81 LTD 550 carb question

I just got a 81 LTD 550 "project" bike. It has about 10k on the odom, and looks like it has spent a lot of time outside in the Ohio weather. However, the price was right (free)

my question: Should the arm that raises/ lowers the choke plate be loose on the choke shaft, or should it be tight. It seems like the notches on the shaft are too large and the arm rotates some.

double post

The arm should be tight on the shaft, but the choke plate is free to wiggle a bit since it is not really connected to the arm.

That looks like the wrong screw, so someone has definitely been messing around in there. The correct screw would tighten the arm on the shaft like a clamp so the arm is tight to the shaft. The notch in the arm is loose so the arm can be adjusted on the shaft. This lets you set the four arms so all of the plates close at the same time. The loose notch is just to provide clearance for the screw, but the clamping affect is what holds the arm to the shaft.

This also lets you adjust where the detents on the choke control lever will hold the plates for fine tuning the choke. I don't believe this is covered in any manual.

If you remove the shiny screw in your photo, the arm and choke plate should come up and you can pull the choke plate out. Normally, the screw must come all the way out for the arm to rotate on the shaft so you can pull the plate out.

You should verify that all of the choke plates rise and fall at the same level so that you know they all close at the same time. It's not critical, but can help with cold starts.

Obviously you should also make sure the choke flaps are all in tact with in tact hinges.

In case you haven't seen it, there is a carb website in my signature for those carbs.

There is a great deal of info on Lou's links. Lou, check your PMs. Give me a shout. Thanks.

Thanks for the info. I was thinking they had some adjustment. Which means all four are stripped since they won't tighten up. Not a lot of material in the arms to retap a new size. Anybody had to fix this issue? What size would you recommend?

Depends on what size someone tried to put in there.

I think you have to remove the entire choke rod. If the rod is rusty, hit it with a wire wheel first so it comes out smooth. It has to slide out from all four carbs. Use some oil as you pull it out. There is a ball bearing and spring on the choke lever detent, which will want to fall out, so take it apart inside of a box or something.

Luckily, like I said, the choke lever operation is not critical, so if there ends up being some slop in the mechanism, it's not a huge problem.

See the choke's high-speed idle modification on the tk22 website. That will make tuning the choke operation a lot easier.

BTW, the choke shaft is not too hard to take out, but the throttle shaft is much harder and almost never has to come out, so best to leave it, in case you were planning on taking it out (I see the throttle slide arm screw is missing).

I've got quite a few TK22 parts - if you can't find a shaft/screws, let me know.

Thanks for all the input. All 4 of the arms were stripped, so I ended up buying a 6-32 tap and new screws. Got everything back together. Nothing extra. Nothing missing. Not bad for a box of carb parts.

I have seen the pages that have been linked about the TK22 carbs, along with the other info. I have them bookmarked already. Now I need to get the carbs on the bike.

Kurt