'm not putting all the pieces together correctly.

Could someone tell me which one it might be? Thanks.

Of the two pieces, one is supposed to slip inside the other. If you put them end to end and measure you will find that they are longer than the span of the bracket they go into.

So, examine them and see why one is not sliding into the other. Once you know that you should be able to solve the problem.

I think you are putting it together incorrectly. If you go to a dealer online fiche showing that part it shows the order it goes together.

Here is a picture on the link.

https://www.ascycles.com/DesktopModules/ETK_Fische/etk/Images-GIF/dbvis-5682063126271853233.gif

Thanks to both of you for the help. I looked carefully at the parts. Even without the rubber bushings the two metal pieces, when butted together were too long for the bracket. So I think what happened was this: I found the inner, small metal piece floating alone inside the frame when I went to put it back together this time. When I re-assembled the tank the time before this I must not have put that into the tank hole. (As I recall, the tank slipped into the slot easily.) Then when I tightened the bolt up I must have slightly bent the outer bracket piece inward. Now with all the parts there, it won't fit. So, it was my own fault. I'll bend it out a bit.
I guess it actually was the metal bracket shrinking. With some help from me, of course.

jconway607 said:

Thanks to both of you for the help. I looked carefully at the parts. Even without the rubber bushings the two metal pieces, when butted together were too long for the bracket. So I think what happened was this: I found the inner, small metal piece floating alone inside the frame when I went to put it back together this time. When I re-assembled the tank the time before this I must not have put that into the tank hole. (As I recall, the tank slipped into the slot easily.) Then when I tightened the bolt up I must have slightly bent the outer bracket piece inward. Now with all the parts there, it won't fit. So, it was my own fault. I'll bend it out a bit.
I guess it actually was the metal bracket shrinking. With some help from me, of course.

Click to expand...

Nice work, Mr. Holmes.