You need a pair of long curved needle nose pliers.

You've got to get more creative. Fashion a hook out of
wire, or maybe one of those 3-jawed flexible grabbers.
Tip the tank upsidedown and jiggle it around until the
gasket is near the fill hole. Even one of those
sharp 'pick' type tools so you could stab it. And most
important of all............perseverence.

Use a coat hanger and bend a little hook on the end.

Thank you..I've done the coat hanger thing..that didn't do it, I'm somewhat nervous about having the tank upside down trying to get the thing out of there as though I drained the tank, there still seems to be little drops of gas coming out of the tank, which I'd prefer not to get in the ol' eyes. I suggested to my lovely financial advisor yesterday that looooooooong needle nose pliers were the way to go but she advised against it due to the cost..but...I'll go that route and see what happens..with them I can grip the edge of that darned gasket and hopefully pull it out of the tank. I think spending a day and a half on this is enough, thank you.

Jim

well, you can stop holding your collective breaths..fixed it..went to HD to buy a set of long needle nose..and they had this gizmo on a long springy type thing with a claw on the end..got it..

thanks folks

Jim

Handy tools these. I keep them in the drawer with my other
specialty tools, pickup magnets, etc. Just purchased a metric adjustable and some left-handed phillips for mt sister.

Best $4.69 I ever spent

JIm

it is normal for a small engine to sputter now and then because airflow in the cylinder is low it willsomtimes cause the spark to be extinguished and cause a missfire.listen to a harley idle and you will understand!