From: | Doug Strange | e-mail: | AMCAdoug@aol.com |
Subject: | RE: RE: RE: Starting 1918 Henderson | Date: | Tue Apr 21 09:02:51 2020 |
Response to: | 7302 |
Regarding your kick starter. I'm aware of the frailty of the unit but when starting, just make sure the teeth are engaged before kicking through. Stabbing at the kicker will only lead to problems, including injury. Had a friend who broke his foot by not engaging the kicker and it slipped through with his foot crashing to the ground. ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- I checked the rear brake it is definitely not dragging. I will try what you said with the magneto shaft. As far as oil goes I use 50 weight year round. Is that the wrong thing to do? I’ve had the bike for about 9 years and it took like 5 years to make it roadworthy( 4 years to get the engine done ). I live in a congested area so I really only take it on short rides around town occasionally. There are a couple of books and a few websites I go on to ask questions and try to learn more. I will let you know how I make out. Thank you and the other guys for your help. I appreciate it! ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- I start my early Hendersons this way, in 3rd gear, the foot-starter jaws are small and fragile, unlike the later Deluxe and KJ jaws. It is possible your magneto is dragging, this happened to me. After you have checked what what Doug, Peter, and Ken said, make sure the plugs are out, turn over in 3rd gear, and if the brake is not dragging...and your cylinder walls are not rusty from sitting in a damp location for too long, your magneto may be dragging. Mark your magneto shaft location so you don't replace 180deg out of time, pop out the tapered pin on the shaft, now spin the rear wheel. Any different? The varnish on the magneto armature gets hot and melts, and has little clearance to spin, if parked when very hot, the varnish melts and gets sticky, and drags on the walls having no clearance. There is enough force by turning over and having your magneto dragging, to do serious damage on your drive system. ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- I own a 1918 Henderson. To start it up I spin the rear wheel with the bike in third gear. I went to spin the wheel today and it’s super hard to turn. I can’t get the wheel to spin fast enough to start the bike. I can’t figure out why all of a sudden it’s hard to turn. Any ideas why this is happening? Thank you. |
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