kx500 broken kickstart lever

[motopunk]

thats what happened me today. wanted to go on a short ride and then broke the kickstart lever before the motor started .. 

 i have some 250 kickstart levers. and i think the upper part of the lever in the middle of the pic could fit to the lower part of the k5 kicker..
any opinions on this?

[Goat]

That is actually a common problem. They make an updated kicker but I don't remember off hand where I found them. I'm sure someone will remember on here.

If the 250 will fit the 500 portion I say try it. Just make sure there are no clearance issues before giving it a good kick. That could hurt pretty bad. Let us know if it works out.

[motopunk]

I just looked straight into the online-oem-lists. there is either the complete kickstart lever! or all apart, but not the top. then that is hard to compare . the newer kicker of the 89-2004 k5 looks similar to the 250 kicker that I have.
I will try it tomorrow. i need the bike on sunday and its not enough time to get a new or used kicker ...

[motopunk]

problem solved.
 the top of this older kx250 kicker fits perfectly on the lower part of the kx500 kicker.
  the only difference between the kickstart levers is the diameter of the kickstart shaft. all else is equal. 
some new o-rings and water resistant grease and my kickstart lever is like new. 

[Goat]

Sweet! Glad it worked out. Try to not break this one

[motopunk]

thx...   i will pet it softly before hard kicking...

[motopunk]

... and it happened again... the next old aluminium kickstart lever was taken by the reaper on sunday... 

and today i could fix the problem... i found on ebay an used kicker of an " ´85 kawasaki klr 600". it looked if it could fit to the kx500 .the kicker isn´t aluminium.its forged massive steel. and the both kickstart shafts of kx500 and klr600 are similar with a small difference in attachment.

 bought it on monday, came to me on tuesday. and after a smart modifying and welding on the lower part, it fits and works great...   

[Goat]

Very nice work. I'll have to remember to grab one of those kickers if I ever break mine. The splines the same as the 500?

[USMC 500]

You need to get a kickstarter for a 2004 KX500......I'm not sure about earlier years but I know that for sure the 2004 K5's came with a kickstarter that was beefier right at the spot that you are breaking.....once you get a kickstart lever I HIGHLEY recommond getting this done.....

http://www.kxriders.com/forums/index.php/topic,6445.msg48749.html#msg48749

[Goat]

I thought everyone had decompression? lol I swapped heads so I don't currently have decomp on my 500. It does make it nice, especially when your at the end of the day and tired.

[motopunk]

Very nice work. I'll have to remember to grab one of those kickers if I ever break mine. The splines the same as the 500?

thanks...
and yes the splines on the shaft is exactly the same size.  

what you have to do to fit it to a kx500 motor is welding the slot and cut off the lower edges of the clamping screw that is no longer needed to get the right clearance to the clutch-housing.
 and the small beneficial for me: the bending of the upper part goes better to my '93 KX250 frame where the ´86-motor sits in.  

[motopunk]

I thought everyone had decompression? lol I swapped heads so I don't currently have decomp on my 500. It does make it nice, especially when your at the end of the day and tired.

decomp is also the next important update for my motor. at the moment I am checking all the conditions to make it in "do it your self"    larry wiechmann is doing really a great work,there is no question. but it is not worthwhile for me: 2 times the very expensive shipping costs between Germany and USA + the big risk that it gets lost on the way 2 times by half the world.