kickstart spring/engine case woes

[iamsofaking]

I had a problem with my kickstarter not engaging all the time on my '86 so I bought some new bits for it and set to installing them.  When I go to put humpty all back together again, there is a fairly substantial bit missing from the hole where the spring tucks into the engine case.  I can't for the life of me get the little bugger to stay in there with what is left of the hole.  I bought a new set of engine cases from ebay, but they have the same notch missing!  Has anyone experienced this?  Seems a little oily in there for JB weld.  I suppose I could take it all down and bring it to the machine shop to see what they can do.  I am hoping that someone here has dealt with this and knows a little trick that will get my riding again, or a place where I can get a case in good shape.
Thanks for reading.

[KX500freak]

yea ,i have one enginecase where that happened too.
previous owner did weld it back on twice as thick ,so it would not come off again .
it is a weak spot in the design imho
i think you will end up the same way here,
dunno if JB weld holds in places where tension builds up ,using the kicker ,stretching the spring..

succes with it !!

[Danger4u2]

This hole, yes??

[iamsofaking]

Right.  The one where the spring hooks into the case there.  I can send a picture tonight if it helps, but my gimmick is not as clean as yours.  Very nice.

[Danger4u2]

My kicker problems.
http://www.kxriders.com/forums/index.php/topic,2318.0.html

[JBKX]

Same thing happened to me some years ago.  I bent the end of the spring that goes in the hole so it hooks just a bit.  I had to drive the end into the hole, however it hasn't tripped out yet.  I don't ride that bike much so I can't tell you how long it'll last with regular usage.

[KXT500]

any shop that works on aluminum heads or radiators should be able to weld that up in a couple seconds. redill the hole and rock on. no need for new cases.