87 XR600 - Just broke my second Kick Lever - Should I just part this out?

[goneballistic]

Ok long story short: 

I bought an 87 XR600 with burned valves. Replaced the top end,  new valves and head work by cycle wizard, replaced piston and had cylinder machined out, reassembled. 

 

 

I had a hard time getting it running right after reassembly. It would run fine to half throttle and then start to pop and falter. I had another thread on this bike and everyone gave a lot of good advice.  It appeared I didn't have the exhaust headers seated all the way down tight. 

 

I got the parts,  and finally got some time to work on it, and got the exhaust headers back on and and seated correctly.

 

The first time I assembled this bike and tried to start it, it was kicking back STRONG  sometimes when I would start it.  It hit me hard enough the first time to bruise the bottom of my foot so bad I couldn't walk for a couple days.  After the first time it started and was running rough I went to restart it and actually broke the kick lever. 

 

It popped back hard and I was on the downstroke and it made this bang noise and the base of the kick lever actually split in half, the thick aluminum base of the lever. 


so this week I got the exhaust headers reseated, bike reassembled and I put boots on this time to get it started in case of the kick back.  I went out and started the bike and it started after about a dozen kicks and seemed like it was running OK.  It stumbled a little at half throttle but not bad, and it was just starting and still choked. 

 

I verified it was running good and shut it off to tighten up the exhaust pipe and muffler. We had to go to town to run some errands so after a few hours I came back to start it again.

 

it wouldn't start,  I kicked it over and over and it wasn't starting,  and it kicked me back a couple times,   I kicked it over again and it banged and this time the second kick lever split right in half at the ring that grips the start shaft. 

I'm sick of this bike,  my '92 never started this hard,  it always fired on a few kicks, never kicked me back this hard,  and was reliable. This bike has already cost me 200 bucks in start levers,  I will have to buy another just to sell this thing, and I am sick of even looking at it.  

What would cause a bike to kick back so hard it rips kick levers in half?  Is this a lost cause? Should I just part it out or declare it a lost cause and just chuck it into a lake?  

I'm not even sure how to proceed, and literally don't want to spend another dollar on this bike,  since I can't seem to figure out why it is struggling so hard to kick over and run, and keep snapping levers.

 

 

Any ideas?  Anyone need some XR600 parts? Might be some cheap ones here pretty quick...

[josho-xr]

I had a similar problem with my 1990 xr 600 tho I broke the kick starter return spring it turned out to be the cdi unit shit it's self

[Backwoods-Bomber]

I forget, when you had the head work done did you lose the auto decomp?

[brianhare]

+1......that would be my first question,is the decomp working,,is it even there??????

 

and .check the valve adjustment and cam timing,,,it should not be able to kick back that

hard if the decomp is working properly .....

 

If i remember correctly there is no auto decomp on the camshaft???????  but there is on the right clutch

cover and a cable goes from there to the head,is it adjusted properly.......?????

 

B

Edited March 27, 2015 by brianhare

[bork]

You twisting throttle when trying to start? Are you going past TDC with manual comp release, then giving it a good kick? I wished I lived close to you, I'd take it off your hands, so you don't get hurt.

[mcma111]

Pilot error

[goneballistic]

I forget, when you had the head work done did you lose the auto decomp?

 

 

there was never a decomp lever on this,  and I am not sure if the 87 has auto.  I don't think it has it.  

 

 

I have figured out that I am going to have to learn how to kick past the lever,  i.e. kick it  and drop my foot off and if it's going to kick back,  just let it.  I have been kicking down and leaving my leg there, when it kicks back,  immutable force meets unmovable object and snap. 

 

I hate dropping my foot off, though, once as I kicked my foot slid off it,  it kicked back and grabbed the side of my foot and inside of my leg, and left a gash and a bruise that was.....quite a sight to see....

[goneballistic]

You twisting throttle when trying to start? Are you going past TDC with manual comp release, then giving it a good kick? I wished I lived close to you, I'd take it off your hands, so you don't get hurt.

 

 

how far are you? I hate this bike so bad now I'm literally considering just lighting it on fire and calling it a loss.  I hate it cause i'm in a lot of time, work and about 1300 bucks on this with the head work, piston, machine work and base machine.  But at this point,  that feels cheap just to watch it die.  

I want to love it, but it's a hateful, difficult machine  ?

[goneballistic]

You twisting throttle when trying to start? Are you going past TDC with manual comp release, then giving it a good kick? I wished I lived close to you, I'd take it off your hands, so you don't get hurt.

 

 

I have the choke on,  no throttle,  I slow kick it till I feel it compress,  I just slowly "leak" it past  the high compression, then a hard kick.  I have no decomp lever. I'd install one if I thought it would help, but I don't want to spend another dollar on this machine if can't solve and and need to part it out. 

[Backwoods-Bomber]

there was never a decomp lever on this, and I am not sure if the 87 has auto. I don't think it has it.

I have figured out that I am going to have to learn how to kick past the lever, i.e. kick it and drop my foot off and if it's going to kick back, just let it. I have been kicking down and leaving my leg there, when it kicks back, immutable force meets unmovable object and snap.

I hate dropping my foot off, though, once as I kicked my foot slid off it, it kicked back and grabbed the side of my foot and inside of my leg, and left a gash and a bruise that was.....quite a sight to see....

No way man, that is an extremely dangerous way to do it. The kick lever can really tear open the inside of your calf. Not to mention how hard that is on the kick start mechanism itself.

Hold on, I will post a couple pics of an 87 xr600r valve cover and how the auto decomp works. Set up properly, this bike should never kick back.

[Backwoods-Bomber]

Ok, here's where the cable hooks on down by the kicker. Then a short cable runs up to the valve cover on the right side. The cable from the auto decomp hooks to one of the barrel holes in that arm and the cable that goes up to the manual lever hooks to the other hole.

All this system does is open the right side exhaust valve a bit to prevent kickback or allow you to manually release compression to kick it over easily.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Backwoods-Bomber

[goneballistic]

Off to eBay I go, if I can get this thing started I'm going to be so happy.

I think I can make one good kick lever, the first one broke the actual shaft, the second one broke the ring around the starter shaft. I'm too scared to look close at that shaft.If it's stripped this bike is done for. An expensive lesson in how not to buy a bike.

I took the screw out of the first split shaft, and the ring came out the end of the shaft no problem, but I can't get that screw out of the second shaft. I've already snapped two impact driver tips and that thing is not budging. I'm going toI try heating it with a propane torch and see if that'll budge it, but I'm nervous cause of the aluminum part of the lever is what I have to heat up and it melts pretty easily

[Backwoods-Bomber]

Don't worry, you won't be able to melt the aluminum with a standard propane torch.

[Francois Horn]

Careful not to damage the seal where the shaft goes into the engine