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500 Kick start assembly.

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Oddjob:
The one right on the end of the shaft Ted, they get stretched removing them and then reused and then they just fall into the sump and you get people asking "Why does my kickstart no longer work".

The ramp does interact with the steel section Ted, I seem to recall it's held away from the gear until the shaft starts to rotate when it then gets released and engages with the gear.

Oddjob:
I've looked at one of my kickstarts and the ramp engages with a small ramp on the metal guide plate, the thick gear is called the kickstart ratchet and the bronze gear is called the pinion, so ratchet and pinion from now on to avoid confusion.

The ratchet engages with the guide plate and is held away from the pinion when at rest, to aid this a small spring is fitted under the ratchet to force it off the pinion and another more powerful one on the outside forces it to engage with the pinion when the ramp disengages with the guide plate. As the kickstart shaft moves anti clockwise, when your using the kickstart, this moves the entire shaft anti clockwise, this disengages the ramp from the guide plate, the outer spring now forces the ratchet to engage with the pinion and this then turns the gearbox which in turn turns the engine over. The large strong spring fitted to the outside of the crankcase then forces the kickstart shaft back clockwise when the kickstart is let go and that forces the ramp on the ratchet up the ramp on the guide plate and pulls the ratchet away from the pinion, the inner spring aids this and helps keep it away from engaging when vibrating.

The ratchet is made so it slides on the shaft with really only 2 positions it can go, it has to move with the shaft as the shaft spins, this means the positioning of the ratchet is critical to ensure the ramps engage when the kickstart is at the rest position. Yours looks not to be. If you remove the ratchet and spin it into the other position I think that will make the 2 ramps meet. IIRC the kickstart itself has a large flat spot where the spring engages and this rests against part of the crankcase as it's resting position. So you fit the shaft in place, spin it to get that flat part to the correct position, engage the spring and then assemble the inside part. If you remove the circlip don't forget to fit a new one, 12mm ID external circlips are dirt cheap on Ebay, around £3.50 for 10.

I honestly can't remember ever doing this and finding it hard but saying that the kickstart shaft was hardly ever removed unless it had a fault or you were blasting the casings, most were just left in place.

Oddjob:
Forgot to mention Ted, DON'T forget to fit the external washer on the end of the kickstart shaft before fitting the clutch case. It's 18mm ID and around 2mm thick IIRC.

Don't fit it now or it will fall off before you fit the clutch case, I always keep it with the clutch and clutch case to remind me to fit it before I fit the casing.

McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
I can see your logic Ken I have spent over 3/4 of an hour trying to get it fit as it should but I am struggling atm - its a pain as when I get the ramp just right the end will not fit into it's location box in the lower crank case.

When I get the long part into the location case it comes out of the ramp. grrrr

I have taken a picture of the parts & with the ramp in place - I have been misled by the photo I took before I removed the kick start shaft. See below - it needs to be like that but with the ratchet part held open by the spring.

I'm going to leave it for now as its tea time - I will look at it afresh over the weekend.

First picture is before I dismantled last year - looks as though the ramp was already disengaged.

'3rd Oct 2022 by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

.kick start parts in order by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

.ramp effect by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

Oddjob:
It's possible Ted that you took the pic when the external spring was disengaged, this would allow the shaft to rotate and when that happens the ramps disengage as well.

Plus when you took the pic of it dismantled the order was already wrong, the special washer with the cutouts goes on before the large spring, not the other way around.

Try fitting it without the external spring engaged, so you can spin the shaft a little.

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