Kicker assembly showing the ratchet gear and spacer
Note how worn the primary shoe has become, a lot of miles ??
Large kicker gear engaged with ratchet gear
Ratchet gear and bushing with spring
I just got home from a trip to North Carolina and the first thing I did was disassemble the clutch and starter mechanism on the 1969 Sportster. This is an XLCH so it is kick start only. I was told that the reason the kicker was stuck was that the prior owner couldn't get the bike started so he kept on kicking the bike until he broke the kicker assembly. The kicker arm would only move a short distance.
I opened up the primary and discovered the clutch was missing the cover and one stud was broken off of the clutch basket. These old bikes get taken apart and parts get lost , as well as the correct stories ??
After removing the clutch assembly I found that the kicker gears were in good shape and the only thing odd was that the ratchet gear was too loose on the spacer bushing which causes it to wobble a bit preventing a clean line up on the gears. I believe this is the reason the kicker would not operate correctly. According to the manual, the ratchet gear slides back and forth on the spacer bushing which is the reason for the spring behind the ratchet gear.
I will order a new spacer and spring as well as some new clutch components and see if I can get this machine running.
The spark plug wires were old coil ignition wires which don't work well with a magneto so I changed them out for magneto wires and spark plug connectors that I had laying around.
I was told the bike did not have spark so I am also changing the condenser and the point assembly. It is possible that the magnet needs to be re-charged, but with everything else being considered I will try basic maintenance first. The magneto is keyed and the key is missing so is the ignition even in the "ON" position ?? We will see !
