Topic: Loose Kickstand and Oblonged Mount, Fix?

[Mandic]

Anyone have some suggestions for fixing a loose kickstand?  While disassembling my bike for cleaning and paint I noticed the kickstand is pretty loose.  I always noticed it felt like the bike was leaning over too much when I put it on the stand.  The stand itself had the ears spread out and the mount hole is a little oval in shape.  The bolt seems to be in good shape and measures around .446".  My thought was maybe to drill the hole larger and press in a sleeve to resize the hole and make it round.  Also to bend the ears of the mount back a little closer to parallel.  The bolt was tight so I am thinking maybe a washer was missing or something that let the ears spread and move in the mount.

Anyone dealt with this and have suggestions?

[nancy]

I have dealt to this - as have many others. I can't see enough of your kickstand in the pic, but it looks bent. So was mine. Assumed a minor banana shape. That makes for some of the excess lean. Have it heated with an oxy. torch and bent back to shape. The mounting/clevis area must also be worn as was mine. I have put up with it. Having the kickstand bent back has put my lean back to an acceptable angle. I asked the engineer to bend mine back beyond straight to about -5 degrees - to compensate for the small amout of slop in the mounting.
Here's some pics (CB750 K2).
Regards
Mark
PS: Mine was bent in 2 ways - both left to right and back to front.Cost me $20 at a local auto machinist.

[Mandic]

Yes mine is bent a bit too.  I just spent some time cleaning it up for paint.  I used the vise and squeezed the tabs of the mount back together.  Then I made a setup in the vise and it is currently sitting in there bending back into shape.  I went a bit passed straight cause it is cast iron it will spring back.  When I take it out of the vise tomorrow I will warm it with the torch first and let it sort of set where it is.  I will take a picture of what I have done tomorrow. 

I still wish to address the mount issue though.  I am very tempted to run a few beads of weld around the backside of the mount, grind it flat and down until it fits properly.  That should add enough material to make up the space.  Unfortunately I am sure a washer will be too think.  Sadly I have the same issue with my clutch handle, it has play in it that is too small for a washer but I'd like to address.

[nancy]

Clutch and brake levers just wear that way - replaced both of mine with new Honda parts for NZ$15 each. 100% better. Also plenty of other brands that look and fit the same - such as: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Motorbikes/Parts-for-sale/Clutch-gearboxes/auction-349280447.htm - 9 bucks in NZ money - that's only about $7 in US$.
With regard to the sidestand - I believe that the wear is on the bike end - that tab wears thin. You can close up the clevis on the stand as much as you like but it won't fix it for long. I tried that.
Also, the "stop" metal on that bike-end tab wears as the stand whacks into it - eats meat out of it each time it whacks it. .., so that when the stand is down, it tends to come too far forward B4 it stops - thereby being on too much of a forward angle and closer to the ground. The engineer who straightened mine was going to weld a spot onto this "stop" but forgot...next time maybe.
regards
Mark

[slowjo]

My kickstand was bent also. All I did was use a hammer to bend the kickstand back straight and I used a large crescent wrench to bend the frame mount.

[Stev-o]

+1 on bending the stand and buying new levers.

[MCRider]

Look st the shoulder bolt on the stand and visualize what it is doing. YOu will see that closing the tabs on the stand won't help as the shoulder on the bolt rules the day. The only way to fix it is to shim up the shoulder. Otherwise the tabs will spread again quickly to the width of the shoulder on the bolt.

Ace hardware had some very thin machinist shims I used for this, ID the size of the shoulder, actually called shims I think. Very thin washers. That will allow you to crank the shoulder bolt to where it closes the tabs of the stand and makes things tighter. The material is usually hardened steel and will take the thrust loads of the stand. I put mine under the head of the bolt, but you could put it between the stand and the frame. May have to grind down the OD some.

[Mandic]

That was what I meant by "putting in a washer".  As far as under the head of the shoulder bolt.  I mean it stands to reason, if the tabs spread, the shoulder HAS to be too long.  Whether due to wear on the stand mount, wear on the bolt, or just bad original design.  There was no spacer or washer from the factory(by the parts break down) and it sure seems there should be. 

As for levers, I ordered new ones from CB750Supply.com.  I needed a few other things, so free shipping and they were only $6.50 a piece!

[MCRider]

Yeah. Well thin washers do exist.

I do hate floppy levers as well.

[slowjo]

For loose levers I purchased a cheep set of feeler gauges and found the one that took up the slop of the lever. Then I sandwiched the feeler gauge between two pieces of 1/2 plywood and drilled through them with the correct sized drill bit. Then I used a pair of wire side cutters to snip off the excess so that you can not see the shim when installed. Now my levers are nice and tight.

[Mandic]

That is a great idea!  However the levers were cheap enough and my levers look like someone laid a bike down on them at some point.

[Really?]

For loose levers I purchased a cheep set of feeler gauges and found the one that took up the slop of the lever. Then I sandwiched the feeler gauge between two pieces of 1/2 plywood and drilled through them with the correct sized drill bit. Then I used a pair of wire side cutters to snip off the excess so that you can not see the shim when installed. Now my levers are nice and tight.

Great thinking on that one.  Only thing I would wonder about is what Ron spoke about.  Yanno, handling the thrust loads.

[Mandic]

Well I finally tested out my "fixed" stand.  It is much better than it was, but not perfect.  Of course I'd have to completely fill, redrill the hole and get new hardware to make it perfect. 

What I ended up doing was bending the stand so it stead of being "bannana shaped" the wrong way, it is now bent the opposite direction.  This made the bike stand a bit straighter.  Then I squished the ears of it back together a bit, and installed a washer under the head of the mounting nut.  I did not use any special machinist washer, just a standard one.  So I will need to check it for tight once in a while, but the threads for actually a little boogered up so it may well hold itself in place. 

That all done, the bike stands much straight and doesn't lean as badly.  It used to be that every time I leaned it over(especially the wrong way on an incline) it felt like I was going to drop it on my leg.


As for levers, replacing them did not work.  When I got the replacements I realized they were pretty much the same thickness as my worn out stockers.  So they obviously are not direct reproductions of the originals.  With that I realized the ears of my clutch lever mount were spread out a bit.  So I placed a washer under the head of that mounting bolt to suck the mount together.  Then I put a nut on the end of the bolt that sticks through the bottom so it won't loosen up.  Much much less wobble in the handle, though it does have the slightest drag on it now, I will likely loosen the bolt a hair after the mount has time to relax in position.