It doesn't really require much disassembly of the carb.You just need to pull the carb off and unscrew the top of it where the slide goes in.Pull the slide out and remove the needle from the slide....It's been a while since I did this but if I remember correctly there is a clip and maybe two small screws in the top of the slide you have to remove to get the needle out,as well as the big spring and throttle cable...Anyway its no big deal...Keeping the spring compressed with one hand and removing the screws with the other is the key.A good magnetic screw driver is a must for reinstalling....After removing the needle you will see that it has a C clip in a notch on the needle.Make sure you remember where the clip was but its usually very close to being in the middle.I tried ours up one notch and down one notch just to be sure.It sounds like you need to be down one notch....Also when reinstalling the slide you will notice that is has a groove in one side.There is a small pin sticking out of the carb that goes into this groove..If you try to reinstall the slide without lining up the groove and the pin the slide will only go into the carb about half way.Make sure its in all the way or its like having the throttle stuck at full throttle!!!You can easily confirm that its right by looking into the carb from the filter end and you will see the slide all the way down just like when you started...Also when you get finished just try the throttle it should work smoothly and not have a bunch of play in the first half of the throttle and you will see the slide go up and down...I'm not trying to scare you but just want to make sure you get it back in properly..There's alway a few posts of people not getting the quad to restart after cleaning the carb or that it wants to take off on its own and this is usually the problem....As for sealing the pipe that goes into the air cleaner box I would just use some silicone around the edge to seal it up.This is like a rubber grommet that fits into the hard plastic of the air box.I don't think it would let any dirt in but water could likely get through with it not being sealed..Better to seal it and be safe if you run in those types of conditions.