Kicker broke the cover?

[Redbird]

Was taking my DS7 out of hibernation today. I had kicked her over several times on a handful of sessions, in order to get her to wake up. On what was (coincidently) my last kick, the kicker seemed to bind for a second. I then heard a light "crack" sound as the kicker freed up and followed through. She popped right off and I ran her for a minute or so before shutting off. As I was picking up tools I noticed the puddle of oil under the kicker. Upon further investigation, I realized the engine cover was blown out around the kicker shaft. My questions are... What caused this in the first place? And what, if anything, should I be looking at besides replacing the cover? TIA

[rodneya]

Check that the idler gear is not wobbly and the washer and clip are in place. same with the tach drive gear

[m in sc]

yikes

ive seen the stop part of the case wear and it cam the kicker mechanism out and load the cover and break it before. pulling the clutch cover will tell the tale. -hopefully- it didnt damage the case. ive seen the case crack in the hole the kicker goes into as well.

IF thats the situation, might be replacement cases time. 

[gargantua350]

I had the same problem with my R5.  I changed out the whole kickstarter assembly and that seemed to fix the issue.  I didn't damage the case lucky for me but just the side cover.  I replaced it with an RD350 kick starter assy and it dropped right in no prob.

[Redbird]

Thanks Guys, I'm gonna pull the cover tomorrow evening and see how bad the carnage is. Hopefully it's just the cover, but if it took out the case too... looks like I'll be "forced" to buy pistons for the RD350 engine and it will finally go in :P

[rodneya]

High compression motors with lots of timing can kick back when starting if you kick them like a girl and dont follow all the way through and break the case. This shouldn't be the case with a stock motor.

[Redbird]

Mark, what am I looking for regarding the broken stop? TIA

[m in sc]

you have to pull the gear out to investigate behind it.

ask how i know...  whatever is wrong w the case, if anything, will be evident behind there.

this happened when mine ran backwards with a 1at gen mzb/vape unit back in.. 08?

[Redbird]

Hey Mark, I'm not seeing any carnage. But since you know what to look for, if you wouldn't mind giving me a second opinion...

[m in sc]

looks fine. weird.  just make sure the small washer is on the shaft when reassembling. (goes between the kicker gear on the shaft behind the cover

[Redbird]

"Weird" was about what I said too. Guess I'll put the other cover on and cross my fingers that it was a fluke.
Yes, washers on both ends are there. Thanks for the help Mark ;)

[rodneya]

Make sure when you kick the bike you kick it hard and follow all the way through. Half arsed kicks and stopping part way can cause the motor to kick back like trying to start backwards and a broken cover is often the result.

[gargantua350]

Just a thought.  Perhaps you can put the assembly back in and rotate it with the kick starter and see if there's anything wrong( with the cover off).  Maybe by visual inspection of the moving parts?

[rlgrantjr]

This morning I pulled a 350 bottom end apart and found that the case stop is cracked and deformed slightly.  Not so bad that it's not fixable and the cover
was not broken.

[m in sc]

and dont kick the living shit out of it with ally our weight either. its just cast aluminum holding it in... its not an old panhead.