kickstart shaft

Hi,got a mk2a one of the very last before m3,bought in 2005,only done 300miles since then had a complete engine rebuild,went to start her up and the kickstart and shaft splines are shot,my question is can i replace shaft with gearbox in situ,or do i have to take it out of frame,looks like i can do it in frame,bought the nut for removing clutch shaft holder but dont want to find out the hard way you have to remove gearbox

skinhead said:

can i replace shaft with gearbox in situ

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Yes, the inner gearbox cover needs to be removed.

skinhead said:

Hi,got a mk2a one of the very last before m3,bought in 2005,only done 300miles since then had a complete engine rebuild,went to start her up and the kickstart and shaft splines are shot,my question is can i replace shaft with gearbox in situ,or do i have to take it out of frame,looks like i can do it in frame,bought the nut for removing clutch shaft holder but dont want to find out the hard way you have to remove gearbox

Click to expand...

How bad are the splines on both the shaft and the kickstart lever? Remove the kickstart lever, examine the splines. A small, keen sharp triangle file can be used to clean out the splines in the lever and the shaft. The gap in the K'start lever can be increased, placed in a vice,with protection to chrome, and using a hacksaw with two #24 blades( or whatever size blades will be larger than existing gap ) in hacksaw open up the gap slightly and thus increase the clamping. Replace the original bolt with a high tensile allen bolt and a washer will help increase the tightness that the kickstart will grip on the Kick shaft . This may save you the replacement cost of these items.
Have you checked that the kickstart ratchet is functioning correctly, the kickstart pawl is a known fail point, it just wears out and easy to replace. Always carry a spare in toolkit.

If the splines are really damaged, the kickstart lever will never be tight again. AND, if you put a new lever on a damaged shaft it will chew up the splines on the new lever fairly quickly no matter how often you tighten. If both are fairly well chewed then it's best to replace both and it will last a long time if you keep it tight. If both splines are new you won't have to tighten it so often.

...or maybe you could drill and pin them together with a bolt? Bound to be hardened steel though wouldn't you say. Probably need a couple of new sharp drill bits to get through it.

cjandme said:

...or maybe you could drill and pin them together with a bolt?

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I believe that would weaken shaft and lever too much.
Better is to remove splines in the lever L and R from the slot.
Suppose the slot is at 6 o'clock, remove the splines between 4.30 and 7.30.
Also, make sure the bolt hole is large enough, so that the bolt won't bind when tightening.