Best way to get the screws out is needle nose vise grips, I find if you can grab em tight enough they will loosen up, then take them the rest of the way out by hand. The other best way is to drill the head off em, but this can get a little messy with the metal everywhere. Another best way is to take a small dremel and make em a "flat head" or regular screw by cutting straight across.

You can get the screws at most GOOD hardware stores, they are metric 4mm fine thread I think, but you best bet is to get some stainless allen screws in the same size and you'll have no more problems next time.


To remove the cable from the thumb throttle, remove the throttle cover at the handlebars, (3 screws). Press and hold the thumb throttle all the way in (full throttle). Now take needlenose or your fingers and grab the trottle cable, hold on to it while you release the thumb throttle, work the cable around the lever until the cable clears the slit in the lever. Then unscrew the cable from the housing.. it takes longer to read this than actually do it really. I dont take the plastic off, just pay attention to how the cable is routed before pulling it out with the carb... hell I never even took the seat off to get the carb out.. just push the airbox boot to the side and unbolt the front intake.

 

Hey,

well i'm no quiter. i went back out there again, and finally got the carb off by taking the throttle cable off with it. much simpler that way. i took off the float bowl, cleaned everything out with carb cleaner, wiped things off with a rage, and used a can of compressed air to blow out all the little tubes i saw. put everything back together and back on the motor. hooked up the fuel line and waited for the float to fill . . . and it STILL LEAKS!! ahhh, this sucks!

i don't mind trying again since i've finally mastered removing the carb. but i'm not sure what to do differently next time. any suggestions? things to remove/clean? i didn't actually take the floats off last time, should i try that next time? how can i tell if the needle/seat is worn out? (seems kinda premature for the carb to be worn out on a '97, doesn't it??)

thanks for the help,
bigmac

PS: if nothing else, atleast i'm learning how everything fits together on my quad, lol.

 

Hey,

went by the dealer this morning and order the new fuel petcock, $22!

i've got the carb apart again. the pin that holds the float on doesn't seem to want to come out easily. i lightly tapped on it, but it still didn't budge. how does it go in? should i try hitting it harder and force it out? i really don't want to mess anything up right now. just not in the mood for more problems.

thanks,
bigmac

 

when you have it open, hold it like it sits on the carb, lift the float up and down and see if the little valve moves too. If that dosent help, install a new float valve. By the way, my machine does this same thing every once and a while, but it quits after you ride it for a minute dont worry about it. Also, just to cover all the bases, I think there is a tube that has a screw at the base of it. When you turn the screw it drains your bowl. I might be thinking of a different carb (I mess with alot of em) Its still worth checking out. Also, mine slowly loses gas if I leave the petock on while it sits for about a week.

 

Just read the rest of it. My machine was the exact same when I bought it. The next hard task on your agenda is to take out the swing arm bold and see if the bearings are shot. If my guess is right, everything is there is one big pile of mush and it will take you a week to get the bolt out. On mine it took a month, we were beating it so hard the frame was flexing. The end of the bolt got huge and fat even though we tried not to mess it up. Eventually we had to cut it out swing arm and all and I bought a swingarm on ebay for 50 bucks (bearings and bolt included). Grease it up real good before you put it back in or it will be hell the next time too.

(if you cant find what im talking about, its the big shaft that the whole swingarm pivots on. Has a buge nut on one side.)

 

Hey,

once i pull the fuel line off the carb, it stops leaking. in other words, the entire bowl isn't draining, so it' not the drain bolt.

i finally said the heck with it, and punched the pin out with a hammer. the needle moves freely. i scraped a little build up off of the needle, but other than that it looked fine. no trash in there either. put it all back together, and it STILL LEAKS.

so i took the carb up to the yamaha dealer. and ever though they were closing, the mechanic checked it out for me. he hooked up some kind of guage to it, and it measures how much the needle/seat is leaking. said mine is leaking just a little, but normally he wouldn't consider it a problem. he adjusted the float height for me, but other than that he said it looked alright to him.

so the new fuel petcock won't be in until next friday. in the mean time i'll hook the carb back up and see if the adjustment to the float height changed anything, but i kinda doubt it. so i may end up replacing the needle and seat, which seems like a rip-off at $36 considering how tiny the parts are!

too frustrated to be mad,
bigmac

 

you know, you could probably pick a carb up on ebay pretty cheap. I really doubt the petcock will do anything. Its suposed to be wide open when your running, so what will the new one do different?

 

Hey,

well the new petcock will hopefully stop the gas from flowing when it's turned off. right now the petcock leaks even when it's turned off. but you're right, it won't have a lot of effect on the carb.

i put the carb back on, and put the entire quad back together. hooked up the fuel line and the carb still leaked. so i decided to take it for a quick spin around the yard. and would ya believe it . . . i think that did the trick, cause it's not leaking any more. even with the motor off and the gas on. can't explain it, except maybe the float adjustment finally made it seal once i ran some gas through the motor. ne ways, i'm happier now. i also replaced the stripped screws on the bottom of the carb, incase i ever have to touch it again. (i sure hope not).

thanks for all the input,
bigmac

 

The next step in preventative maintanance is the swing arm pivot bolt and bearings getting greased. Then you check the valve clearance (if you already havent), grease all the zoots, and your good to go for 6 months or so other than oil changes which some people like to do once a month (not me, to expensive).

Welcome to the fun world of quad based furstration. Dont mod it and it youll be alright, soup that bad boy up and you can be like me. Runs 1 month, broke three or until I get the money to fix it.....

 

bigmackloud...glad your persistance paid off, go ride...