Kickstart gear

[nbriles2000]

I finally got finished polishing the ride side engine cover on my xs360, and now I've gotta put it all back together and I was wondering what was the best way to tension the spring on the kickstart gear. I'm hoping to have this bike back up and running this weekend of all goes well! Thanks in advance for any advice
PS I'm pretty new to engine work in general so pictures would be super helpful

 

[drewpy]

its not a full on tension, just use pliers and run it anti clockwise. the manual details it pretty well.

 

[nbriles2000]

Well the shop manual I have says I'm supposed to run it clockwise. How is it supposed to feel when it is in there correctly?

 

[drewpy]

Well the shop manual I have says I'm supposed to run it clockwise. How is it supposed to feel when it is in there correctly?

sorry my bad, clockwise, anti is the way the kicker works

 

[nbriles2000]

Lol its ok. I was just fiddling around with it for awhile and i think i got it! Should have a working bike again this weekend!

 

[nbriles2000]

Scratch that, something isn't working and now I've got a very weird problem. I got the kickstart gear to work just fine and function exactly how it should... until you put the cover back on. This has happened twice in a row now and I have no idea why. Is there a reason why the lever wont spring back into its upright position when the cover is on even though 5 minutes prior it was operating perfectly?

 

[nbriles2000]

Ok I've figured out that the kickstart gear stops moving freely when the sidecover bolts are tightened (and when I say "tightened," I mean barely any pressure, two finger tightened")
Is this because there is no oil in the bike or is there another reason all together? I have the small washer on the end of the gear that goes into the crankcase and there is a circlip and another small washer on the opposite end of shaft and I'm pretty sure that is all supposed to be there.. Really damn confused

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

Sounds like it's getting jammed somehow. This is what mine looked like when I pulled it out: