Kick start lever repair/rebuild/refurbish

[Mechanician]

Say y'all,

I'm putting the kick starter on the '04 I'm building... well, I'm gonna start building this weekend. So far all I've done is slowly accumulate parts for the last few months. Just scored a NEW government surplus F1 rear shock on the eBay so I'm about to start. All the frame parts and the wheels are ready for paint. Might get it all rattle canned this week and let it cure for the weekend.

Any who. I've got a kick lever off an '84 KL600 (and all the other kicker bits, of course.) There's a clip and washer holding the lever to the clamp pivot. The washer is concave because forces from being kicked over the years have tried to pull the lever off the clamp shaft. There's o-rings in there and I imagine the concave washer is on top of a now concave and crushed o-ring groove. I'll take a torch to it and bend it back flat but I was wondering if anyone familiar with the issue has a suggestion to prevent it from deforming again.

Are there high strength washers available like grade 10 bolts?

After I get the thing cherry red and fixed I was going to quench in used motor oil like I do knife tangs and trigger/bolt parts. But that only surface hardens...

Mech

[Chuck B]

Yes, there is such a thing as a high strength washer. Often labeled as hardened. In many cases with 'loose fittings' like with most kick starters I'll add a spring washer or commonly called a wave washer as well.

[Mechanician]

Good idea there! I'll look at McMaster Carr and see what they've got when I get home tonight and measure stuff.

Thanks
Mech

[Subybaja]

Mine's like that too. I'd look for a hardened washer at Lowes, Ace, etc. I doubt that quenching a mild-steel washer will get you much. Now, if you bake it in sugar, or quench in cyanide solution to up the carbon content...maybe.

I'd also take a close look at the pivot fit. My washer is mashed up because the peg is pretty sloppy in the hole, so instead of just holding the peg in, the washer takes a lot of the side force. I need to drill mine out and weld in a bushing. I might tap the end of the peg for a retainer bolt, too, instead of the cheesy little circlip.

[Mechanician]

McMaster Carr has two washers that'll fit... maybe. One is Hastelloy and the other is hardened steel. They are both thicker than the Kawasaki shim and significantly larger in the OD. I'm thinking the wave or Belville washer and a spiral lock ring instead of the e-clip.

Has anyone already bought a bag of 50 or 100? Because that's whatcha gotta do w/ McMaster C... I just finished off a three year old bag of Viton O-rings for Remington shotgun gas systems. (it would be a really neat coincidence if it was the same o-ring size as the petcock gasket or something)

Mech