KICKSTART Problem

[Strummer10]

Guys, slightly bewildered so thought I would float this one.

Mate has Indian GP 200 and has recently had trouble with kicking it over. Sometimes the kickstart engages fine with the first gear cog and starts the bike, then seemingly for no apparent reason it can just completely kick down and miss engaging at all meaning you foot thumps the kickstart to the floor ??

We have had the chaincase off and replaced the piston which seemed to work for a while then gone back to the same problem (also with a new spring). This time we checked it up against another shaft and noticed the piston did not pop out the top of the kickstart as did other examples (ie; another 2 kickstarts in the shed showed the piston sides sprung out about 5 mms when the kickstart was pushed downwards). We therefore decided to slot out further the kickshaft slot where the pin is located (probably more than needed in honesty , and to be clear the pin sits on the GP ramp arrangement built into the gearbox endplate (rather than the L.I set up) so they kind of governs travel in any case). This now allows the piston to go further outwards towards first gear which in theory should improve the situation if there was a shortfall before, but the problem is still there !!!!.

I have checked first gear splines and those on the kickshaft piston and they seem fine ?

ANY IDEAS ?

[rosscla]

Is the pin itself burr free?

[Strummer10]

Hi, yes seems fine. Out the bike it was retracting and popping out ok. Quite frustrating as I've never dealt with such an issue.

[barnsleybilly]

Common solution is to have the chaincase side drilled and tapped to fit an Li ramp and chop the ramp off the endplate.

This will allow you to adjust where the piston starts to engage the first gear teeth.

[wayne cudine]

That's just what I did with my gp end plate as there wasn't enough travel on the kickstart with the ramp attached. Think the li/sx et al system works much better than the gp set up.

[Den 08]

check kickstart shaft, I had same problem done the same new plunger etc (damaged teeth) ok for a few weeks happened again took it apart after reading posts on here
shaft slightly bent, heavy footed f@@ker, anyway new shaft indian from SR problem solved, not saying that's your problem but worth a look

[alanscottj]

I had the same problem, over time I have replaced the shaft and plunger with Tino Satchi ones (really good quality in my humble opinion). Also, I was told to put a tiny nut down the hole where the spring sits for the plunger, it just depresses the spring a little and makes it comes out stronger.

[HxPaul]

Is the endplate sitting right down on the case.If it is sitting to high the ramp will prevent plunger from coming right out of the shaft and will stop it from making contact with first gear.

[Strummer10]

thanks All. I must confess someone has previously ground out quite a bit of metal from the shoulder of the kickstart where it sits against the inside of the chaincase, such that it is possible the shaft could have lost strength and may be bent. HX Paul, yes endplate is nice and tightened down. Might therefore be worth changing the shaft and also go for an LI set up.

[fairspares]

ANY IDEAS? Check the front cog bolt is tightened down correctly, 22 to 25 lbs.