Kicker Bushing Project (woolgathering)

[James England]

How about making a kind of internal support structure round the original boss, using JB Weld Cold Cure?

[TomB]

That looks like a good idea to me. It's got to be better than a steel shaft rotating in an alloy housing and I therefore would not be concerned re it not being a bronze bush or whatever. If you get the sealing side of things sorted out, I'd say it's an excellent idea and a good use for part of a broken wheel bearing.

Personally, I've never liked the OEM setup with its lack of bush or bearing. It is, after all, supposed to be an emergency kickstart but many people use the kickstart regularly.

Do it! Get a seal in and post pix!

I don't think the kick shaft running directly in the aluminium housing is an issue, after all the camshafts seem to manage for a lot more rotations than the kick shaft will ever do, albeit with perssure fed lube. The kick shaft is well lubed for the amount of times it gets used.

The theory of more support is a good one, my '62 Honda 305 (Hawk) had a habit of cracking around the casing but had a fibre type bush. I made a soft steel replacement bush with scrolls for lube as it was in the dry casing and had a grease nipple. Again I wouldn't think it an issue on the XS1100.

[TopCatGr58]

Good thought, in the poor man's non-precise machine shop put the inner race over a screwdriver shaft and lightly touch it to a bench grinder. The race will spin and the grinder will still take material off at a relatively even rate.

Hey Nate,

In a similar situation, I had a piece of machinery that I/we use at work to do eye exams. It was a simple shaft that needed to allow an equipment arm to swing/swivel on, and to also be able to be pressure locked in position. It was designed with a snug interference fit, but the graphite lube had gotten rubbed off after many years, and the shaft seemed to have gotten a little bent, as well as galled from the increased friction of the arm that swivelled around/on it! I took it apart and brought it home, fitted the shaft into my hand drill chuck, and then fired up my flat flap grinding disc on a standing motor and was able to fairly evenly grind the galling off of the surface without removing too much material so it still had the MILD interference fit, relubed with GREASE, and reinstalled, worked great!

However, because he will probably want a fairly snug and well sealing interference fit, he'll probably want the machine shop to just chuck the bearing in a lathe to be able to whittle down the thickness with a nice smooth even surface that they can then match bore the crank case to.

Tom B, you're right with a NORMAL electrically started XS11 that would only rarely need the kick starter, but in Scott's case, he primarily kick starts the bike, so it sees a quantum more amount of wear, and that's why he's looking to install a sturdier collar/sleeve to prevent the wear he's already seen in his crankcase/clutch cover.

T.C.

[TomB]

Hey Nate,
Tom B, you're right with a NORMAL electrically started XS11 that would only rarely need the kick starter, but in Scott's case, he primarily kick starts the bike, so it sees a quantum more amount of wear, and that's why he's looking to install a sturdier collar/sleeve to prevent the wear he's already seen in his crankcase/clutch cover.

T.C.

Sorry my mistake, what he said earlier made me think there was no issue with wear.

I'm more surprised that the rear axle and the kicker shafts are the same diameter than worried about wear on the kicker assembly or the race/bushing..

3phase, if you really want to do the mod I'd suggest using a needle roller with no inner race, so the needles bear straight onto the kicker shaft, the outer race will be a smaller diameter which will fit in the clutch cover or need a sleeve making which will keep the original ali cover strength. Alternatively fit a sealed (2RS) deep groove ball race bearing where the lip seal fits in the cover.

[natemoen]

TC, even if it was a slightly loose interference fit, you should use the locktight intended for interference fits and it would be perfectly fine in Scotts situation here.

[3Phase]

Nate, a needle bearing would be so totally cool but it's not free like the inner race that was on its way to the recycle bin until I stuck it on the kicker assembly to get it off the workbench for a minute. It went on faster than The Ring when Bilbo stuck his hand in his pocket....

I wasn't able to get to the machine shop today but the inner race OD is, like, three tiny decimal places under 1"(25mm). That is a very expensive drill bit. I could source a regular insert made out of (whatever) and have it installed but where's the fun in that?

For now I've just used another clutch cover that's practically new so there's no wear at all.
.

[WMarshy]

Just for reference, does anyone know where the thread about adding a kick start to the later models is located? Thanks.

[3Phase]

Just for reference, does anyone know where the thread about adding a kick start to the later models is located? Thanks.

I can't find it either and it depends on how late-model the engine is, the XJ doesn't even have the idler gear.

When I added a kicker to my '80G there was a small part or three left off of the idler gear bendix because it wasn't supposed to have a kicker.


1979 XS1100F Starter Diagram


You need parts:
1 to 8
13 and 14
17 to 21

In the diagram below you can see that the transmission Middle Drive Gear, #29, is larger than the 1st Gear Wheel, #28, and it's outboard of the 1st Gear Wheel. I think you have to split the case or pull the gear stack out of the transmission like you do for the 2nd gear fix to get the ratchet wheel onto the bendix and next to the idler gear.


1979 XS1100F Transmission Diagram



On-Thread Final Note: I gave up on the idea of using the rear wheel bearing inner race as a kicker bushing. It would work fine but it's not something I can do at home or have done at a shop for less money, time and trouble than just replacing a worn out engine cover with a good one.

.

[WMarshy]

Thanks for your info Scott.