Needle bearing disintegration during kickback

Long story short, experienced the beginnings of a kickback when trying to start my 86 XC 400 but then felt no resistance and the Kickstarter did not catch anymore. Pulled the cover and found that the needle bearing was disintegrated and the center of the kickstart gear was oblong. Obviously need to replace bearing and gear but was this caused by misalignment elsewhere and do it need to focus energies elsewhere as well? Can I fish out pieces from the clutch side and call it a day or do I need to split cases and clean everything out?

And to think I was just a few adjustments away from my build finally being done…

What a heart breaker. I don't have any experience with this year motor so I can't answer your questions but theres a lot of guys that can, I'm sure one will be along soon.

very common problem , especially with newbies to owning a Husky . you cant just slam on the kicker like a japanese bike. it's takes a little finess and once you figure it out they will start right up first or second kick. purchase the new gear and bearing. count how many rollers are in bearing cage and count the ones you fish out of the case. hopefully you get all the pieces.

The bore of the gear on the Kickstarter shaft seems to have been missed in the heat treating. I would not blame anything you did.

While I do not take offense to this, I will note that my youth in Germany involved Kreidler and Maico, not Yamaha or Suzuki (although I did eventually see the light when I got to the US...)

it wasnt meant to offend. just trying to help. I learned the hard way 30 yrs ago when I bought my first Husky. the kicker assembly was the first very expensive failure.