[Goober]

1986 project TRX350 got it through estate sale. In process of changing electrics back to OEM.

Cycling the engine with the kick starter because the electric starter just spins. I rebuilt the starter but A side note i thot I reinserted the starter gears properly hmmm. Maybe not.

Ok anyway the kicker kicks me back—badly! It will cycle and chug—positive i set the valves correctly. I have never had one do me like that. Anyone give me a clue?

 

[retro]

For a 350 to kick ya that bad its almost gotta be caused by an early ignition event doesn't it? Does the compression release seem to help any? You had the flywheel off when ya changed the stator right? So that rules out a sheared woodruff key... an' turns this into a head scratcher. I dunno!

 

[Goober]

Thanks for the reply Retro.
When i first bought this thing, it ran but the kicker was doing this already.
The compression release cable was loose, so i set it 1-3 mm according to the manual at TDC on the compression stroke. I adjusted the valves then too.
Yup when i had the stator cover off I didn’t notice anything out of order but I didn’t even touch the flywheel.

Hmm back to the manual

 

[retro]

Its possible that the key is partially sheared then, but intuition tells me its probably not. I guess its back to checking the basics again... swap a known good spark plug into it and go from there...? After your foot and leg heal up maybe.

 

[Goober]

I’ll reinspect the decompression lever and cable. The PO had it loose so evidently may have been having same problem. It’s like the decomp isn’t working

I will also check the woodruff key. It’s visible with the stator removed? The darn thing was hard to start but ran pretty well—I originally thot carburetor and fuel.

 

[retro]

Ya gotta pull the flywheel to get eyeballs on the woodruff key. That requires a puller... so unless ya have one already, ya may want to exhaust all other possibles first.

But if the one-way starter clutch turns out to be bad, as the reason why the starter motor doesn't spin the motor over you'll be in there soon anyway... If I remember right a flywheel puller costs about $15-$20 on G&H web site and 'bout the same on eBay.

 

[Goober]

I think i was kicking the lever too far down because i had the footpeg off. My foot was going down even with the footbrake lever and I think it doesn’t like that at all.
I put the footpeg back on and it seems to cycle great now. My leg is nearly healed up now lols.

 

[Goober]

Ok Could i have rebuilt the starter incorrectly or maybe it’s toast?

The starter spins and in the correct direction (i think) without the starter reduction gears but cannot turn the engine with the gears installed. It whines like it’s spinning but definitely not turning the engine. I’m not gonna run the starter with the gear cover off and risk breaking stuff.

The reduction gears lock into the flywheel one direction and idle in the other. The starter can’t run backwards without reversing polarity, right?

 

[retro]

Right, unless the field magnets housing is the wrong one (or spun 180 degrees during reassembly?), or the polarity is backwards the starter motor cannot spin backwards. So that leaves two possibles... either a reduction gear is stripped or the one-way starter clutch is slipping.