How hard is it to remove the carb on a 1995 Harley Sportster. The bike has not run in 4 years. I got it started but it won't idle under 2000rpms and runs rough. I think the carb needs a good clean

A 2003 model with only 50 miles?? Wow....well,since youve already taken the carb apart and cleaned it,did you hook up the vaccum line for the VOES switch on the intake manifold? If so,..when you get the bike running,..spray some brake clean around the intake where it bolts to the heads.If the idle picks up,or starts to sputter,..youve got leaking intake gaskets. Which is a good possibility on a bike that old with that few miles on it.The choke essentailly adds more fuel to the motor,and by what your saying,the bike is obviously running lean. Also,...im ASSUMING that you have fresh gas in it,and the petcock is turned on.

Have you checked to see if you have fuel IN THE CARBURETOR? In 1996, Harley went to a vacuum operated petcock and they've had troubles with them. The diaphragm in the backside of the petcock gets a hole in it and it doesn't allow for a full flow of fuel. Ride the bike with the air filter off until it quits. When it quits, look into the mouth of the carb with the engine not running and crank the throttle grip to wide open throttle. There is a brass nozzle standing just inside the mouth of the carb. When you crank the throttle grip to wide open, you should see a stream of gasoline squirt into the carb. If not, the carb has no fuel in it even though the fuel tank may be full. You'll have to drain the tank and remove the petcock. Take the plate off the backside and take a look at the diaphragm. Gently stretch it while holding it up to the light and check for holes. Personally, I'd replace the petcock with a high quality mechanical petcock and plug the vacuum hose. You'll have to manually turn the fuel on and off old-school style but you won't have anymore petcock problems.

Good Luck
Steve

No, nothing else to check. You need to completely disassemble the carb and clean it out. When gasoline left in the float bowl evaporated, it left behind the gummy additives that the refinery puts in the gasoline. This mess has clogged the jets and small passageways in the carb. The reason it runs with the "choke" out is that it is not a real "choke" but rather an "enricher circuit". It has it's own air passageway and fuel metering "jet" in the float bowl.

Good Luck
steve

Sounds like the fuel in the float bowl is percolating. This means the fuel in the float bowl heats up and boils when you shut the engine down. Don't worry, it won't explode or anything. I've seen this quite often even on carburetor equipped automobiles. In a car, it's called a "vapor lock". The trick is to get the engine to run cooler. You engine is jetted very lean so that it meets EPA emission standards. Because it's fuel air mixture is so lean, it's running hot. Take the bike to a performance oriented shop and have them richen the carb up to the next richer slow speed jet and readjust the idle mixture screw. They may want to put a 0.020: shim under the needle to richen up the mid-range mixture a bit as well.

Good Luck
Steve

Well, from what you have here, I'd suspect two problems. Number one, it was idled too low most likely. This si the reason it won't idle and cuts off when shifting gears. As for the bike not accelerating, it could be the accelerator pump diaphragm is bad. Take the air filter cover and the air filter element off. With the bike NOT running, crank the throttle wide open. You should see a shot of fuel squirt out of the brass piece just inside the mouth of the carb. If not, the diaphragm is probably bad.

Good Luck
Steve

Sounds like a carby jetting issue. Sounds like she's running lean above idle, after you zero the enrichener. Suggest adjusting the pilot air screw ( air mixture screw) under carby. You need to remove a blanking cap to do this. See eg Buzz Buzzelli's book for this, or a Sportster forum. I'd back it out to 3-3.5 turns, very gently by 1/4 turns till she runs well. Good Luck.