Just pulled apart my carbs, left jet needle has 3 metal washers on it (pics)

[w00derson]

Ok, I just pulled apart my carbs. The previous owner said he had carb work done, and reall didnt know how good the shop was. Well I pulled aprt both carbs and on one jet needle, there are 3 metal washers and the plastic washer under the E-clip. What would these be for? Tehe other carb does NOT have the 3 metal washers. Should I put it back together with the 3 metal washers on the one jet needle. See the pic below.

[quiktaco]

The washers are there, kind of like shims.  It richens the mixture at any given throttle position by adding washers.  Both carbs should have the same amount of washers though.

[ohgood]

ditto what quiktaco said about the washers.

you prolly want to pull the jets and make sure they're the same from both carbs if they shimmed one THAT much

oh, and check your float height. if the shop didn't understand how to set the float height they may have fudged it with washers. can't imagine that working very well really.

[w00derson]

How do I know how many shims I should need, if any? I ended up not finishing the job today as I need to order new o-rings and gaskets. SO that leaves me some time to do some more in depth research.

[ben2go]

I seen this done once before.Here's why.Some one who knows nothing of motorcycles,but thinks he does,figuers theres a lean condition only on one side.Instead of finding the reason why they screw with th carb until they get it close to running right.To remedy this,adjust the valves,make both of the carbs match,replace the spark plugs,get it running and balance the carbs.If it still will not run right,have a compression check done on the engine.I bet a bad valve or rings started the whole problem.