Bending Kick Start Levers

[CR500PHIL]

My steelie build is nearing completion and I decided to replace the kicker on my 1985 engine (in 1997 frame) with a new OEM 89+ kicker. I have a large capacity Clark tank as well. The kicker either hits the tank or the pipe - Roosty alerted me to this possibility in a previous post and he was right on the money. I could perhaps move the gear internally but since there is only a tiny portion of it contacting the tank I was wondering if anyone ever had any success bending these levers? Is the material generally bendable or brittle? If I thought it could be bent slightly to accomodate my need I would bring it to a machine shop.

[2strokeforever]

it looks like its cast so i think it could be done, but would weaken it quite a bit...

have you thought of heating the tank and adjusting it a little?

[2T500]

I ran into what I think is the same issue with an 87 engine in a 97 bike, during the build I swapped to the late model clutch & covers and a mint kickstarter, with the dots lined up on the old kickstarter shaft assembly it was either hitting the tank or pipe, tank was stock and pipe was PC, was told to heat and bend the kickstarter but instead I tried a complete 98 kickstarter shaft + assembly and instantly the kickstarter closes right in the middle of the gap between tank and pipe, at this stage the bike was a runner and I had dropped the clutch covers off to change so after swapping out the assembly and it worked I have not been back to see exactly which part it was that sorted it but it was a much nicer fix than bending the kicker so that's what worked for me.

due to the way the engine was built i could not be certain that the internal assembly was 87, it could have easily been 85 or 86, maybe same for the high pipe water cooled ?

figured I would keep the 87 kicker and assembly just in case the 87 motor ever ended up back in the high pipe bike but its not leaving the 97 steely anytime soon

[CR500PHIL]

it looks like its cast so i think it could be done, but would weaken it quite a bit...

have you thought of heating the tank and adjusting it a little?

I have but it is on the bottom corner so I do not think I want to try that. The funny thing is the 1985 kicker fits perfectly - even in the new frame - I may just leave that one on and sell the new one or bend the new one. I was just thinking that I would ask to see if anyone had any success bending these such as for a three or four wheel applications or an engine swap like I did.

The gear swap sounds like a good alternative later down the road.

[rsss396]

I tried heating and bending the early style for a 4 wheeler once but it needed to much bend to it and it was a failure.
I ended up using a steel kicker from a xl600 or something like that.
The steel is much more willing to bend