Help - I can't get the carbs back on the bike.

[tnichols]

2003 VT750...

I pulled the carbs to clean the jets. The pilot jets were clogged, but he main jets were clear.

Now I can't get the carbs back on the engine. The little rubber insulator between the carbs and the cylinder heads won't align up. I can get one on but the other will be a half inch off. There has to be some trick to this. Two of us spent over three hours today without any success. We tried with the insulators on the carbs. That didn't work. Then we tried with the insulators on the engine but we could not get the carbs on.

We really didn't want to take the bike back to the dealer, but we don't know what else to do.

Are both the insulators (boots) the same on the front vs the rear carb? Or are they different?

We are about ready to throw this thing off a cliff. If there is some trick or if you know how to get them back on the engine, I really need your help.

Thanks...

[95shadow1099]

Vaseline or grease on the boots for lube. You'll almost be pissed at how easy they will slip on.....

[damian.garcia83]

Some may shun on it, but I have used vaseline and a rubber mallet to get them in. Takes some wiggling around if you don't use a mallet but you can do it. The vaseline needs to be applied very sparingly by the way as in barely noticeable. Have some patience and you will get them in.

Damian

[punkrockda]

Hammer .... DON'T DO THAT IT'S A JOKE !!!!! ....

But seriously, are you sure your putting them back in the original way ? I've done that a few times ... But if your sure you are ( I take pics, I get so much going on if I question, I have the pic for sure ) ........ When your putting it down to the boots ( use lube, always ) don't seat them one at a time, but both ... Place them over the boots, check both sides ( tedious I know but worth it ) then SLOWLY press down ... As you push in, the boot is pushing back ... Slow pressure works better ...


Sent from my Motorcycle iPhone app

[GrumpyOldMan]

Another tip I heard is heat up the rubbers, especially the end that goes to the engine. BTW, I noticed mine have "carb" printed on one end - betcha they won't fit if you putem on backwards...

You could soak them in some very hot water for a while before installation - obviously use gloves. Also, use silicone grease as it does not attack the rubber like all petroleum stuff (vaseline) does. You can get plumber's silicone grease at places like Home Depot and Lowes or pay more for SilGlide at any NAPA Auto parts place. Put the grease on the metal part that needs to slip into the rubber.

Good luck - I'm gonna be doing the same thing later this week...

[Scrapdog2grand]

yes, use a synthetic based grease, you can buy little packs of it at autozone for a $1 or 2.
and set them up both at the same time, working both carbs or to the boots together in a rocking motion, and quite a bit of pressure.
make sure the boots are on the cylinder heads first and properly aligned.

[mooney1el]

I use a heat gun to warm the boots before gently pushing the carbs back in...works every time

[tnichols]

Thanks for the tips... We did try spraying them with Silicon spray. But that did not help. We did not try grease. But we will try some of the other ideas.

We would get one side on, but the other side would be a 1/2" off. Then we would put it in and it would seat and as soon as we let go, it would pop right off. So it was not seating properly. Half of the boot would go on the inside of the manifold tube. Its like we are not even close.

According to the repair manual you have to put the insulators on the carb and then try to mount them as a unit. We tried that. But we also tried putting the insulators on the cylinder heads first, then mount the carb, but that did not work either.

By the time we do get this mounted, we will be ready for new insulators and these are getting all messed up for all the pushing, poking, half on half off action we have been doing to get these on. I am sure we will have a vacuum leak and we will have to do it all again. It's very frustrating.

The insulators are notched on the manifold side, so we know we have them on the right side, but we are not sure if we have them on the right carb. We don't know if there is a front and rear insulator of if they are both the same. I think I will stop at the dealer today and see if they are different.

[tnichols]

It took another 3 hours but we finally got the carbs back on the bike. If I didn't know for sure that these came off the bike, I would swear they would never fit.

We tried so many different ways and put so much pressure on the carbs, that the rubber boots got deformed. Now that we finally got them on, they leak a little bit. I am hoping now that they are on, over the winter, they will seal a bit better. I have worked on a lot of bikes and I never has so much trouble getting carbs back on. There were times I felt like pushing this thing off a cliff.

I am just hoping these things seal up a bit better, so we don't have to do it all over again. This thing was the pits.

Oh, we finally got the carbs on after I made a little tool that looks similar to a smooth scraper that allowed the boots to be pushed from the inside to their proper place.

My view on Hondas are down a few notches at this point.

[tnichols]

Originally Posted by punkrockda

Hammer .... DON'T DO THAT IT'S A JOKE !!!!! ....

There were times I was ready to take a hammer to the whole bike. No joke...