The Hodaka Club Forum

I am resealing my 94A Wombat engine. I bought this bike new and this is the first time the cases have been split. Upon reassembly, I noticed that the kick start gear was sitting high on 2nd gear and was very close to 1st gear. Everything is assembled as it was originally. The countershaft gears have a spacer under them and mesh with the main shaft fully. They are stacked shoulders up.

The kick start shaft is fully down into the case with spacer. The kick gear is resting down on the shaft stop.

Clearance between the kick start gear and first gear is about .025 in. There is no evidence of any running interference before it was opened up. Is this typical spacing? I can't see any way to have the kick gear sit lower on the shaft.

If I'm looking at the first picture correctly, the spacer under kicker is incorrect. The spacer under should be the same diameter as the one on the top side. Also do you have the gears stacked right side up?

The gears do appear to be installed correctly (shoulders up), but double check them all.
The kick shaft itself is adjusted with thrust washers. They are available in .2mm, .3mm and .5mm. Measure your bottom thrust washer and make sure that it is a .2mm and then place top thrust washer(s) to get the proper side play in the shaft when the cases are together(.05mm to .1mm).

Beyond that, I wouldn't worry too much about the offset of the gear as long as it clears.

I rechecked the countershaft gears, control shaft thrust washer is on the bottom and all gear shoulders face up.

The thrust washers on the kickstart shaft are identical OD & ID, 24.8 & 16.2mm. The bottom thrust washer is 0.5mm thick, the top 0.2mm. Perhaps I had those reversed. I reassembled with the 0.2mm on the bottom and the kick gear lowered 0.3mm. The gap between the kick gear and 1st is better, but still not close to level with 2nd.

This is most likely the way it has to be.

Something just doesn't seem correct here. Those gears should be aligned. Otherwise, there should be a corresponding wear pattern on the kick gear me thinks.

In my experience slight misalignment is normal. You can shim adjust a bit but I thought that was for kickstart shaft side play. As long as there is some clearance you should be good. Just verify with the parts book that you have all the shims in place.

I looked for a wear pattern and sure enough there is one. It doesn't show that well in the picture but there are shiny and duller portions of the 2nd and kick gear teeth that indicate the original alignment. The gears definitely came out of the factory this way, so I won't worry about it.

OOh yeah, the photos here really show the wear pattern of the factory alignment. That's good to know. Thanks for publishing the detail shots!!

Every Hodaka engine I have ever worked on had the kick gear offset like your photograph. I don't know why, but they have all been that way. Nothing to worry about, everything looks good.

I just finished building a spare Engine for my 1973 Dirt Squirt and the gears meshed the same as the posted photos. If you study 2nd gear you will see that the Kick Gear will load 2nd Gear at the widest point of contact with the Counter Shaft. That`s why I think that the Counter Shafts on the Model 94 95 and 96 don`t get wiped out like the Model 92 93 Counter Shafts do where 2nd Gear rides. When I shim the Kick Shaft assembly I use a thin shim on the Kick Roller Retainer side and whatever it takes on the Gear side. That keeps the Gear clearance as wide as possible. Joe.

Interesting yet embarrassing - I never looked that closely. I just stack em up and move on.

I stacked em up and moved on also. Put the thinner thrust washer on the lever end of the kickstart shaft and sealed up the can of worms.

Great looking motor, Scrib. I love my Wombat. Great enduro bike and a really fun ride. Nice work!!

This has always been the case. I sometimes machine the bottom lip of the kick start shaft enough to bring it flush I think about .025 or measured?? and then I shim the upper end above the gear. ---------------- Clarence