Why Would Airbox Boots slide off Carbs

[silverhorse47]

This may not be relevant, but rubber does shrink. Is it possible that two of your boots have simply lost the length, stretch and yield they had when they were new?

On my tw200 ('98, and I'm sure this newish Yamaha rubber is inferior in every way to the oldish Suzuki rubber....), I fought with this connection for a long time before finding that it's a known problem with that particular bike. In the years since was new, it has shrunk, literally, almost 1/2 an inch in length over about three total, and now just barely manages to connect. It's not so much of a problem with only one lung, however.

S.

[Buffalo Bill]

I solved that problem on my bike-550T

I'll try out the idea of putting extra weight behind it but getting it on isn't the issue - it's the staying on that is presenting the problem.

When mine kept sliding off, it was because I greased them to make it easy to get them on.
So I tried cleaning them up. That worked.
It took some time to master the technique of getting the carbs in and out, on that bike.

[cowboyup3371]

This may not be relevant, but rubber does shrink. Is it possible that two of your boots have simply lost the length, stretch and yield they had when they were new?

On my tw200 ('98, and I'm sure this newish Yamaha rubber is inferior in every way to the oldish Suzuki rubber....), I fought with this connection for a long time before finding that it's a known problem with that particular bike. In the years since was new, it has shrunk, literally, almost 1/2 an inch in length over about three total, and now just barely manages to connect. It's not so much of a problem with only one lung, however.

S.

Thanks. I'm using brand new rubber.

When mine kept sliding off, it was because I greased them to make it easy to get them on.
So I tried cleaning them up. That worked.
It took some time to master the technique of getting the carbs in and out, on that bike.

I'm thinking you might be right. I haven't used grease but I did notice some paint that had rubbed off the ends of each carb inside the boot. I never saw it on my old ones but maybe the new boots don't like it as well. I'll clean them out tomorrow morning and try it again using Ed's technique (haven't felt like working on it after work this week for some reason).

[cowboyup3371]

So went out and tried everything again making sure I followed Ed's order exactly:

I loosened the carbs from both sets of boots
Pulled the carbs into the rear boots and tightened each clamp down. I didn't clamp them to the stops like I did last time though.
Put the carbs into the intake boots and those I did tighten to the stops
Connected the top frame bracket and tightened those screws to hand tight
Connected the side frame bracket and tightened that screw to hand tight

Here's where I'm at on the back side. The front boots are flush with the front of the carbs.

Left side


Right Side


I need to go get a new stud for my exhaust pipes so I'll look at them when I get back. Hopefully the number 1 carb won't slide back anymore but to me it's already half way off.

I'll also check to see if I can't find 1/4" wide hose clamps that might work better.

[hampshirehog]

Don't use ordinary hose clips - you'll mash the rubber. Try twisting the boot in the airbox, pulling towards the carb at the same time.

Another trick is to wedge a bit of wood behind the airbox before you tighten the mounting bolts up.

[cowboyup3371]

Decided to post up the front of the number 1 carb looks like (sorry for the shaky hand):

[Nessism]

Scott,
If the carbs are pulling out of the airbox boots why didn't you tighten the clamps all the way? Seems to me that's the thing to do.

After tightening both the carb boots and airbox boots, how does the airbox fit up to the frame? Do the airbox bolt holes align with the frame bracket holes or do you need to horse the airbox into position before the bolt will align?

[cowboyup3371]

Ed,
The first few times I did this they were tightened all the way; I was taking Fireman Bob's opinion above to not go that far thinking it was causing my issue.

When Josh, Steve, and I first attempted this back in April/May, we had to widen the holes in the top frame bracket for it to fit. Otherwise, you couldn't get a screw into the bracket. So now, it will fit into the bracket and the new side mount bracket allows the screw to fit right in cleanly. However, I'm a little concerned on that one because the bottom of the bracket is touching the rubber boot of the power wire onto the solenoid so I have some more grinding to do.

[cowboyup3371]

Airbox on finally

I ordered new airbox side clamps two weeks ago when I ordered my starter parts (Thanks Ed for the advice). Opening the package showed four brand new ones:



After taking care of the starter, I installed the carbs and airbox. Despite a small problem lining up the frame holes at first, I managed to get everything put into place. So far, it looks great

Left side:



Right side:



and the airbox mount itself lined up correctly:



I would have put the tank on and tried it out but it's pretty hot and sweaty in the garage so I decided to take a break. After a bit I'll run outside, fix the one wire that came out of the display connector, reconnect the tank and see how things play for me.