Hey everyone! I recently picked up a 79 Yamaha Enduro dt175 and I got it running great and then out of the blue the Kickstarter stopped working. It just does nothing and goes down, maybe every 50 kicks it will catch, I took the crank case off and it seems like there are 2 gears in there that need to over lap, but don’t. Any suggestions? Thanks!!

Just a guess, a shot in the dark, but maybe the spring that engages the two gears broke? Not familiar with that bike at all, but the suddenness with which it quit, and the two gears not engaging makes me think broken spring? And the times it does engage are just accidental, then?

My kickstarter did something similar on my DT175, though not as bad every 50 kicks.
I took cover off and pulled the kickstart mechanism. It comes right out, did you take yours out?

This is what i saw. some teeth were damaged. I believe these teeth are purposely made weaker, so they break before the others since they are easier to replace.
I know you can buy this gear individually, i had a spare mechanism and just replaced whole thing. Make sure you get the spring correct on reinstallation.

what makes the gear slide across is Cclip 10 causing tension on the gear which makes it move out on the quick thread spline [twisted spline, that's it!!] & engage with the intermediate gear between it & the back of the clutch. If it 'is' that then chances are if you lean it over to the right as far as you can & still get at the kick lever then it should engage. Bit of a guess as 'that' is unlikely to fail but seen heaps misplaced on assembly. The ear 'must' go into the slot to keep it stationary while the gear turns with the kick lever--it turns & moves out at same time.
Sorry, forgot the link.
www.partzilla.com/catalog/yamaha/motorcycle/1979/dt175f/starter

The"tab" on the clip RT325 is speaking of can just be seen in Sleeman's photo... I've outlined in red. Not common, but I have seen two bad clips on monoshock 175's... can't say I've ever seen a bad one on an earlier model unless someone has damaged it. Needs to be hard spin in it's groove as said to give the tension needed to get gears to engage. I keep a spare clip around since I have a few DT175's... of course I've never needed it now that I have one!

The "tab" on the clip must fit into a slot in the case.as RT325 said... all good advice from him as usual!

Hello, new to the group. I recently picked up a 78 DT175. The kick starter would not engage. As suggested on this site I leaned the bike over and the kicker engaged. I pulled the cover and found the broken clip. My question is does the clip snap onto the gear and the ear of clip go into the squared-off Hole in the case.
Thanks,

Hi & welcome for NZ down under. Short answer Yes--as you describe. It'd be pretty unusual for that clip to break & don't think i've ever seen it happen like that. First time for everything i suppose. No obvious reason Why?. Have a good day. ps i missed those two pics with the teeth damage so Hmm, interesting!!. & yep, just spread the clip into the groove, probably just sit one end in the flick other end in so ya not spreading it any more than necessary & maybe loose some tension. It just creates drag so the gear will move out to engage. Sorry, i think ya know all that.

Yup, ear goes in the hole you are pointing to. Can't say if the spring snaps on, when I fixed mine it was just as cheap to get a complete used shaft with it already installed.

The clip is common to many models my local dealer had them in stock. $ 3.00. Appears that I need to spread the clip and snap it on where the yellow pointer is indicating ? Hard to tell from other photos or the parts diagram.
Thanks for the quick reply.

Are there pics from earlier years involved here [i'm confused--old & confused] so your one doesn't have teeth damage?. No worries, only worries if teeth are as in a couple of pics.