damn kickstart shaft!

Hi Phil,
I have personally installed late model shafts to several customer motorcycles with very little modification.

Perhaps you can post a couple of pictures? Doing so will help us better help you.



Best Regards,
Dale

Hello Phil,

I sent you a PM reply to your questions but thought I would also post up here as well. If you do not decide to use the shaft that you already have, give Dan a call over at Motoxotica and he can get you the piece you need that will slip right in. Take a peek at my gallery pics to see if any of it will help you out. I have included a link here in the post.

Kickstart shaft album

Regards,

Phil,

Let me try to explain how to do this...

1st) Place the kickstart shaft into the recessed socket so that the portion of the shaft that you are having problems hitting the edge of the case is in the 12 O'clock position. (Make sure the return spring is properly placed into the hole of the kickstart shaft and that the other end is properly curled around the sharp lipped edge of the engine case.)
2nd) Carefully assemble the kickstart shaft assembly so that the engagement key spring, engagement key, bearing, and gear are all on the shaft. (At this point you are trying to keep the kickstart shaft in the recessed hole and the return spring in its hole, but you might have to slightly move the shaft a bit in order to get all the parts into their proper positions.) *** Take your time and make sure all the bits and pieces are in place, add a little oil to them also for good action.
3rd) Once the kickstart shaft assembly is correctly pieced together, take the kick starter and place it onto the splines of the shaft so that it is facing 9 O'clock, you will want to screw the kick starter onto the shaft at this time without torquing it to tightly or adding any loctite.
4th) Now what you are going to do is, with one hand rotate the kick starter through its clockwise motion, with the other hand gently and easily, pull the kickstart shaft outwards from the socket of the engine half just enough to allow the extra material to clear the raised lip of the engine case... But do not pull it out any further than needed or the return spring of the kickstart shaft will come free and you will need to start over again. Once you have cleared the raised edge with the extra material, you should be able to continue rotating the kickstart shaft through its motion until it clears the engagement sledge on the engine case. Once you clear the engagement sledge, you should be able to push the kickstart shaft assembly fully back into the socket and release.
*** If you can, try not to use the screw to hold the kickstarter onto the shaft as you may need to remove and replace the kicker from the shaft a time or two during rotation as it might come into contact with the frame or other part of the bike. Trial and error will teach you, im sure you will figure it out once you get going with the whole thing.

You have the same shaft and your engine case looks the same as mine. You should not require any special machining or grinding. Just have a little patience and attention to details and you should work through it just fine. If there is anything here you don't understand let me know and I will try to clarify the best I can. I am typing this off memory so bare with me if something is not exactly as I have written but hopefully we will get this sorted once and for all and get you out on the trails again shortly. Take care.

Regards,

wetphil,

I had the same problem you are describing upon reassembly of my bike after the work was done to the kickstart shaft. Check this thread Here for more info on this topic.

To recap, I think once you relieve the tension from the six bolts and springs that holds the outer hub and the clutch basket together there is no longer any force holding the push rod against the slave cylinder of the hydraulic clutch. Now that there is no longer any "push" on the slave cylinder of the clutch, the fluid "relaxes" and the seals of the slave cylinder begin to leak the small amount of fluid that actuates the push rod. When you reassemble the clutch, there is no longer any fluid, or not enough, to actuate the clutch push rod so you no longer have a clutch... the clutch is permanently engaged. To correct this you will have to follow Taffys recommendation and bleed the clutch. I did exactly as mentioned in the link provided and everything was back to normal again. Remember to bleed from the slave cylinder up to the master cylinder reservoir for best results, this may take a few attempts in order to get it right. I used baby oil (Johnsons & Johnsons[mineral oil]) and it worked fine for me. A large bottle of baby oil is less than $2 and has enough fluid to flush and fill the system 20x. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Don't throw in me please stools, but I want to ask a question on this subject.

I should replace a shaft of a kikstarter on Berg the 96th years. to buy a shaft of the same year expensively. From this subject understood that in principle the shaft from late model can suit me. whether so it? Difficulties of transfer don't give is understood precisely. And still probably behind prescription of years of the picture in this subject were gone. who ?????? can show or send them to compare shaft side by side.

I have an earlier kickstart here. can you email me please and then I take and send you a photo of it

Taffy