Faulty Kickstarter Return Spring

[qcowboy]

Howdy gang! New guy here, off in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, in Wyoming, USA. I recently purchased a 1982 SWM TL320. It has been sitting for some time, and I've begun the process of bringing it back to life.

Since people always like photos, here it is:

Last night I drained the oil from the transmission, and removed the clutch cover while I was at it, to get a sense how dirty things might be inside. I found oil that clearly had a great deal of water mixed in. Since the bike was running, and I had ridden it a bit in the course of the purchase, the oil and water were mixed into a thick goo that resembled a chocolate milkshake. Good to see that gone! Things were remarkably clean inside once the old oil was drained away.

When I re-assembled the clutch cover , and re-installed the kickstarter and shifter, I found that the kickstarter would no longer return upright after I kicked the engine over. I have to lift it back up with my foot. I also found that something is interfereing insdie the engine, when running. It sounds like the ratchet mechanism that makes the kickstarter work is not disengaging. I can make the noise stop by fiddling with the kickstart lever.

I'm wondering whether the spring that returns the kickstarter may have broken or been moved while I was working on the engine. I cannot tell from the engine diagram I have, where exactly this spring resides. I recall hearing a sound that reminded me of a spring popping loose, which occurred when I removed the drain plug from the engine.

Can someone tell me where the return spring is located, and whether I'm making a beginners mistake here? Help! I wanna ride my new toy!

[b40rt]

It is easy to take the wrong bolt out when trying to drain the oil. You maybe undid the kickstart return spring, from memory you can retension it by putting the bolt back in and rotating the kick start to put tension back into the spring. Cant remember the details but it is really easy to do.

[motovintage]

check with this guy, it looks like he is fairly close to you too

http://midwest-swm.tripod.com/

[qcowboy]

B40RT, it appears you've hit the nail on the head. I removed the kickstart spring retainer bolt. Unfortunately, without some instruction, I'm having no luck getting the spring rewound. I've tried several times, and I cannot seem to get it right. Which way should I be turning the kickstarter to rewind the spring?

I only kicked the bike over a few times before I broke it. Now I can't recall whether the kickstarter actually retuns to its upright position, or whether I had to lift it each time. How is it supposed to operate?

[pedronicman]

try contacting martin matthews in th uk - www.motoswm.com

He will be able to definately help

[b40rt]

Unfotunatly I cant remember the details as my memory is sh**e, but I think you replace the bolt, gently kick it over and it will retension. All I do remember is that it is realy simple when you know how !

[martinm]

Unfotunatly I cant remember the details as my memory is sh**e, but I think you replace the bolt, gently kick it over and it will retension. All I do remember is that it is realy simple when you know how !

I have never managed to reset one this way, as they usually pop the end of the spring out of the kickstart ratchet gear. Unfortunatley you need to take the clutch off and preload the kickstart spring. I have found some diagrams of what you need to do here

Cheers

Martin

[qcowboy]

I have never managed to reset one this way, as they usually pop the end of the spring out of the kickstart ratchet gear. Unfortunately you need to take the clutch off and preload the kickstart spring. I have found some diagrams of what you need to do here

Cheers

Martin

Thanks for the link, and for your email explanation, Martin! I've just finished the repair, and all went well. I removed the clutch cover and clutch basket and did the repair as described in the link you posted. (Funny, those instructions don't mention the bit about the blood and missing skin when you try to rewind the ratchet with your fingers!)

I thought a lot about the discussions of easier repair methods, and concluded that it is unlikely that this repair could be done without removing the clutch basket. If the end of the spring did not pop out of the ratchet gear, it would be theoretically possible to rewind the spring tension, but practically almost impossible. It would be impossible because the kickstart lever cannot be rotated far enough to rewind the spring. The lever interferes with the clutch cover, and so has a limited range of motion. Too limited to re-tension the spring. With the clutch cover and clutch basket removed, you can rotate the kickstart lever 360 degrees, and most of that 360 degrees is necessary to wind the spring adequately. Just my observation. Some people may get lucky.

As long as I had the clutch apart, I also filed off the rough edges of the clutch basket "fingers" to improve the smoothness of the clutch. I also welded an extension on my clutch actuating lever, to make the clutch lever lighter in my hand, without removing springs. Now it's after midnight, and I'm tempted to go back out and install the new tires that arrived today. I have a long holiday weekend, and I want to ride the bike!

[b40rt]

Thanks for the link, and for your email explanation, Martin! I've just finished the repair, and all went well. I removed the clutch cover and clutch basket and did the repair as described in the link you posted. (Funny, those instructions don't mention the bit about the blood and missing skin when you try to rewind the ratchet with your fingers!)

I thought a lot about the discussions of easier repair methods, and concluded that it is unlikely that this repair could be done without removing the clutch basket. If the end of the spring did not pop out of the ratchet gear, it would be theoretically possible to rewind the spring tension, but practically almost impossible. It would be impossible because the kickstart lever cannot be rotated far enough to rewind the spring. The lever interferes with the clutch cover, and so has a limited range of motion. Too limited to re-tension the spring. With the clutch cover and clutch basket removed, you can rotate the kickstart lever 360 degrees, and most of that 360 degrees is necessary to wind the spring adequately. Just my observation. Some people may get lucky.

As long as I had the clutch apart, I also filed off the rough edges of the clutch basket "fingers" to improve the smoothness of the clutch. I also welded an extension on my clutch actuating lever, to make the clutch lever lighter in my hand, without removing springs. Now it's after midnight, and I'm tempted to go back out and install the new tires that arrived today. I have a long holiday weekend, and I want to ride the bike!

I'm sure it is possible, as I had to do it myself, and was told how to do this by Davie Mowat, who some will remember was a mechanic at Ernie Page's bike shop in Edinburgh.