sticky floats in /2

[charleswoodcock]

I have a 1968 60/2 US with 30,000 miles. when tuned, it runs smoothly..I have found that if I don't run it every week or 10 days, it will increasingly run rough with the right cylinder not running smoothly .. the right carb has a tendency to hang up and will simply pour gas out when the fuel petcock is turned on. I took the top off of the float bowl chamber and lifted out the float. When I shook it , it did not appear to have any gas inside. There is a metal rod sticking out of the top of the float with a milled "notch "around the shaft about 4mm from the top of the float. A metal "donut" slipped down the shaft and settles into this notch.

However the donut" will move up or down the rod fairly easily. I thought this might keep the float too low and causing the fuel flooding? I pulled the left float from the carb and noted a "top hat" arrangement ( essentially the metal donut with a short 3mm sheeve attached to it ) on the rod that fit in the notch on the rod, preventing the float from being held down and allowing the fuel to pour out.

I fabricated a 3mm in length, steel tube to fit between the "donut" and the top of the float to stop the right float from sticking. It seems to work somewhat , but it still doesn't run smoothly.

The bike had a tune-up less than 500 miles ago about 12 months ago..so I don't think the adjustments are out of wack yet.. Any suggestions ?

[20774]

It's been a while since I've been inside my R69S carbs...I would think yours are the T-120 type carb. After looking at the /2 exploded views of the carb in the Bing book, I don't see any kind of "donut" or sleeve. There is a rod, the tickler, which sticks down to push the float down to flood the carb. At the bottom of this page

http://www.snafu.org/restore/service/3600-mile/index.html

shows the internal bits of an R69S carb. The float doesn't have any other parts associated with it.

Kurt in S.A.

[charleswoodcock]

thanks for the response.. I looked at the picture you sent on the carb parts and it looks very familiar, except I do have a notch with a small donut ring on the right carb. I'll probably have to take it to Cliffs in Danbury for Phil Cheney to work his magic on ...again..

[OldAndBusted]

far as i knew, all the earles fork bikes had pretty much the same carbs. i've got a '55 R50 with carbs that look identical to the ones in that link. no donuts on my float needles either.