1972 Six Days Sachs 6A Assembly

[Rob Thatcher]

Hi,
I am finally assembling my Sachs 6A motor from my summer scavenger hunt.  It is from a pile of parts I bought sight unseen in Virginia Beach right after VMD.
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I am slightly confused about the kickstart mechanism and the manual. It says to turn 3/4 turn to pre-tension, but never says anything else. Is that the final tension on the spring?  Doesn't seem to spring back at that tension, so I am confused[xx(]
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It was already disassembled when I got the bike, so I never had a comparison view.  

Any advise?

[joe novak]

Does the manual mean 3 to 4 turns rather than 3/4 turns?

[thrownchain]

Manual says 3/4 turn in the starting direction, which is counter clockwise.

[Paul Danik]

Hi Rob,

   It has been a few moons since I have done what you are doing, but here goes anyway. Also want to commend you for working to bring that pile of parts back to life as a whole Penton  Also want to mention that at times like this we sure miss the words of wisdom of Sachs expert Doug Wilford.

   What you are doing is made much more difficult with the engine already being apart, plus the fact that you have little or no previous knowledge of these engines to draw upon, but rest assured you will be helping others in short order who will be in your shoes...
Also want to mention to folks contemplating pulling a Sachs apart that they start off with a very clean work area as there are a couple of small shims that like to jump out when pulling the cases apart and it is nice to know that what you find on the workbench does belong somewhere inside that engine. Please do not let that scare you from attempting the project.....the results are surely worth the effort.

  Back to the issue. I would suggest that you work with only the kick mechanism in place to eliminate any other related issues, and it also makes putting the cases together and pulling them apart as you work to get the kicker to work properly much easier.

  A couple of areas to check, does the kicker seem to return properly before the case screws are tightened up fully, if so your problem might be in the proper shimming of the kicker unit. It could be over shimmed, finding the proper shims for that unit in a pile of parts is quite a feat...

  If the shims are not the issue, I would check the proper placement of the ends of the spring as that will affect proper tension. I do not have one at hand this morning to look at, but I do recall there are a couple of different notches / holes where the ends can be placed. If the manual doesn't show exactly where to place the ends, clean the areas perfectly and possibly use a magnifying glass to look for wear marks that will indicate where the ends belong. I am working from memory here, if needed I will do some research in the manuals.

  Also, put a light coat of oil on the parts as you assemble the unit to reduce friction, I am sure you are already doing that, but just wanted to mention it.

  By eliminating each possibility, one at a time, I am sure you will solve this, please keep us abreast of your progress.

Have a Merry Christmas  

Paul

[Rob Thatcher]

I am going to go look at the Sachs cutaway at Penton Racing products and maybe phone a friend.  I may actually have it right, but I just don't know and don't want to proceed until absolutely correct.

It does say in the manual to use the bottom notch in the cases, and it is definitely 3/4 quarters of a turn.  It can only go one way and still rest on the stop.  There are two spring location holes in the gear and I cannot tell which one is supposed to be used.  

Fortunately or unfortunately, there are no wear marks to help me along. All the gears rotate when I push the start through.  It just doesn't seem to spring back, but I don't have a clutch, crank or anything else to counter it yet installed.

Thanks for all the advise and keep it coming.

[Kip Kern]

Use the hole located "behind the raising curve" as stated in the shop manual. Use the last notch in the case for the other end of the spring, roughly 6/7 o'clock position.  Rotate the KS shaft a turn CCW, install the stop bolt with gasket and release slowly and it will catch.  You should be able to spin the ratchet gear and not touch or engauge the other ratchet gear if assembly is installed properly.  Don't forget the 2,  1mm shims on the shaft when assembling the set.  Have fun!

[Rob Thatcher]

I re-read everything, checked again and used the advice and figured out that the starter gear (clutch side) had too thick a shim.  Removed one shim, slipped back together perfectly and works like it should.

I did go out to Penton Racing Products and looked at the cut away gear box.  Barb let me look at it even though they weren't open for business.    A big thank you and a break from returns![8D]

I am up to the ever popular adjustment of the gears/shift linkage.  

Advise on that is always welcome, too.  I haven't even ridden a Sachs, let alone adjusted the shifting.  

Pictures to follow and a clutch question that will make sense with the picture.

[joe novak]

Rob,  Oh, are there shims in Sachs engines.  LOL.   joe