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I'm talking a 2002 1200 XL. I took the carb off to have it cleaned. The carb was on the intake very well. I had to pry it off basically. Now that everything is ready for reassembly, the carb seems very loose. It appears as though nothing holds the carb in place other than the intake gasket. It felt as if it was bolted in place when I took it off. But the only thing that holds it in place is the intake gasket? It feels ok (not great), when I put the air filter on, but after it runs a few minutes, it is very loose. It sure seems like there should be something physically holding the carb in place. But there's not. Am I missing something somewhere? I can't find anything (forums, Youtube, and my service manual) that says something should be holding the carb in place. The intake gasket looks really good and fits very well. I'm sure if I ride it like this, the carb will fall off going down the road. Am I supposed to put some sort of adhesive/sealant on the intake gasket or something? I'm fairly mechanically inclined, but this has me stumped. And I want to ride. Thanks all.
Depending on what air cleaner you have, you should have a bracket that goes across the outside (intake) face of the carb, that has 2 ears with large holes in them that bolt down under the breather bolts. This link has some pictures of the bracket.
Other aircleaners, like the stock one and the Screaming Eagle (SE) like I have use those two big holes, spacers, and longer hollow bolts to secure the aircleaner backplate to the head, and the carb mouth has three screws to attach it to the aircleaner backplate. The carb is sandwiched between the flexible manifold seal and the fixed aircleaner (or bracket as in cHarley's photo).
John
Last edited by John Harper; Jun 4, 2018 at 05:59 PM.
Thanks guys. My bracket is just round with no ears. I'm going to try a new intake gasket to see if fresh rubber will make a difference. Next, I'll see if I can get a different bracket with ears I suppose.
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Loose Carb
