hard airbox boots

Hey everyone. I was checking my float heights on my bike the other day so i took the carbs off. I had a leak at the petcock which has been causing an overflow problem which i just fixed. I noticed when i was pulling the airbox boots off that the #2 boot was hard. I just replaced all of them 3 months ago. Does anyone know what causes the boots to turn hard so I can avoid this when i buy new boots again?

thats a good question, maybe it's heat cyles and age... i dunno.

i have a concours and those carbs are bout the toughest carbs i have dealt with to remove and install due to hard air box boots. i have found that heating the boots softens em right up and makes installing carbs alot easier. but you gotta be quick cuz when they cool they get hard again.

i just got carbs back in and bike running again but think i have fuel level slightly to high, so..... i gotta remove again. not lookin forward to it at all!

nickleo373 wrote: Hey everyone. I was checking my float heights on my bike the other day so i took the carbs off. I had a leak at the petcock which has been causing an overflow problem which i just fixed. I noticed when i was pulling the airbox boots off that the #2 boot was hard. I just replaced all of them 3 months ago. Does anyone know what causes the boots to turn hard so I can avoid this when i buy new boots again?

This is just a guess -- perhaps constant exposure to gasoline inside the air box hose has caused the hose to prematurely harden.

Even with the petcock constantly permitting fuel flow, the carb shouldn't overflow when the fuel level mechanism is functioning properly (including float valve, float, and tab setting),

Consider that an imperfect carb may continue overflowing for whatever reason while riding.

Good Fortune!