Kickstart Spline Opinions:

I noticed that the splines down near the bolt on both side are worn off or missing. All the rest look fine.
Do you think this will be a problem?
See Pics:
Thanks, JD75

I believe this is common and needed to allow for constriction in the area for clamping without damaging shaft teeth.

I'm pretty sure it's made that way, but get yourself a grade 8 bolt, flats and nut for that thing. And tighten the zonkers out of it. Make sure you have clearance enough in the non-threaded side that the bolt doesn't bind when tightening. Drill it out if you have to.

Dave
69S

The remarkable feature to point out is how pristine the remaining splines are because someone definitely properly removed the splines near the bottom and even opened the gap up enough to actually clamp down securely. So bolt up as above advised and kick 'er off a longer time than those not yet doing it your way.

The spoiled splines I've seen were an ugly situation to deal with - were still about as tall and sharp but had sections of skewed splines in each band of splines so they didn't line up thereby trapping it on and preventing return w/o bashing swearing.

jaydee75 said:

I noticed that the splines down near the bolt on both side are worn off or missing. All the rest look fine.
Do you think this will be a problem?

Click to expand...

That area has the splines machined away.

After a certain period of use, the splines from the kickstart shaft begin to gouge into the surface (especially if the lever becomes loose) which leaves witness marks that makes it appear as if the flat area had splines which have been removed or have worn away - but this is not so.

Thanks, guys. It is good news to see that it's ok. The factory must have ground them off, I never touched them. I can see how it helps.
I am inspecting everything closely, I installed my roller bearing yesterday and am reassembling the gearbox now.
JD75

A number of informed Norton folks have recommended removing the splines as you found them. In an ideal world, as you tighten the bolt it would uniformally reduce the diameter of the kickstart around the splined shaft. But, the bolt primarily sucks the lower edges of the kickstarter together along the length of the bolt. The splines in the vicinity of the bolt actually reduce this clamping action. If you take a brand new kickstarter (with all the spines intact) and a brand new shaft and tighen the shit out of them (as required), next time you take it apart you will see the splines in the vicinity of the bolt compromised (semi-sheared, to be precise). Remove the splines in this vicinity and you will get a better clamping action. The advice of using a grade 8 bolt is sound, and a two foot breaker bar to tighten it up.

Stephen Hill

The kicker steel threads is not tough enough to take the effective clamp force of grade 8 bolt so what I advise is clear the kicker threads enough to run a longer bolt through and use a grade 8 nut. i ground bolt head flats to fit flush seat back side of kicker as area would foul turning a nut on that side. My Trixie kicker done this way stayed rock stable for a few dozen starts before it got as loose as if I'd left it alone. Best I can claim is that its stable enough way not to chew up so much its a terror to remove or replace. I can only see the kicker splines as eventual wear item like tires and speedo drives. If they were not so cute there'd be a bounty on em.

My splines looked like crap, I just got a grade 8 bolt and a flat, some nickel anti-seize and put some good leverage on it. It's been good for nearly 2 years now. But it's an easy starter which helps. Heck, I even start it on the side stand and that's OK too, working fine. I check it now and then.

Dave
69S

DogT said:

I'm pretty sure it's made that way, but get yourself a grade 8 bolt, flats and nut for that thing. And tighten the zonkers out of it. Make sure you have clearance enough in the non-threaded side that the bolt doesn't bind when tightening. Drill it out if you have to.

Dave
69S

Click to expand...

currently looking for the zonkers setting on my torque wrench :lol:

It's right next to 'recalibrate the flux generator' setting on mine.

Dave

As Stephen Hill points out, removing the splines either side of the split gap does infact give a better grip on the splined shaft. If the you dont relieve them the spline on the kicker has nowhere to grip if the shaft is a little to badly worn. Works a treat, get stuck into it with a good sharp round file!!!
Regards Mike