On my 68 Yamaha I am trying to remove the floats. There is a small plastic cap on the float rod. I tried pulling the cap off. I thought I had better find out if there is a trick to removing these things before  I screw them up. I will probably never find another. Any. thoughts? Stan

Just use your thumbnail. Needle nose pliers work too. Easy to lose. I lost mine and now put the bowl on from the bottom. They just make it easier to install the bowl. 

Be careful not to bend the rods as easy to do. I just use some small side cutters out of my wife's sewing box [not missed them yet lol] & just lever them over & off. Do you really need to remove the floats. Favourite trick is putting the floats on the pins upsidedown. Guy at work did on a TD2 250 twin roadracer when new [had to have a play] then turned up at the race & it wouldn't run haha.

Anything original on these bikes that was flexible at all is now hardened. I use a heat gun for many tasks that I don't want to ruin an originally soft part. Just be aware of what you are doing with hot items around fuel. With the carb apart I wouldn't hesitate to use a heat gun. I've removed/reinstalled a number of them to clean/polish those rods.

I have softened the plastic caps in close to boiling hot water .
They were much easier to remove or install once softened .