T500 Kickstart reassembly question

[Frank]

I'm putting my T500 crankcases back together after a rebuild. I was trying to see if I could install the bolt that holds the kickstart mechanism from rotating (the one that comes in on the right hand side) but w/o assembling the crankcases. I'm trying to understand how the mechanism works. I can turn the kickstarter in the direction it's supposed to go but cannot make it turn far enough to insert the bolt. It feels like it's bottoming out on something before I can rotate it far enough. Hints, thoughts, etc? Do I have to wait until the other crankcase half is back on?

Thanks folks.

[CJF]

I went through the same thing a month ago when I was assembling my engine. I took a while to figure out and hard to explain. Basically, you need to turn the kick start mechanism to wind up the spring, depress the spring mechanism in the kick start pawl with a screw driver and then screw in the bolt on the end of the crank case. Hope this helps...BTW the manual may descibe how to do this a little better than I can.

[diamondj]

Frank,

The pawl is catching the assembly so that you can't turn it as far as you need to go.

What I do is this:

Put the kick start lever back on the shaft so I can use it to turn the shaft.

Loosen the phillips head clamping screw that holds the shaft down so that you can lift the ratchet/pawl end about 1/8" above the cases.

Loosen the retaining bolt so that it's out of the way of the stop on the kickstart shaft.

Rotate the bushing cap so that the tab on it is holding the pawl down against the shaft.

Now the tricky bit - rotate the kick start shaft clockwise (as viewed from the kick start lever side of the engine looking towards the engine) with the kick start lever. While you are doing this, hold the bushing on the other end of the shaft slightly above the crankcase and turn it with the shaft so that the pawl is held down. Once you get the tab on the starter ratchet above the bolt, screw the bolt into the block by hand while holding tension on the lever. Then you need to press down the bushing and slowly rotate it so that it drops onto the retaining dowel in the block. You'll need to hold this in place while you tighten the phillips head clamping screw.

At this point you'll hopefully have the kick starter back in place an tensioned correctly. Or you'll be cussing me! You can also tighten the phillips screw before locating the bushing on the pin but you can't tighten it all the way or you won't be able to turn the bushing.

This process is also on page 56 of the service manual posted here:

http://file.walagata.com/w/sundialmotos ... kiT500.pdf

They recommend you use a screwdriver to hold the pawl (which is where you are getting stuck) but I've had more luck just turning the bushing to hold down the pawl.

Hope this helps!

Jim

[diamondj]

Oh and if you're going to do the oil capacity modification for a 1200 cc crankcase, do it before you put the kick start back in!

Jim

[Frank]

THANKS FELLAS! (I've already done the oil level mod.) Having this other info will make it a lot easier. It sounds like I need to grow another hand!