trying to put my carbs back on

I took my carbs off to clean them ,now last night I tried putting them back on and I had no luck. How do I get them back on, how is it done?

 

WD-40,Patience, Wiggling, and a Big box of foul language! 8O

Seriously a little WD-40 on the inside of the boots and a little on the spigot of the carbs and they will pop right on.

Make sure the clamps are VERY loose and start with the carbs up in the rear and push while wiggling up and down.

 

LMAO, I used up the whole box of foul language last night. :lol:
Thanks for the advice. I'll give the WD-40 etc a whirl.
Mike (Boomer)

 

Marvel Mystery Oil instead of WD40
You can use a pry lever inbetween the airbox and carbs.
Just make sure the pry lever is padded or protected from cracking the airbox.

 

I use soapy water as a lubricant for the boots. Don't have to worry about that damaging the rubber.

 

I use silicone lube spray on my finger and rub it around the carb outside and the inside of the intake boot. start with one carb and work your way one-at-a-time toward the other side. Make sure the clamps are loosey loose.

 

Some really good tips here http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=13076.html Helped me a LOT. But nobody told me about the box of foul language. However, I do seem to have a virtually unlimited supply in my garage

 

Been there done that...
The marvel mystery oil is good because it will burn. Also, make sure every screw, nut, bolt, clamp is removed from the airbox for extra room.

Best tip I have though...get rid of the allen screws and buy some SS metric hex head bolts. Worth every penny cuz a small box end can grab on easily. Paint em black if you're in aesthetics.

 

An excellent pry lever is a hammer handle - some folks here recommended using one minus the head, I just used the non-business end of my framing hammer. Worked a charm to lever them into the boots (and was the only way I would have got them out, in the first place).

 

Got them on, wow, what a job that was. I ended up greasing the carbs and rubbers abit then placed the carbs into place and got a piece of wood and jambed it between the airbox and carbs and pryed at one end ,and one by one they all sort of popped on.
Just want to say thanks to everyone that posted their advice, it really helped out.
Boomer

 

I realize you got the carbs back on, but something I recently learned, was to make sure that the carb linkage doesn't fall down and flop over backwards. I spent over an hour trying to push the carbs into the boots (by hand) when I finally realized that the linkage was trapped.

 

I seemed to use up six or seven boxes of foul language when I did it at the end of the summer.

 

I have spent hours on this... And then, with a couple of tips from here and one amazing one from a shade-tree mechanic, I got it in 30 minutes or so, and I'm confident with some more practice I could get it down lower than that.

First, engine side:

Silicon grease, a light layer, on the inside of the manifold boots and on the outside of the engine-side-mouths.

Second, and this is HUGE: DO NOT try and push all four carbs in at once. Too much resistance, it takes two strong men pushing VERY hard and VERY straight to get it, and it's still almost impossible that way. I even tried using straps on both sides, ratcheting the straps tighter--the carps would try and pop up or down.

What you do is this: stand over the bike (riding position) and lean down and grab the carb rack by both ends. Line everything up carefully. Push the far right carb in very securely while keeping the rest lined up with the left hand. Now try and get the carb to its left into its boot, and it should follow fairly easily. Then carb 2, and carb 1. Should go relatively smoothly, gets easier as you go along. I had tried for HOURS at this, and with this trick, they popped in minutes or less. It was ridiculous.

As for the airbox side... Pull all the boots out before you start. I haven't perfected my strategy on this, but have made progress, but what I've come to at this point is (silicon grease before start):

pop the airbox side of all four in (inside boots, then outside boots). Line up the tabs. Don't try and put the carb side of the boots on before you have all 4 on, because every new one you pop in will push them off a bit.

Then just struggle to yank and push and prod and pry with various methods until they come on. But this was a hell of a lot easier than trying to pull the boots out of the airbox and work it that way the first time, which nearly had me to tears in anger the first time I did that.

 

Im at the point of putting carbs back on.
Followed all these threads, been trying fitips' contribution....
Cant get the carbs on....
I can get #4 intake manifold on #4 carb mouth, but it seems impossible to get #3, next to it, on. Get to the point of it nearly slipping in, and ....WHAM...it all slips loose, and nearly take my knuckles off!
Do the intake bolts have to be loose so you have more freeplay....if I do this, I will break my gasket seal....(?)
This really is a 'PITA'.......they were so easy to get off in the first place....!!
I believe I have all the intakes on in right order, ie top to bottom, as looked in manual at diagram of blown-up disassembly....all vacuums upright 90 degrees etc...
Also, do the carburettor, to air filter boots have to be installed in the airbox, before you even put the front end on?

 

To get the carbs into the intake (it's been almost a year since I did it last), I believe I line the intake and carb throats, then insert the bottom (or top?) into the intake joints, then kind of rock them up and down while pushing forward. It takes a bit of strength and balance, but I can't remember any of the carbs "popping out" while doing this. You'll need to be seated on the bike, and make sure it doesn't come off it's center stand.

The airbox joints however...those are always a pain for me (especially when new, since they are longer there's so little room to work). Don't forget that the airbox can be moved back (slightly) to give you a little more room. Fiddling will be near impossible if the airbox joints aren't pliable.

 

Uploaded a couple of pics - is this how it should look when 'lined up', to start with putting #4 on first...? - they seem so far apart to manoeuvre into place...?

 

Those boots definitely look off. 2 and 4 especially. All four should point inward toward the carbs.

Can't tell you if 1 and 2 are the same or 3 and 4 are the same when installed correctly though, or if swtiching those pair will cause problems. Send a PM to chacal, he's thoroughly researched the intake boots for these bikes. He can tell you.

 

Thanks manbot
I thought there was no particular order they went back on in! I'll have another look tomorrow - Ill bet ive mixed them up (I know #3 is used for vacuum to petcock but that may also be wrong way round.)
You say they should all face inward, so meaning the ones on the right as you look down on the pics should point slighty to the left, and the ones on the left in the pic should point inwards to the right? - if that makes any sense!
Cant look til tomorrow, its nearly dark here now, and not got a garage.
Regs.

 

Order is definitely important. On some bikes, you can't even switch them because the bolts are in opposite corners! But chacal has a long write-up in his parts list about the order. EDIT: checked his parts catalog, the left two are the same as are the right two. So switch out 2 and 4 and try again.

Yes, that's correct. With in intakes boots off, if you line up your carbs to the intakes, you'll notice that the carb throats do not line up exactly, and that they are closer together than the engine. For reference, Yamaha makes the engine, but Hitachi makes those carbs (and for multiple bikes and manufacturers!) so the joints are there line everything up.

 

Thank you so much for your time, consideration, and search. Will swap the manifolds tomorrow, try again, and let you know!
Regs.