Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Damn carb screws

Yup, the screws on the float bowls are stripped. I've cracked 5 of them but there's 3 more that will not budge. I've tried needle nose but gotten nowhere. Hit it with blaster a bunch. I do not have a small enough pair of vice grips. Can't seem to find the right tool. Would needle vice grips be much different than the needle nose I'm trying with now? Why would they build such a flimsy carb?

It's not the carb, it's Triumph screws/fasteners in general. Don't get me started. Your best option if you haven't already is to pull the carbs, soak the screws in some PB Blaster overnight
Needle nose vise might work but you'll probably end up dremel tooling a nice slot in each and using a snug fit wide blade screwdriver. Be careful man I've seen the edges of the carb snap off with too much force. Obviously once you get these all removed order a set of the allen head screws from Fast Eddy or Brent at New Bonneville.

I have the SS allens. All I need is to get the old screws out. Soaked them overnight already, tried again today, no dice. I'm giving it another shot and then I dunno what. I remember cracking an edge when I pulled them last time. What a piece of crap. I don't own a dremel. There's no way I'm giving up but I dunno where to go from here.

Needle nose vise grips are definately better than regular needle nose. Get good ones not the cheap crap.Depending what screws you can't turn you may have to remove the carbs.

If you or whomever buggered them before you didn't use JIS drivers, then what did you expect? At this point I second the needle nose vice grips.

And that's why I put anti seize on everything I might disassemble in the future, when I break it down the first time. I re torque fasteners to spec, but down the road it will come apart without stressing me out. I remember having to TIG weld a nut on one carb screw to get it off. There's no call for that BS.

Do you have an impact driver? That used to be the must have tool for any bike mechanic.

If not, and assuming the carbs are off the bike, use a small cold chisel to notch the OD of the screw head and then tap it (with a small hammer) in a anti clockwise direction.

A 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF has worked for me in the past. I think even better that PJ Blaster. I have never used it on small carb screws though.

Drill the head of the screw off and then use vice grips to unscrew the rest of the screw which will be about 1" long. if the screw doesn't want to move heat the screw red hot and let it travel into the carb body, cool it off and repeat two more times. Don't heat the carb body as they melt really fast.

After you get a plan to remove the screw (cut slot, pliers...), you can take a heat gun and warm up the individual corner of the carb with the offending screw. The Aluminum Carb body will expand at almost twice the rate of steel. Thereby hopefully giving you some extra clearance between the threads to get that sucker out.

I don't think an inexperienced person should try to heat the carb, they melt easily and fast.

I used a JIS driver. Maybe I didn't 12 years ago but I can't remember. I do remember having a similar conversation about the flimsy carbs then too, and definitely took extra care in getting them out. This time I had what I thought was the right driver, but between this time and last, they're no good. The smallest vice grips I could find were 6 in needle nose and they are about the worst tool I've tried for this.

Grind a slot? ok. It is a tiny screw on top of the cheapest metal I've ever encountered. Something tells me that I won't go hard enough and just frig it up, or too hard and bust my carb.

I'm gonna disagree and say that while I love Triumph bikes, the carbs have pathetic fasteners and the carbs themselves are made from cheap material. Most carbs are and I dunno why. It's defintely not all aluminum. Zinc? Whatever it is it sucks. Why not plastic? Or decent metal?

I'm definitely scared to heat those corners, as one already cracked on me the 1st time. But I'm getting desperate.

All that said I appreciate you guys and your input a lot!

I was only talking about 250-275 degrees, a heat gun won't melt your carbs. I have some parallel pliers I'll loan you, if you want to try them? They have some compound leverage to a degree. Cutting a slot for a flat blade screwdriver is pretty good advice. A fine toothed hacksaw blade would get it done. But you have to get the carbs in a vice or something, because sawing on a jiggly piece will just make a mess of it. Tie them down to a board if you have to.

If you eff up your carbs I have a spare set that I can probably sell you at a reasonable price.

I will add there's an art to removing those screws the first time. If you had them out 12 years ago that was the time to replace them with SS socket heads...

The needle nose vise grips you bought are too big and I told you to be sure not to go cheap on those. You need the 3" ones.

any luck with the project?

Could not find 3" vice grips anywhere. I honestly started to think you're messing with me. I couldn't find one pair at all, let alone GOOD ones. Either way, not going that route right now. I already jacked up the screws trying to turn them with grips. I borrowed a dremel, cut some slots. The screws look like crap and I'm nervous to try turning them. Doused them with Blaster. They're just sitting now. I worry that the next try will be the last. I can't afford a heat gun. Pretty tapped out right now so everything has to be on the cheap. Can I rent one somewhere? I didn't mess up the slots, the screws are just shot. Any tips on being successful here? If I have to buy new carbs, the bike will sit another year.

What does that mean " I didn't mess up the slots the screws are just shot ? Find a screwdriver tip that fits snuggly, heat the screw with a Bic lighter and turn those suckers out. Sometimes you just have to go for broke. I mean the bike is just sitting now

I mean they were stripped, there's a hole in the middle and the edges are pretty mangled from me trying to turn them with needle nose. I have a slot, a driver fits there, they just look like crap. There is gonna be some jiggle no matter what I put in there.

Bic lighter? On Carbs? The things that hold gas? (I drained them, but still?)

But a heat gun was gonna be ok ???

Heat the Alloy carb body under the screws, use a heat gun, don't get it any hotter than your finger can stand. You want to make the alloy body expand and hopefully loosen the chemical bond in the screw holes from two metals that form a undesirable chemical reaction from touching each other. After you get it hot, immediately spray your favorite brand of Nutbuster, Liq Wrench, I use Aero Kroil, It's all good. You now have your best shot at getting the screw out if you've cut a decent slot and have a screwdriver that fits tight. I lose patience when I'm trying to accomplish things and just tack a nut with the I.D. of the screwhead on the offending b!tch with my tig torch and wind it out. Never fails.

Dude, meet a woman and borrow her hair dryer and use it on high.

ºNot last shot yet, if you fail now you can carefully cut the heads off with a Dremel and then get the remainder out.I have taken all the ones out that were screwed up over the years with the very small visegrips. You can remove the slides and put them in the oven if you have to set at like 200º. That will work but risks fire due to fumes.

Thats funny I was going to ask if a hair dryer would work. I wish tack welding was an option for me!

tikiman, what part of so cal are you in. i'm in Fallbrook, about 50 miles north of San Diego. Either bring them or send them to me and i'll put them in my mill and i can drill the screws out without damaging the threads. pm me, i 'll do it for you in a couple of hours. I'm the old geezer that makes the foot peg brkts. and other things too. aacycleproducts.com Des.

There ya go, no better option than having a good machinist do the job for you, and happy Bday Des.

And THAT'S the differance between this site and over at the Indian site. I've never heard of anyone at Indian offering to help another member. Redicule and "just spend more money" are the rule over there. You guys rock and are one of the reason's I miss my America.

No, this site is ridiculous and it always has been. The amount of knowledge here, along with the fact that everyone is cool as ******. Really just incredible. Communities like this are rare. Triumph should take note.
That said, THANKS GUYS!

Still haven't gotten out there to open em up yet. Maybe today. Gonna use a blow dryer and try. If not, Des, I will likely take you up on your offer. I'll stay in touch. Thank you and Happy Birthday man.

Glad to help, don't try to force anything to come loose because you can snap a corner off and then you're really up the creek without a paddle. I can drill down through the center of the bolt which relieves the pressure on the thread and allows the bolt to unscrew.
Even if the bolt won't come loose i can drill it out to the minor dia. and peel out the thread thats left leaving the original thread intact. ( kind of like a helicoil). Thanks for the birthday wishes fellas.

Well the left side carb came loose after some heating and blaster. The other side is likely done. I'm letting it soak in Blaster one last time, and then I'm gonna give it one last shot. But the screws are not budging so far. I can barely grip them anymore. They've just been gnarled and mangled and that about does it. I was thinking about grinding the heads off and popping the bowls off that way. I could probably get the stems off with pliers? Should I just send them to you Des? I'm about done here. I must be close to cracking a corner or messing up the carbs somehow. I think I'm done...

No matter what happens from this point forward I need to see a picture of said carbs

As far as I can tell, I am S.O.L. Screws won't turn for nothing. They kept stripping and now they can't hold a flat driver either. Mike, what will a picture do? If it will help, I'll go take a picture for you, but it's locked up for today. I'm disgusted. I give up.

Nah, just cracking your nads a bit. You'll get it

Just get them to Desmond the machinist, who graciously offered to help. Then when you get them back and go back together, put a minute dab of anti-seize on the lead threads of each fastener.

Well I got lucky and met a local machinist who took them to his job and got them out for me. This would NEVER in a million years have happened in NJ. I love this place. 2 people within 80 miles of each other offered me free help in the same day. Saved me hundreds. I hope I can pay it forward some day. Thank you guys for everything. Prepare for more dumb questions!
The bowls aren't stuck. I'm going to hit the carbs with cleaner and air them out. What else should I look for? I'm not overhauling at this point, it was only spilling gas from the overflow.

There's a really good chance it was just a bit of crud keeping the valve from sealing the fuel inlet when the float bowls rise, a good shot of carb cleaner will remove that. Rare but possible that a float is leaky and has fuel in it keeping it from closing the valve, you'll feel the extra weight if that's true. Also not common but possible the float needle itself is bad and won't seal, you'll see a defined ring at the rubber tip if that's the case, use a flashlight it's hard to see while mounted on the engine. But my money is on crud, give it a good blast. And if you can find a can of Seafoam Deep Creep give both bowls a liberal spray and go ride.

Yes, there are rings worn in the float needles. The thing is, the bike never leaked a drop of anything until I got hit. I was sure the impact is what threw the carbs off balance and started it overflowing. I believe I remember the fire worker shutting off the petcock at the accident. But then I forgot all about it until I tried to start it up again 10 months later.

I guess I'll replace the needles. While they are out, is it advisable to spray some cleaner right into the float needle hole? Will I kill the o ring?