Hey all.... Happy Post Birthday Arigato
I am not sure where you guys want this to be posted, but it would make a great tech tip for the KX5 riders:
I bought my KX5 used from a guy about 2 months ago that rode desert. He bought a new kickstarter for it that had about a year of use and had another older repaired one as a spare. These were both the pre '04 "thinner" collared kickers. Anyway, I cleaned the bike up a bit and took it out for the first dune ride.... and broke both kickers within an hour of each other....
So, I decided to see why: it is because the milled and inserted steel pin on the upper portion (aluminum lever) does not fully contact the very small seating surface of the lower portion (steel pivot mount). I believe this leads to over-rotation of the lever past 90 degrees during the kick stroke resulting in excessive force being applied to the aluminum "collar" and causing stress fractures. In extreme situations (excessive wear) it looks like the lower portion (steel pivot mount) will actually rotate to the point where the seating surface creates a pressure point, like a can-opener, onto the aluminum collar which definately results in a failure.... Anyway:
Here are some pictures of Arigato's new kickstarter that I modded and polished for his B-Day present at Coral Pink Sand Dunes...
These are both the '04 thicker collared kickers from Kawasaki.
In the second picture, the stock kicker on the right, you can see the steel pin is only touching the seating surface by about 50 percent. This is a brand new '04 thicker collared kicker and is very poorly designed. The modded kicker on the left has the seating surface extended about 5/16 of an inch and seats perfectly on the lever surface. The modded steel pivot mount will never let the lever rotate past 90 degrees and will always contact the milled steel insert pin 100 percent.
The steel collar is made of an alloy that has a good amount of nickel and stainless steel in it I believe. I use a high carbon steel in my wire feed welder, which polishes up like chrome very nicely. The tab is just built up wire from the mig welder with some shaping with a grinder and sander. Then I detail sanded the collar and kickstarter and threw them both on the polishing wheel. The steel collar needs the appropriate compound to cut it before the final polish.
I also suggest hitting the local hardware store and pick up some rubber o-rings that will fit on the steel pivot mount like the stock ones. Having the o-rings fresh, lubed, and the pivot ball lubed and the tension set appropriately will also prolong the life of the kicker. Those o-rings wear very fast and are the only things that keep the slop on the pivot to a minimum. Don't forget loctite on the spring set screw and the mounting bolt.
FuriouSly
