Kickstart shaft question

[GMP]

Shoulder feels pretty good so I decided to start wrenching on the GG.

My kickstarter had slightly more than an occasional slip, so I pulled that apart. The rachet teeth on the gear are worn flat on the edges, and the pinion has a few chips. I know there were issues with weak springs on some '07s and expected this. What I found (or did not find) that bugs me is the 1mm thk washer that is supposed to go between the shaft and the center case was missing. This could allow the shaft to move back into the cases 1mm and allow the rachet to "back out" of engagement 1mm.

You guys who have done this recently (Kevin, you have right?), has your bike had a washer on the shaft end per the drawing? I honestly don't remember if my '00 or '03 had them as its been awhile since I was into those bikes.

I took a lot of pics I'll post up in the near future. I planned to do the top end, but everything looked great, clean, and compression was still 190 PSI so I decided to let it go for awhile yet.

Thanks guys.

[fury1]

I didnt notice when I did my 300,I just put it together the way it came apart,Ill look a little closer when I tackle this problem on my 200,Im ordering my parts next week for that one,the teeth are flat on the gears even new,mine had a couple chipped teeth on both gears

[GMP]

Here is the gear




and the pinion



What do new parts look like by comparison?

Maybe I just need the spring and washer.

[blitz11]

You need both sides of the pawl. My 2002 EC300 would slip ALL of the time and it looked just a bit worse than that. The new pawl parts i bought last year haven't slipped once. Maybe better heat treat on replacement parts?

I also added a bit of "preload" (stretched the spring) a bit to assist in the engagement process.

GG would do itself good to going to fewer, larger "teeth" where the pawl part engage. I don't need 6 degrees of swing for questionable engagement. I'd prefer 10 degrees and firmer engagement. But, they never asked me, so here were are.

Good luck.

[PEB]

Glen, just had mine apart and don't remeber a washer. The gears on mine looked just fine. I had considered using the older set I have but left the new stuff in for now. I did however swap out both the springs for some older ones. Good to hear the shoulder is coming along.

[gasser]

The engagement spring (the one shown in your pictures) is the key.
My 07 worked fine for 5 or 6 rides before it began to slip. GoFasters sent me new engagement gears (no spring) which I installed. Worked fine for another 4 or 5 rides then started to slip again. I then replaced the gears and spring with parts from my 01 bike and it's worked great for the last year and a half.
When I compared the parts side by side only two things stood out. 1st the engagement gear with the arm or pawl on it had a slightly shorter pawl on the newer part. I believe this was changed only to save weight since the older part worked perfectly (the pawl engages a ramp and pulls the gears apart when the starter lever returns). 2nd the newer engagement spring was much weaker.
Apparently my 07 spring was just stout enough to work when the oil and starter parts were clean but as soon as the oil got contaminated the resulting friction caused the starter to slip again. I went through the changing oil and cleaning process 4 times before finally changing the spring.
The spring is the key to fix the problem and your gears should be fine with a good spring.

[GMP]

Thanks guys. I'm not crazy about the finnish quality of that pinion and will change that at least. I seem to remember (or don't remember) my older bikes having this rough part, but looking more like the gear instead. There is also room to add a preload shim between the cases and the spring for a little more spring preload. I agree, fewer and deeper cut teeth would be better.