carb float

[jjz28]

I have a leaking float that i put some quicksteel on but havent put gas in the carbs yet. I figure it will just disolve even though it says impervious to chemicals on it. I was wondering if the float would work with one pontoon. I think i am going to order the plastice ones so they will all be new but was wondering if i could run one pontoon until i get the others. It seems to me that it would still do the same thing. Anyone ever try it instead of buying a new float or to ride until it got there? My local cycle shops here in WV dont carry anything for our bikes and they want $46 for a float.

[BA80]

I have a leaking float that i put some quicksteel on but havent put gas in the carbs yet. I figure it will just disolve even though it says impervious to chemicals on it. I was wondering if the float would work with one pontoon. I think i am going to order the plastice ones so they will all be new but was wondering if i could run one pontoon until i get the others. It seems to me that it would still do the same thing. Anyone ever try it instead of buying a new float or to ride until it got there? My local cycle shops here in WV dont carry anything for our bikes and they want $46 for a float.

Won't work with only half. The plasic floats require some modification in the older carbs or they will stick.

IMHO stick with what it came with.

[jwhughes3]

Solder it

If its brass, solder it. Just dont get crazy and weigh it down.


John

[jjz28]

i tried soldering an old lawn mower one first and i cant solder worth crap. Couldnt even get any solder on it. Cleaned it, sanded it and still couldnt get it.

[Cuda 69]

did you use flux with the solder? That cleans any inpurities.

[jjz28]

i used rosin core with flux.

[Cuda 69]

it should work,copper is generally easy to solder.It must be very clean though

[natemoen]

The problem with soldering sealed containers like that is that the air inside heats up and then you get an air stream rushing out of the hole and that keeps the solder from covering the hole.

When I soldered mine I put the whole float into a glass of cold water and just had the small area to be soldered sticking up out of the water. Clean the area well and then coat it with flux and heat and dab the solder on.

[motoman]

i used rosin core with flux.

Rosin core on electrical only.

[Cuda 69]

+1 on what Motoman said,I have heard that one before Nate,but never tryed it.

[bikerphil]

New brass floats are $17.50 each....

http://www.siriusconinc.com/pro-deta...roduct_id=4131

[jjz28]

Thanks phil those same ones are $20 on ebay with same picture. Well, i got lucky though, a guy who lives about a mile from me has a 79 like mine that has been sitting outside forever and his dad has a MNS. They have tons of carb parts so now i have a good float and just put it in. Gonna ride to work tommorow, yeehaw. Another thing, if i knew it was so easy to fix a leaky petcock, i would have done it the first day i owned the bike, its fixed now. So, i had a leaky petcock and a bad float on the same side so i lost almost a whole tank of gas out the airbox and in the crankcase. All of thats fixed now and fresh fluids. Thanks guys.

[natemoen]

+1 on what Motoman said,I have heard that one before Nate,but never tryed it.

If you don't keep the rest of the float cool it heats up real fast. Since the whole float is soldered together it will just melt every joint and fall apart.

[geobiker]

Ageed

+1 on what Nate says . . . I found out the hard way when one fell apart on me as I tried to solder a pin-hole leak!

[KA1J]

I used to make and repair jewelry and an old trick to join/repair broken rings without removing the stone is to bury the ring in fine sand, jewel facing down with the affected area sticking up. The sand becomes a heat sink & dissipates the heat and the stone does not crack. If you do this with your float, I suspect you will be happy with how you can now solder without grief.

It's an old jewelers trick and it works.