DR600 kick starter dilemma, need input on solution

[Guest]

1986 Suzuki DR600. I was told from the PO that "something broke" with the kickstarter and it does not automatically return to it's folded in position against the engine, indeed the lever very loosely will flop in and out although I don't believe this will be an issue while riding, 'maybe'.



While I was kick starting the bike a c-clip that sits in a groove at the top of the spine came off so naturally I took things apart to fix it.



At first I thought the grove for the c-clip was worn but it looks as though it's fine, likely the c-clip is worn.



The outer hole on the lever had the remains of a pin that looked like it was hammered into the hole and then had it's head flattened, I filed it off and punched it out. When I saw the hole in the spline and the holes in the lever, and the fact that I had punched out an old pin, I immediately thought a pin would go through them both but that can't be as it would stop the lever from being able to rotate in towards the engine then out in ready to kick start the bike. I'm very baffled by this, does anyone have any ideas how this works? It really shouldn't be this difficult as there aren't that many parts, ha,ha.. I looked at a kick start from on of our 750es, they have no hole for a pin, a washer with a clip on top and there is definitely something inside the lever/spline that is giving some pressure so it can't flop back and forth as easily as this one. Any help is always appreciated.

[Guest]

I remember on some bikes that it was a ball bearing there that rotated when you moved the lever. Sometimes a small spring behind the ball bearing to put a little pressure on it.
Hopefully, this helps?

[JEEPRUSTY]

yeah a ball and spring was on a few of my bikes levers in days of old.

[JEEPRUSTY]

same lever is used on the sp600 if that helps you find a used relacement.

[Guest]

Great info guys, really appreciate it. Ok, the spring and two ball bearings makes perfect sense. I should be able to sort that out easy enough. Good to know about the SP600 part swap as well.

[earlfor]

Yep, a spring and a ball. Much like on a turn signal switch, only bigger.

[Guest]

Right you are guys, thanks for helping sort that out. Easily found a spring that I cut to length and found the exact sized bearings at my local bicycle shop. Now the problem is that the circlip pops off virtually every time I go to kick the bike. I believe the issue is that there is some slop in the lever and it's actually able to push on the circlip when it goes all the way down, popping it out of it's grove. arrrr.........I'll head to my machine shop tomorrow and see what they can sort out for me. If the lever can be ordered it looks to be around $180...forget that.

[JEEPRUSTY]

is the circlip on backwards?

I think the sharp edge goes to the outer part of the shaft.

[JEEPRUSTY]

also a fresh circlip is pretty much called for.

[Guest]

Ya, I bought a new circlip but I didn't realize there was an up or down, I'll check that. But like I said everything goes in fine but once it gets kicked down the lever can move just ever so much and pops the clip out.

[JEEPRUSTY]

I have had pretty sloppy mechanisms that did not pop a circlip. The circlip may not be thick enough or the groove may be worn somehow. A friendly 200 dollar an hour machine shop can fix it handily.

[Guest]

My machine shop did an excellent job. Deepened the grove and used a stronger E type circlip, built up the worn parts with weld and leveled them off. The old kickstarter is working like new again, along with the new spring and bearings.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Damn it all to hell man post an animated gif and use it as your avatar forever.