GT550 ram air kick start help please

[Backitoff]

Hi my Kick start shaft has broken just before it enters the outer casing. I bought another complete shaft and wanted to know how hard it is to replace? Any advice or points in the right direction would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

[CBWELLS]

How hard? It's a job, no magic, just a job! Unless there's some secret I don't know about, the engine comes out of the frame, then ya just split the cases (be sure to remove ALL the bolts on both sides). Then it's easy,...just lift the old one out & drop in the replacement....well ALMOST that easy. You'll probably spend some time getting the return spring set right so the kicker returns properly, but you'll get there. Then ya just put it back together. Easy right! Old Chinese Proverb: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!" Each step unto itself is is pretty easy, but ya do have to pay attention, have some patience, time, space, tools, inclination, & did I mention patience! Oh yeah, a bunch of plastic containers & a Sharpie Pen to keep track of all the small hardware etc. Take pix if ya can & label things as ya take it apart. It will surely help when ya start putting it back together. It's as much fun puttin' the engine back in the frame as it was takin' it out! Good to have a strong friend to help at both start & finish. Good luck & do try to keep the old girl alive. Hate to have the world loose another GT550. They're getting to be kinda scarce!

[CBWELLS]

OOPS! I double-posted my reply so now I've deleted the copy. Keep smilin'!

[Backitoff]

Thanks very much for the advice. it was kinda what I expected.
She starts fine on the botton right now, so I'll save the shaft job until i'm ready to do a full rebuild!