Need a little carb help

[CptStinkyBoots]

I've been trying to get these damn carbs off for a couple of days now, granted that I get about 30min to an hour to work on my bike at a time. i have it at my girls house cause she has a big garage  lol. with that said I feel like He-man himself would have trouble pulling these things of, unless if im doing it the wrong way. ill list the steps i took and let me know if im doing it wrong

1 loosened clamps on airbox moved it back (gave me like 2 inches of space )
2 removed some hoses and what nots connected to carbs and drained the fuel out of them so on.
3 loosened clamps on both ends of the boot connecting carbs to engine block
4 attempted to rock carbs up and down while pulling on them... failed horribly

to be honest  though i havent actually gone full throttle on the tugging because im a little afraid im going to break something

should i just grow a pair and use more muscle or is there something else i should do?

Thanks, Adam

[shinyribs]

Their tough. It's a great idea to be careful when working on these older machines,but you are on the right path. Just keep rocking them. I have only had mine off twice,but both times i just rocked them straight down. It takes a good bit of muscle but they will eventually just pop right off. Try a little PB Blaster ( or whatever you like) and see if that helps. I feel sorry for the guy whose job it was on the assembly line to shove them things on all day every day.

[Re-run]

Put yer back into it!
Remove the airbox, that will make it MUCH easier. The airbox should split into two, there is a bolt on top of it on each side to do this.
You removed hoses but remove the throttle cables too.
Then just push down and they will pivot off.

[LukeM]

The boots are supposed to be tight, as they hold up the head-side end of the carb bank.  But it's not impossible.  Unless you're using a pry bar or large rock to get them out, you most likely won't break anything.  Just make as much room as you can (which you did already), grasp the sides of the carb back with both hands, and rock it up and down.  Eventually, you'll be able to rotate them down, and then off to the side.  You can do it (from The Waterboy).

One more thing to try/help:
VERY hot water on the boots between the carbs and the head, may make the rubber supple enough to free things up. I almost suggested using a heat gun, but too much heat in that area, especially with gas around, may not be a good idea.  Also, burnt boots might be expensive to replace.

Hmm...Burnt Boots...sounds like a band name.
Luke M

[CptStinkyBoots]

thanks guys, another quick question. i was talking to a guy about putting four cones instead of the airbox, a cause it'll look super cool, and b to free up space, and he said im probably going to need to get some different style jets and synch the carbs differently? to be honest this is the first set of carburetors i've ever touched other than a lawn mower engine back in high school shop class, so this stuff is all new to me, what does he mean by that? the only thing i could think of is you have to compensate for the change of pressure or rate of airflow

[LukeM]

The SOHC carbs will run with cone/pod type filters, but the stock DOHC carbs work best using the factory air box.  It's possible to get the DOHC carbs running with pod filters, but it's a lot of work and balancing to get it right.

Try a search for "pod filters" @ the home page of this forum, and see what you find.
Luke M