gioventures
New Member
Okay guys, so heres the story. Out for a test ride around the block. Everything is working decently when all of a sudden i noticed my kick start lever popping out of place and gently tapping me against my leg while riding... I knew right away that something was wrong. In my mind I'm thinking, best case, the locking knuckle is just loose and needs to be tightened, worst case scenario, something internally isn't right..well, worst case scenario happened...trying to get her home, taking it easy and cruising as much with minimal throttle input, First gear, making right turn and start accelerating to about 3k rpm from a stop. At about 20-25mph kick start slaps out and slams its self down past my leg as if a ghost decided to kick start it mid ride, and gets lodged between my 4-1 carpy exhaust and rear break lever. (My matte black ceramic coated. carpy 4-1, got scratched up and chipped up.. Not too happy about that..) any way, this all caused my rear tire to lock up instantly bringing me to a thankfully upright skid. I quickly stuck my kegs out and kept her balanced while the tail skid back and fourth. After finding neutral out of frustration amidst traffic coming at me, i managed to walk her onto the sidewalk. After yanking the kick start lever out from between the exhaust and rear brake lever, a few curse words later and i decided to try my luck on starting her up again and popping her into first gear and gently applying some acceleration. Once i did that she didn't want to go any where. Clearly some internal gear was bound up and didnt want to move. Getting the damn thing back home safely, i popped the oil pan out from under the motor and prepared my self for a shrapnel fest.. Turns out it wasnt as bad as i thought but still frustrating. I found what seems to be a broken sprocket tooth from the kick starter starter sprocket and a smaller piece of metal from what i assume would a chip from the main starter gear. Looking into the underside i can clearly see that the kick start gear is initiated and wont spring bsck into idle position. I gently tapped the electric start to see if it could nudge it and pop it back into idle position. No such luck. It just moved the kick start lever up and down along with it. All gears are free when in neutral and will rotate. So based on the pictures, can any one give me some insight as to what may have gone wrong here? Also what my next step is? And before any one gives me any lip, a few disclaimers. Yes the kick start lever is off of a 550 and not a 500, the kick start assembly is 500. And yes you'll see some steel aircraft tie wire at the end of the retaining eclip keeping the kick start assembly shaft parts together. I did this because the eclip would keep popping off durring installation and im still waiting forth the new one to arrive. Other than that, id like to hear suggestions and thoughts. Id like to get her out on the road again!
