Ensign BJ carb

Well I have had this carb apart more times than I care to remember. I have a brass float that I bought new last year. Even though it ran and I used it in parades and shows. I could never leave the gas on. I would turn it on and start it right way. Shut the valve and let it die. This spring it was worse, gas ran right though like it had no float.

Mark-Ia, I ordered a new Harley Indian float like you suggested. I wish I could find a flow diagram for this carb, but, I do work with a lot of tillotson and mikuni carbs on snowmobiles and several types of motorcycle carbs plus a lot of different engines.
I have looked this carb over quite well and I believe I know how the low/idle and load circuits work. All I can come up with is the brass float is not working no matter how you set it. Even when set so low it barely has any travel. It will not shut the gas off.
I put it in a bowl of gas to see how it floats. Not much buoyancy.
I sure hope the foam float is better. Most if not all new carbs use the closed cell foam floats, so they have to be better.
I found a really good gasket material for the barrel that the load jet screws into in the center of the float bowl. Just enough crush to seal both ends, with the cover gasket at the same time. The brass float seams like it could be bigger with more floatation, but that is the way somebody designed it. There is a lot of room around it.
Does anybody know if there is a rubber tipped needle for the Ensign BJ carbs? I have a new needle and seat and I don't think it leaks when I blow though it , it seats fine , but a rubber tipped might be better.

Just a thought-went through this with a John Deere D. The bowl vent was plugged.

Does your D use a Ensign BJ? I'm not familiar with all the D's. It has been many years since I owned a 44 D.
My carb is very clean, I disassembled it completely last year, and installed new shaft bushings and bead blasted it. Then cleaned it by soaking in carb cleaner and blew out the passages with compressed air. I bought a gasket kit, and needle and seat, and a new brass float.
I'm thinking the new brass float was never right, it leaked from day one.

I re-built a DLTX carb for a customer not long ago that had a like new float in it. Did exact same thing. After pulling my hair out , I took float out and sat it beside a brand new one that I had i stock, just to see if one was made wrong or somethng. As soon as I handled both of them , I could tell something was wrong. The one was a lot heavier than the new one out of the package. No fuel inside,just heavier. I took them both to auto store and had them weigh them on their paint scale. The one weighed in at 32 grams and the other 25. That's all it took to make it junk. yes, it would "float' but the boyancy in that small amount of fuel wasn't enough. Moral...aftermarket parts are , at best, hit or miss. I would say your brass float is too heavy. Get the foam and you will probably fix the problem. As for needle& seat...the all steel needles are far better than the junk so called "viton tipped" ones. Who knows what junk rubber they put on them in China? Probably our old recycled tires. I use steel only and I build hundreds of them. "NEW" means nothing anymore. Buyer be-ware.

Thanks for your reply. I'm thinking the same thing might be going on with mine. I have a foam float on the way. Sure will be nice to have it working correctly.

I had a brass float as mentioned and found it was too heavy for the amount of gas that was available in the bowl. The Nitrophyl(black) worked for me. That brass float will also fit a #3 carb for a Model D.