Loose kickstart lever

Martin, I had this with my Mk3 Commando about 20 year's ago. The original lever / crank was worn out. I bought a new Genuine factory item and that fixed the problem. The Gearbox kick start shaft is hardened and should not be the problem.

The only other thing is to use a high tensile set screw to pinch it up. You may need to tighten it up lots. A stainless screw might snap.

Don't forget the thick washer under the head of the pinch bolt. Pinch bolts have a threaded part that, without the washer, is too short to properly clamp the kickstart crank. At first it feels tight, but after several kicks the crank gets loose on the shaft.

Unfortunately the washer is not in most Commando parts lists, but comes with the Genuine Norton Factory Part kickstart assemblies.

Dear Martin,

Pinch bolt is 06-0599, washer is, I believe, 06-4147 but ask the boys in Andover.

Joe

Check the kickstart levers carefully for any spline damage. I have found that if a kickstart loosens, the splines are often damaged and the only answer is a new kickstart. A big washer, a high tensile bolt and some locktite should do the trick.

Martin,

You don't say which year or model Commando you have, but whatever year it is worth upgrading to the Mk111 850 kickstart. This is slightly longer than the earlier ones, so you get a better kick - I have one on both my Atlas and Commando 750. Despite being replaced with new parts, they still work loose after a while. I did improve this on one bike by replacing the pinch bolt by one that went all the way through and machined the boss so that a nut could be attached to the through bolt. You get much more clamping pressure with this arrangement. This worked fine intil the boss cracked in half!

The splines on the shaft tend to break away and that allows the movement to eat away at the kickstart splines. It's not proper engineering to pinch onto a splined shaft but we are stuck with it.. You could try cleaning the splines on both components with some degreaser (carb cleaner or the like) and loctite the splines then having also cleaned the threads in a similar manner and fitted a thick washer, loctite the bolt in place. Leave it overnight to go off.

I have thought about turning the splines off the spindle with a carbide tipped lathe tool and fitting a Triumph cotter pin type kickstart. The two main issues here are, will the Triumph kickstart clear the exhaust and positioning the flat on the shaft for the cotter pin in the correct position. Has anybody done this?

I previously had this problem Martin and replaced the kickstart lever with a genuine one. Unfortunately this did not last very long as I had not checked the spline condition on the shaft where there was damage preventing a correct grip. I had to replace the shaft, and the lever again and have had no further problems.

Obviously kicking over the engine on a slack lever will damage both the lever and shaft splines in a short time and I believe this was possibly the causeby a previous owner.

Previously martin_bernert wrote:

All my Nortons have problems with getting loose kickstart lever after 20 times starting I need to re-tighten the screw. Any idea to improve this? Martin, Spain.