2 days ago I purchased a 1987 Dodge Raider 2.6l 5 speed that supposedly was rebuilt about 200 miles ago. The guy said he was not a Mitts. mechanic and had done the rebuild himself. The truck runs, shifts, fine however the idle is rough. I pinched of all 200 vacume lines(1 at a time) and the idle does not change. However when I spray carb sleaner on the back side of the carb (towards the firewall)it does smooth out. The intake gasket looks new, all new vacume lines on it. Also on cold start it seems to run smooth then when it warms up its like its searching for the idle from say 300 rpms to 1000 rpms(sometimes dieing when I push in the clutch).So any ideas or go with the Weber carb. I wont be doing any heavy off roading or driving threw a lot of water. Thanks Metalmover

[color:"blue"] All right, your already stating your going to mistreat the thing already. No heavy off-roading or driving thru water? What do think these things are made for? Do it, it can take it.Seriously though, I just got a Weber installed, and a couple of years ago I had the Mikuni done by a shop that does rebuilds, and it worked well. But the Weber runs rings around it. Twenty plus years of use, and things are probably a little out of spec on the Mikuni.Get a Weber with the electric choke and you will take care of the rough idle. Adapt the stock air cleaner to the Weber, get rid of the obnoxious noise and still have places for the bigger hoses, like the pre-heat hose and breather hoses. You won't regret it![/color]

Thats what I was thinking, and dont get me wrong we will be doing a little off roading, just not the Rubicon trail or anything, also he came with a western 6 foot poly snow plow, so thats part of its plan. Probably not something youd get a lot of use out of in Fla. but it will here in Nebraska.I noticed last night that while I was moving and applied the brakes it idled worse? Is there a thread here for installing the Weber? Thanks Metalmover

I know this sounds funny but check the wiring harness that runs from the carb to the emissions box located on the driver side fender. One harness has 8 wires, the other 7. Make sure there hooked up to the right pig tail as they both will mate up. During the rebuild process I made this simple mistake and a lot of what your explaining sounds eerily familiar...

Ok, Ill check that, to be on the safe side, however last night I drove it home from work and right now the snow plow lights are on it and last night I left on the light switch for the plow lights and had turned them off by the regular switch(they both have to be on to work the plow lights)and the guy I bought him from said it would drain the battery if I left it on, well I go out to start it this morning and the battery is almost dead, however it still started, the 4x4lock light was on and as it had been doing the idle seemed to be ok on cold start, well this time when it Idled down it idled perfectly???? It was 15 degrees this am, however Ive been driving it all day and its all good???? Maybe he knows I'm going to treat him good and I also ordered the Weber carb. yesterday.I might be able to wait till spring to install. So who knows. Ive been running BP premium fuel with some Seafoam in it. Well Its suppose to snow 6 inches here tomorrow, Ill put him to the test on a light one then back in the shop to re torque the head bolts and service the manual transmission. Already did the diffs. and the transfer case 2 days ago. Wish me luck!!!!

MM, check for leaks in the brake booster hose. It comes off the #4 runner, IIRC (been a LONG time since I owned a carby 2.6). This sounds like a vac leak of some kind - I noted that spraying around the rear of the carb where the hose is helped...