That answers a couple of questions. I was pretty sure someone else had been inside the carb, the screws on the cover are not tamper proof, just plain Phillips head. I saw the area at the bottom of the slide that you are referring to and thought it might be some kind of wear pattern, so I turned the slide around. The diaphragm tab can still be seated in the notch if you rotate it around on the slide. That was why I was wondering if it should be loose enough to rotate it? If it's leaking anywhere I suspect that's the spot. Any tricks to proving that's the problem before spending 100 bucks on a slide/diaphragm assembly. Looks like you should be able to replace just the diaphragm, but I don't guess that's how the story goes. Thought about trying an o-ring around the groove in the slide to try and beef up the seal in that area. Anybody ever try anything like that? Thanks again OPT. By the way, looks like you may be in my backyard. I live in north central Texas.

Engine vacuum is what lifts the slide if components such as slide,spring,etc are installed correctly and no wear on the plastic jet block assembly that could hang the slide up from lifting. Diaphragm should not be able to turn around the slide so that may be your problem?? But it's an expensive guess if you ordered a new one or a jet block say off of a 98 Sportsman 500 as it uses the same Mikuni BST 34 carb as your 2004 Ranger. The jet block is cheap compared to the slide assembly here,but I'd really inspect the jet block for any wear also.Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki & Kawasaki OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse

Thanks OPT. Gotta be the diaphragm. I can turn the slide assembly around in the diaphragm and I searched the atv forum on testing the slide. You posted a reply that said it should return gently when you push the slide up, mine just flops down with no resistance. Ordered a slide/diaphragm #3130732 that shows to fit older models with BST34 carbs. Just hoping it gets here before the weekend. Trying to get this thing running well enough to take some grandchildren out for a ride.