Wilsons Sandbox

Posted: **Sat Apr 17, 2004 11:05 am**

A few days I posted thinking my one-way clutch on the starter gear had failed. It turns out that it was the bushing on the starter gear that failed, causing it to seize to the crankshaft. Here are some photos for anyone interested. shaft with the starter gear in place (rotor removed): http://jeffwight.gotdns.com/gear.jpg shaft with remnants of the bushing after peeling the bushing off: http://jeffwight.gotdns.com/shaft.jpg failed bushing after peeling it off: http://jeffwight.gotdns.com/bushing As for cause of failure, I can only assume that I got some grit or gunk in there when I reassembled after swapping out my doohickey (my doohickey and spring were fine by the way). Any words of wisdom on removing the bushing residue from the shaft? I'd really like to clean this up without tearing the whole thing down and removing the crankshaft. Any donor bikes out there willing to sell me a starter gear and starter? Thanks, -Jeff

Posted: **Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:34 pm**

> As for cause of failure, I can only assume that I got some grit or > gunk in there when I reassembled after swapping out my doohickey (my > doohickey and spring were fine by the way). > > Any words of wisdom on removing the bushing residue from the shaft? > I'd really like to clean this up without tearing the whole thing

down and removing the crankshaft.

> > Any donor bikes out there willing to sell me a starter gear and

starter?

> > Thanks, > > -Jeff

Did you account for the woodruff key when you pulled the rotor? It could have jammed itself between the rotor and the starter gear if you did not align it perfectly when reassembling after the doohickey swap. This could have caused the striations visible on the bushing. The woodruff key might have been consumed if you didn't find it. It happened to me and ate my starter...the one way gear was OK though. Richard Korpela A15 Chapleau,ON

Posted: **Sat Apr 17, 2004 11:03 pm**

--- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "kelpo2001" wrote:

> Did you account for the woodruff key when you pulled the rotor? It > could have jammed itself between the rotor and the starter gear if > you did not align it perfectly when reassembling after the doohickey > swap. This could have caused the striations visible on the bushing. > The woodruff key might have been consumed if you didn't find it. It > happened to me and ate my starter...the one way gear was OK though. > Richard Korpela > A15 > Chapleau,ON

The woodruff key was in its groove when I pulled the rotor and had no visible wear marks on it, so I don't think that is what happened. I'm kind of stumped at this point and will be very paranoid when I'm ready to put it all back together. Thanks, -Jeffq3

Posted: **Sun Apr 18, 2004 12:58 am**

--- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Wight" wrote:

> --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "kelpo2001" wrote: > > > Did you account for the woodruff key when you pulled the rotor?

It

> > could have jammed itself between the rotor and the starter gear

if

> > you did not align it perfectly when reassembling after the

doohickey

> > swap. This could have caused the striations visible on the

bushing.

> > The woodruff key might have been consumed if you didn't find it.

It

> > happened to me and ate my starter...the one way gear was OK

though.

> > Richard Korpela > > A15 > > Chapleau,ON > > The woodruff key was in its groove when I pulled the rotor and had

no

> visible wear marks on it, so I don't think that is what happened.

I'm

> kind of stumped at this point and will be very paranoid when I'm

ready

> to put it all back together. > > Thanks, >

Jeff, I have a theory about this, asa similar failure happened to me after doing the doohickey on my '87 KLR. In that case, the two surfaces on the inside of the rotor and the starter ring gear that mate up with a thrust washer, were badly gauled and chewed up. I had to replace both the rotor and starter ring gear, though I'm hoping a machinist friend will be able to dress the surfaces up and I can reuse the parts in a project bike. Prior to the failure, I remember very carefully putting the thing together, wiping it down with clean lint-free rags, and then assemblying and torqueing properly. The woodruff key was in the slot, and everything was as it should be, but still the binding, gauling, and damaged to the parts. In retrospect, I think it was the fact that the parts were DRY, as in not coated with either OIL, or assembly lube, that caused the failure. I believe these parts are only splash lubricated, and since that failure, have done 7 more doohickeys, and I now make sure each and every one of this is 1. FIRST WIPED CLEAN with rags 2 THEN DRIPPING FRESH WITH OIL. 3. Then assemble as usual. In that lot of 7, I have had no failures of any kind. hope that helps, MarkB

Posted: **Sun Apr 18, 2004 2:45 am**

On Sun, Apr 18, 2004 at 05:58:12AM -0000, dumbazz650 wrote:

> > Prior to the failure, I remember very carefully putting the thing > together, wiping it down with clean lint-free rags, and then > assemblying and torqueing properly. The woodruff key was in the slot, > and everything was as it should be, but still the binding, gauling, > and damaged to the parts. > > In retrospect, I think it was the fact that the parts were DRY, as > in not coated with either OIL, or assembly lube, that caused the > failure. I believe these parts are only splash lubricated, and since > that failure, have done 7 more doohickeys, and I now make sure each > and every one of this is > 1. FIRST WIPED CLEAN with rags > 2 THEN DRIPPING FRESH WITH OIL. > 3. Then assemble as usual.

Note that you *don't* want to do this to the inside of the rotor; the torque on the rotor-holder bolt is supposed to give you the correct press-fit with the mating surfaces *dry*. I agree that it makes sense to get the inside of the starter gear good and oily, but you do want to wipe the end of the shaft dry after putting the starter gear on, at least if you want to press the rotor into place the way Kawasaki specifies. FWIW, I've been told that for certain other bikes, Kawasaki does specify assembly lube for the installation of the rotor. But not for ours. I think Jeff's looking for advice on how to get the bushing remnants off the shaft in his bike and how to polish it back to smooth roundness. I'm not sure what the right way to do the polishing is (I didn't do it myself when this happened to my bike, and the guy who did it was sufficiently wizardly that I would hesitate to guess how he did it; the surface was *perfect* when he was done). Valve grinding compound, maybe, or some other very fine wet abrasive, on a cloth? Thor

Posted: **Sun Apr 18, 2004 8:32 am**

Well might have figured out why my bike has been starting so easy as of lately.. Pulled the Air Filter cover off... "ACK" is the only word I can use.. Between the filter and the box I must have pulled out 1/2 pound of dirt. Filter was almost completely packed with oily dust and some sand, the bottom of the box was covered in oily sand. This would explain the over rich exhaust (black tailpipe). Well after using massive amount of air and beating the filter on some landscape bricks with textured surface to aid knocking off the gunk. I washed it in hot water with laundry soap, it smelt Spring Air Fresh... Dried it and put it in a zip lock bag and poured chainsaw bar oil on it and worked it in, put it back on the frame and allowed it to sit overnight, nothing appears to have dripped off it, so either I got it right or did'nt add enough oil. I poured about 2 oz or so on it, it seemed to be pretty wet, afterwards I gave it a couple light squeezes wrapped in papertowels to get the really wet spots thinned out to make it uniformed. As for that metal screen, I just do not see how that can restrict air flow, my goodness it has what maybe 20 or 25 sq inches of surface area, and its not really that tight of a weave, if it was covered in dirt sure it would choke off airflow, but that would be enough reason to investigate whats happening with MPG/sick running bike. The weave looks tight enough to stop grains of sand, at least in my neck of the woods we have lots of beach looking sand in the great lakes area, not so much that dusty desert powder. Well if the weather clears today I reckon if I find out my bike is too lean.. Good thing I made a pilot adjusting tool. (Hacked off screwdriver bit, psst do not even think about using a hacksaw, dremel or cut off tool with a emery wheel) Dooden A15 Green Ape Oh the battery was low, but not completely dry at least.. charged with real charger and seemed to be holding just over 13 volts on the bench, what should this battery have sitting with no charge/load anyway ?

Wilsons Sandbox

madness i tell you complete

starter gear bushing failure

starter gear bushing failure

starter gear bushing failure

starter gear bushing failure

starter gear bushing failure

madness i tell you complete