Hey everyone, long story short my bike ran well before taking the carb out and now I am having issues after reinstalling the carb. I can’t seem to get the boot on the intake to carb side nor the carb to manifold side to seal properly. First, the hose clamps no longer wanted to go tight enough so I went and got some new ones from autozone and even then (the carb appears to be set correct) the bike still really hangs up on idle. I sprayed some wd40 to test for leaks and sure enough both sides seemed to be leaking as the idle increased when I sprayed near the seal. Does everything look good in the pictures? Do I need to just get new boots?

 

Your last picture looks a bit suspect to me, like it's not seated and clamped properly.
A new duct costs about $30 but you shouldn't need one unless yours has cracks or holes.

 

It's a kind of wiggle and fiddle to get the boot on properly. I will say the following, because it is what I note, not implying you don't know.

• Realize how the carb fits in both intake and boot so you know how deep it actually is when seated. it may not be as far as one would think, looking at the carb mouth. It only fits in maybe about 1/2" (10mm) on the carb. Look in the boot, you'll see how short the seating area is.
• Make sure the carb is fitted to the intake manifold and tight
• There is also a specific fit for the boot on the box with a tab that fits a corresponding tab on the box. It "clocks" at 12:00 o'clock.
• Open up the band clamps until there is no way they cause any problem being too tight.
• The wiggle and fiddle part is getting the boot in between the carb and air box.
• I found fitting the end to the air box first was best, because it is so close to the shock on the inside, which made it a bit of a pain to fit.
• Then I fiddle with the end at the carb kind of twisting slightly to work it on the carb completely. No clamps are tightened until I know it's all fitted right.

One tip might be to spray a little silicone spray on the inside of the boot to allow it to slip easier when fitting.

That's all I have, hope it helps a bit.