So since I bought my bike about 1 1/2 years ago, it has been a nightmare to do any work on my bike concerning removal of the carburetor. You may say "don't worry you'll get the hang of it, it just takes practice". No. Look at what the P.O did to the screw that hold the throttle cable bracket to the carb.



Upon subsequent removal of the carb (various jetting attemps and of course the big bore kit), I couldn't seat the screw properly, which meant 1 thing, my throttle bracket would pop off periodically causing my throttle to pretty much be non existent up until the last 1/8 of pull. This lead to pulling over, burning my hands on the head to try to work the bracket back over the nub it sits on.

I tried fixing it yesterday and made it even worse!!!! So all day today I was riding around with the throttle about to fall of and about 1/3 of the throttle pull was free play. I've just about had it with this finicky POS.

But wait the trouble doesn't end there, the Kawasaki OEM part is listed as a 5X10 screw (which by the way is $5.00). Do you guys know of any screw of 5X10? I don't. Neither do any of the Lowes Employees either. M3-.5X10 would be my guess, but nope that size doesn't even exist, even if it did, M3 is far too skinny. The M4 was also too skinny and didn't come in a 5X10 size. Hell the M5 looked too fat and only came in M5-.8X12. I was at Lowes for 1.5 hours trying to figure out the bolt size, because if I took the screw out, I would have no way of getting home (there was no way it would screw back in...). I took a leap of faith and bought what I thought was the correct size and rode home praying that I made the right purchase.

I came home with 3 of these...for $1.00



This is that M5-.80X12 hex head screw. Thank the lord it fit better than the original, the original wouldn't seat right which caused it to be hard to screw in, which made the stripping you saw in the first picture gradually worse. Note the threads of the screws are NOT the same, but this screw is so much smoother to install, it almost glides into the hole. The only issue with this screw is it is a tad too long, so I just put in a lock washer seen here to avoid the trip back to Lowes...



All is well, no more throttle cable play, no more bracket jumping off the nub half way through the turn, no more stripping of screws, carb removal is no longer a fear of "can I get that screw back on?". I'm a happy camper

 

That was just something terrible! Glad it didn't happen to me.

 

Glad you solved the problem.
Original issue was probably due to using a Philips screwdriver on a JIS screw.
Another place to look for the fastener you needed would be a bicycle shop.

 

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy
You are probably correct, that and when I first got the bike he had it screwed in at an angle...I didn't even think of the bicycle shop! I suppose I was flabbergasted at the lack of information regarding what size screw I needed, so I thought a large store like Lowes would give me the best chance of finding it.

 

My carb's drain screw head was pretty much undone by the previous owner(s). I just ground a slot into it and used a regular screw driver

I just measured the screw on my bike like you replaced and it's .8 thread pitch

 

At least you have a PO to blame it on! All the frozen bolts, and the like, are all my fault...think salt/sand baths all winter.
Current bolts to be removed - two broken rear brake MC bolts - guard bolts were crap(I knew I should have upgraded them) and the heads twisted off, now I have two studs frozen into the MC body and have nuts on the bolts to keep the MC in place.
I've previously broken a chain adjustment bolt, had to drill it out of the swingarm with an 8" long drill bit...broke a tail plastic because the bolt spun the metal tab with the nut welded on it...I'm sure there will be more as I pull the bike apart this spring for a cleaning.

 

^ ha that sucks! I remember a couple months ago I was trying to remove my brake lever, and I forgot about the nut on the bottom and took a 1/2" drive and just snapped that sucker. Figured it would be ok to have the bolt in there (snapped just as the threads), but nope, 70mph getting off the freeway on the on ramp my front brake is NOT THERE! Bolt falls out the top of the bracket from the vibration.

Needless to say on my way home I stopped by a friends house who has a rusted away 95 kawasaki 750 ltd and stole the brake lever bolt...

 

Sounds like you got....wait for it...........wait for it..........screwed. Sorry I had to. LOL glad its fixed, but man that was brutal!

 

 

Not sure why but I've had a lot of bikes that were worked on by idiots lots of bolts as tight as they could get them to the point of damage.