Topic: How do you get the needles out?

[mmtsquid]

OK, I'm stumped........I took the carbs off last night and was trying to get to the needles.......
Took the "top" off, unscrewed the screw that hold the assemble to the throttle arm, but can't get the darn thing to come out!

What am I missing?

[dkruitz]

It might be stuck with old gas.  Is the barrel in the full down position?  That would give the needle maximum insertion and surface contact into the passageway, and the barrel could be goo'ed in place too.  Use some spray carb cleaner, and/or give it a short dunk in carb dip - that should loosen it up enough to remove the assembly.

[Glenn Stauffer]

Which bike?  I think they might differ some, but I used to do this to change needle positions on the bike on my 550 by freeing up the screw at the 'throttle arm', then there are two screws down inside the slide.  Remove those two screws and you can swing the throttle arm up away from the carb and then fish out the needle - I don't think it comes up with the arm.

[mmtsquid]

Ah!
it's a 77 550K, and the arm wouldnt swing all the way out - I wondered about the 2 screws at the bottom..........

[Glenn Stauffer]

My 550 is also a 77.

If you took those screws out all the way, the arm should swing up out of the slide unless things are a bit gummed up - the arm is just set in there, so it shouldn't require much to get it come free if it is stuck as long as the screws are definitely out.

[mmtsquid]

Glenn - do you recommend leaving the carbs still attached to the "frame", or COMPLETELY disassembling?

[Glenn Stauffer]

Depends on what you want to do.  You can do basic cleaning (with the Yamaha carb cleaner) on the bike as well as adjust the floats, replace the jets and adjust or replace the needle position with the carb bank on the bike.  I always found getting the carb bank on and off with the stock airbox enough of a bother that I did everything I could to not take them off.  Once you have the carb bank off, you don't need to disassemble it further unless the carbs are really in bad shape and in need of a dipping; in which case, there are some little plastic bits that you can't get at without taking the whole assembly apart and you need to get those off before dipping or they might dissolve.

[mmtsquid]

Thanks for the help Glenn!
I don't know what I'd do without this site..........