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I have just completed a fresh top end, Kips clean out, replaced the three springs on the kick starter, replaced broken kips actuator lever, and a few other minor repairs in an effort to get my KDX running great again. However, my kick starter lever is not returning once it kicks off (in one kick now I might add :D). I have to reach down and manually pull it back up and fold it in. Could someone point me in a direction or provide a link for a how to? Any info would be much appreciated! My manual has not proven overly helpful in diagnosing the cause.

Thank you very much for your time! This forum is full of a lot of great information!

Others will have more detail, but it sounds like the spring that is responsible for returning the kick starter is not installed properly.


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Thanks Sullyfam!

The manual did not expand on the kick starter spring install in much detail and so I assumed that it was simple as returning the spring to the two holes provided. Is there more to this procedure perhaps? This is the only bike I own with a kick start.

Did it take some effort to get the return spring back in the hole in the case?

I used channel locks and rotated it around (clockwise) to insert it in the hole in the case after putting it in the hole in the shaft. I would not have been able to do it easily without the channel locks.

Since you have the cover off . . .

It is a little tricky doing it with the cover off, but if you slide the kickstarter on on the shaft and rotate it CCW, does it return to its original position or does it get hung up?

Unfortunately the photo is from last night when I was getting ready to pin everything back together. The bike is about 95% reassembled.

I will say the seal over the kick starter shaft was really tight. I bought a new one and it took a socket, a hammer, and more than just light tapping to get it in over the shaft. I even greased it lightly before installing.

FosterH0ME wrote:I will say the seal over the kick starter shaft was really tight. I bought a new one and it took a socket, a hammer, and more than just light tapping to get it in over the shaft. I even greased it lightly before installing.

I think you found your problem. That seal should slide on the shaft with very little pressure.

I bought the oem seal on Rocky Mountain ATV... :\

I'll try adding some grease to the seal and see where that gets me. Thanks Tedh98.

Looking closer last night, the seal is not applying enough force on it's own to stop the lever from returning. Any new ideas for me to check out?

Since you took the kickstarter apart and replaced springs and now it isn't working, one would think the problem lies there. I guess I would remove it and make sure that mechanism is put together correctly.

I think I would still take a shot at rotating the kickstarter with the cover off to see if it returns correctly. Seems like you'll need to be removing the cover anyway and it is easy enough to test out.

I'll get in there and take the cover off to check it out. The kick starter was failing to engage (slipping without turning the engine over) prior to the new top end so I was having to roll the bike back and forth to get it to grab before kicking it off. I replaced the springs to get them back into spec and hoped that was my problem. Although it engages every time now, clearly there is a larger issue here than just the springs (as you pointed out). It is much better but I'd like to get it fully functional since it is getting cold and crappy in Missouri anyway.

Thanks again for your time/help!

Was it returning properly when it wasn't engaging?

No, it was not but it would return partially some of the time.

I think there is a post on here somewhere, where members where having the same trouble and it came down to the kicker spring not being on the plastic collar properly. If not sure if that is it, but compare your photo to the other photo and it looks like your spring is not on the plastic collar the same way.

I'll give it a shot. Tonight, moving the kick lever two splines counter clockwise on the shaft resulted in the kick start lever returning about half way back up consistently. I haven't pulled the cover off just yet but hopefully this weekend I'll get some time.

I had this exact thing happen. With the cover off, the kick returned no problem. With the cover on, it would get stuck. Discovered that the seal I had installed in the cover beforehand was causing it to bind up. Followed the shop manual procedure of installing the cover, and THEN installing the seal, and it worked flawlessly. I guess it was in just a c-hair crooked or something, and with the shaft to guide it on it went in straight. Try that.

Thanks Nick! I'll give that a try when I open it up.