my 02 big bear has been sputtering and sometimes backfiring on me randomly. I completely cleaned the carb and changed the plug and still didnt help. Also thought it could be a bad coil so i sprayed the coil and wire with soapy water but it didnt kill the motor so im suspecting that is still good, could this be a bad CDI? seems like it will sputter worse when under a load

 

did you remove and clean the pilot jet? that can cause sputtering. use a volt meter and ohm the CDI, see if its any good