The rear tire came of quite easily after taking off the rear brake caliper and the 3 bolts on the final drive. If you are attempting this you'll want to use a regular box end wrench in order to get in tight enough to the drive line. I have been using my GearWrench ratcheting wrenches for almost everything on the bike but the final drive bolts are too tight against the column.
Here is the rear wheel off the bike and the final drive hub:
Again to the front, I removed the air filter box and packed a clean rag into the intake on the carbs to keep things from falling in it.
I loosened the motor mount and attempted to take off the fuel tank.
As you can see in the picture, the Goldwing was built around the fuel tank. It seems that mother Honda wanted more then anything to make sure that it had a huge fuel tank nestled tightly at the heart of the Goldwing. This could easily be an engineering marvel equal to the Great Wall of China or the Sphinx. There is only one bolt holding the massive 5 gallon tank in place. The rest of its support is provided simply by being wedged into the frame. As you can see the tank bulges to fill every possible void of space on this bike.
On the right hand side of the tank there is a drain bolt. I figured that this would be a good idea before removing the petcock and attempting to get this tank off the bike. What I didn't realize was that the tank in mention was nearly full. I must have drained about 4 gallons of skunky orange gasoline out of the tank. Here is a last of what I couldn't fit in old Anti-freeze jugs to be saved and used as 'Boy Scout Water'.
The end result looks like this:
I ended up running to the local grocery store to by a bag of cat litter to soak up all the fuel that spilled while I was draining the tank. As it turns out the fuel will drain along every surface of the bike before falling to the bucket or floor below. With almost 4 gallons in buckets I probably had another gallons worth on the ground.
I've come to the conclusion that the tank was never designed to be removed and that I should continue to the front forks or the motor. I've tagged a lot of the lines and will need to do the same with the electrical. I am going to map the cables with pictures so I get them back to where they need to be routed when I go to put this little beauty back together. Lucky for me I have her big sister right there to use as a reference.
