Kickstarter not working....

[Norman1950]

Working on my bike last night and getting near the end of the build and decided to try to kick it over with the kickstarter. And it said nope...

Kind of confused on this one... When I got the bike it would kick over fine. Just had very low compression.

Got the top end machined and put back together per all the specs. I am able to turn over the engine by the crank just fine.

So when I went to kick it over the kickstarter acts like it doesn't want to engage the flywheel. I have taken the kickstarter in and out several times to see if there was something I was missing. Made sure the shim is on the back of the shaft. Got the dog ear for the stop lined up at the bottom. The gear spring in its right place and the return spring wound up to the stand off.

When I pull in the clutch I am able to push the kickstarter all the way down and it engages the flywheel just fine. But once I release the clutch it acts as if the fly wheel is frozen.

I have read too many problems with the rear mount breaking so didn't want to crank on it too hard. But I am able to almost put my full weight on the kickstarter and the engine won't turn. I took out the spark plugs to make sure there was no pressure building up also put a little oil down the cylinder to make sure it has some on the sides.

Also took apart the clutch to make sure nothing was holding it up on that end and everything looks great from there.

Any ideas? Am I just not getting the kickstarter lined up properly?

Thanks for your help.

(forgot to mention, this is a kickstart only bike... 1976 XS360-2D)

 

[arfstrom]

take the plugs out, and spin it. maybe put some oil into the plug holes. (at least for the first troubleshooting step.)

 

[rshutchinson]

Do you have a pic of the kickstart with the sidecover off?

 

[Norman1950]

take the plugs out, and spin it. maybe put some oil into the plug holes. (at least for the first troubleshooting step.)

That is one of the first things I did...

Do you have a pic of the kickstart with the sidecover off?

Not at the moment, my phone was dying while I was working on it. Hopefully I can get back to the shop in the next couple of days and I will post some pictures.


Thank you.

 

[Norman1950]

Here is a picture of the kickstarter installed. Also attached a video of what is happening and when I pull the clutch in. Today I rotated the engine at the crank and was able to engage the kickstarter and the meshed fine. But still when I am pushing down on the kickstarter it just doesn't want to budge the flywheel by itself... oh so stumped.

 

[Liamthedevastator]

Silly question but are you in gear?

 

[drewpy]

please don't use the kicker with no cover on, it stresses the inner web mount and will break. check other threads on peeps who did this and had to scrap the engine crankcase.

get the cover on, and get some weight behind it. it will be stiff at first as you have worked on the engine and it needs bedding in.

pulling in the clutch disengages the trans with the crank so yes, it will be easier!!

don't forget to put engine oil in either first

 

[arfstrom]

This is a thread some time ago, about perhaps the same issue. http://www.xs400.com/forum/showpost.php?p=87069&postcount=14

It turned out I had put the circlip on wrong. and it was because I was certain there should be a spacer in there. There is two Youtube videos near the begining of the thread. I chose this post, because I lived in MN at the time, and the State bird was in it, and you can clearly see the differences of where the circlip should be verses with out the circlip.

 

[Liamthedevastator]

Woah, I'm taking mechanical engineering and I totally understand why this is the case... without a couple (in this case the kickstarter hole in the case cover) a moment (torque) will develop in the mounting bracket, and since your body weight will produce a significant amount of force the moment-torque created when using the kickstarter without the cover on (the couple that effectively eliminates any moment from developing) is greater than the aluminum can support, and it fails.

I can't believe I understand this stuff in it's technical terms now. I feel like Superman.

 

[Norman1950]

Thank you all for your input. I did read about breaking the rear kick starter mount breaking without the case on. So luckily I haven't tried to crank on it with out the cover on. I took the cover back off to take a picture and the video.

Do i just need to put the cover back on and kick it pretty dang hard? just don't want to break the rear mount.

Thanks

 

[drewpy]

Thank you all for your input. I did read about breaking the rear kick starter mount breaking without the case on. So luckily I haven't tried to crank on it with out the cover on. I took the cover back off to take a picture and the video.

Do i just need to put the cover back on and kick it pretty dang hard? just don't want to break the rear mount.

Thanks

load the kicker up first before swinging down , don't kick it even though its called a kick start.

 

[Norman1950]

Well apparently I am a wimp. I was afraid to"kick" hard as I had read about the rear mount breaking. Torqued the side cover on and it kicked right on over like it was supposed to.

Guess that is what I get for being over cautious and under confident of the reassembling process.

Thank you all for your help and responses. That is why I enjoy forums like these.