Bogs and dies in 1st when taking off

Hello all, I am a relative noob to dirt bikes. I purchased a 2004 FE550 last August. I have done a few things to it but nothing drastic. 2 weeks ago I went to Death Valley with friends. We rode a couple days and on the final day I started having trouble with my bike cutting out in first gear. It is kinda like its in too high of a gear- it sorta bogs and then just stops.
-It seemed at first like a clutch issue, I thought there was some thing not disengaging in the clutch but when I hold the clutch lever in no bog or problem in first (I realized this after rebuilding and bleeding the master cylinder).
-I realized after all that that it was boging a bit in the first 1/4 turn of the throttle even in neutral. I could get going if I really revved the bike but going slow in first would kill the bike.
-I have torn apart and reinstalled the carb 4 times, cleaned in the sonic cleaner, checked the jets, put the slide in backwards (fixed), "adjusted the float" which was a BIG mistake because I did it the way I do my kids CRF80 which turned out to be a disaster.
-The throttle position sensor has a broken wire so I have unplugged it since reading many posts that this is not critical to have on a carburated bike.

Finally got the bike to start again this morning. I STILL have the bogging issue in first gear.

I'm supposed to be going with the kids and girlfriend to Ocatillo Wells next weekend. The only guy that used to work on 'bergs in my area retired recently and every shop around here is super busy with spring fever bikes people are getting going for the nice weather. If Dad's gonna fix this its gonna have to be on my own.

Anyone known on the central coast of California that knows how to work on these please have them contact me. I'm near Santa Cruz.

Thanks

Thanks guys. I bought the bike from MotoXotica so I know the fellow there. They are 2.5 hours away though but doable. I will call them today.

Well, I took the bike the MotoXotica today. The guys were great there but were unable to correct the bog when starting to move in first gear.

Idle and throttle sound good in neutral but when in gear, there is a bog to the point of stopping the motor.

They upped the jet to 147 (I think) and replaced an old looking spark plug along with repairing the TPS sensor with a used one.

One strange thing they found, the needle has a notch for the circlip much lower than the stock one, anyone know what that is about?

Finally, its my understanding that the idle - 1/4 throttle has its own jet. Could the circuit associated with that have a blockage? Which jet and where does it go?

Thanks

There is TOO MUCH info on carbs and how they work. Taffy is right, a correct and thorough cleaning is what is needed first. I will attempt to put the jets back to the configuration they were when I started. Changing jets in this case may be simply addressing the symptoms and not the problem. For the bike to suddenly change so drastically something broke or clogged.

Some folks refer to different jets by different names, this is not helpful to people like me trying to get a handle on things.

If cleaning and returning to the original configuration does not help, I'll try to return it to stock configuration.

Finally, I will look at issues with ignition. My cheap inline spark light thing looked like the color was orange- I can't find info on the internet confirming this is a problem or not, plus it was my weak kick producing the orange light. Bike seems fine other than under load in first gear so I was thinking more about carb issue than electrical.

My owners manual shows stock settings for my FCR-41 as:

main jet: 182
Jet needle: OBDVT (OBDVR)
idle jet 38 (40)
main air jet: 200
idle air jet: 100
Needle position: 5th from top
Starting Jet 85
Mixture screw 1.5 turns
carb ID number: 4125B

Does this sound correct?

Taffy!

Taffy- I was able to get in touch with the original owner of the bike. He said it was your jetting kit installed in the bike (which ran great up until it suddenly changed.
I found my notes from the tear down and cleaning:
idle jet 40
start jet 85? (its hard to see the stamp exactly)
needle jet 165 (now changed to 172)
idle-air jet 45
main air jet 155
The needle is brass it looks like but I don't have a size from it.

If this sounds like your kit for a FE550 then I need to know what setting I need for the clip on the needle. My hope, is to clean it again tonight and restore to your kit settings.

Sound rational?