Kickstand Spring Malfunction?

[VulcanJeff]

Yesterday I hop on my bike ('05 1500 Classic), and give the kickstand the customary nudge with my heel. Much to my dismay it didn't stay up. Instead it just dangled there. Spring come off I wonder to myself? Fortunately I was at my buddy's house so I ask him to take a look. The spring was lying underneath the bike. What the? How? Oh well, just reattach it and forget about it, right? Wrong. It took hardly any effort to "stretch" the spring back on. In fact, it had hardly no tension on the kickstand whatsoever. Not enough tension to hold it up and even when the kickstand was extended in a down position there was no tension to speak of. It was late in the day, I had a 200 mile journey back home so I just bungee corded it up and hit the road.

Could the spring have stretched over time to the point it no longer provided the necessary tension to function? Did my buddy (a BMW bike mechanic, FWIW) not attach the spring in the right location? How many places under there could there be to accommodate a spring? In his defense, he has no more familiarity with the underpinnings of a Vulcan than I do but at the same time it can't be rocket science. Neither of us dwelled on it too much knowing I had to hit the road quickly and knowing a bungee cord would serve me well enough to get home.

I looked at the kickstand parts assembly on ronayers.com. It appears all there is is the kickstand, the bolt/nut that fastens it to the frame and the spring. My brother has an 06 Nomad. I can't imagine the kickstand arrangement being different. He is a bit out of my way but I might try to get by his house and have a peek and try to spot something obvious I might be overlooking on my bike.

Any ideas?

[Bud2rat]

Is there any loose play in the kickstand. I'm asking because my kickstand did the same thing a few years back. The bolt had so much wear that it oblonged the mounting hole. I ended up drilling out the hole and replacing with a larger diameter bolt.

[VulcanJeff]

I did notice a little play. Excessive play? Could be. My buddy and I pondered that theory because there just isn't enough going on under there for there to be all that many factors to contribute to the problem. Unless there is another anchor point on the frame for the spring to hook to that my buddy overlooked. I'm not sure if a snug pivot point would increase the spring tension or not. After work I want to get it jacked up for a better assessment.

[MAS Tequila]

The bolt will wear the hole over time until the spring just falls off.

It's not the spring.

When was the last time you lubed the kickstand?

You either have to drill it out like Bud2 did or weld it up and re drill and use a new stock bolt.

There is another option.

I have been using a spring from the home supply store for about 5 or 6 years now.

I found one that was hard to put on, I had to use drum brake spring pliers, but it has stayed on there all these years.

One day I have to fix it correctly.

MT

[VulcanJeff]

I have never lubed my kickstand pivot In the one year and 16k miles I've owned the bike, I haven't lubed the pivot. I thought about such preventative tasks as I rode home last night.

[Peg]

It's a very common problem. Either the bolt has worn, or the tab on the frame now has an oblong hole instead of a round one, or both. Most either drill the hole round again and put a bushing in it, or weld it up and re-drill.

But whichever you do, lube it from now on.

[VulcanJeff]

I should be lucky the spring decided to jump off whilst parked and not bookin' down the highway .

Now that I think about it, the kickstand used to make a firm distinct clunk when I kicked it up. Over time I began to notice it didn't clunk with the same sort of authority. A time or two I had to kick it a second time because the first kick wasn't enough. I now realize the spring wasn't able to do its job due to the sloppy hole.

[plumber63]

Once you fix the hole, you need to add a shim washer between the kickstand and mounting tab. I believe this play is what causes it to wear. Every time you put all the weight down on the stand it torques it out. I made one out of a piece of stainless metal I believe it was 26 gauge.

[VulcanJeff]

Thanks plumber. I will give that a shot.

[MickeyNew]

I had the same problem recently. The springs fall off because the hole in the tab on the frame where the kickstand mounts wears and the tab itself wears. This extra movement lets the springs fall off. I fixed mine by boring out the frame tab to 1/2 inch. I used a 1/2" bolt with enough shoulder to replace the factory screw. This also required drilling out the top hole in the kickstand and rethreading the lower hole to the 1/2 13 threads per inch of the replacement bolt. The message here is keep this joint lubricated.

[VulcanJeff]

I got my bike up on the jack this afternoon. I can't detect excessive slop in the hole. When the stand is in the up position, the spring slips on with no resistance to speak of. In fact, it doesn't provide enough tension to hold itself into the groove on the stub on the frame. I barely touched the spring and it slipped out of the groove and off the stub. When the stand is extended in the down position, there is good tension and all is well.

I'm inclined to think the spring has stretched out. The kickstand spends more time down than up. And when down, it stretches the spring an extra little bit due to the "flex"that is designed into the kickstand.

I'm going to take a shot at replacing the spring. They are only 11 bucks. I think it is worth the gamble.

[Beetrucker]

My buddy has an 07 Classic and I have an 06 Nomad. We both had the same problem. The solution here was to drill out the hole and make a bushing and tig weld it in place, Like new.

[VulcanJeff]

I finally got the ol' land barge jacked up off the garage floor. After I got my new front tire on I took a closer look at the kickstand debacle. I wasn't so sure the hole was all that wallered out. I guess by design the kickstand "flexes" once weight comes down upon it. I assume the flex is accomplished by way of the mounting hole being bigger than the bolt? I attempted to unbolt the kickstand but failed to do so because I don't have a wrench thin enough to get on the head of the bolt. (Updated my things-to-buy list hehe)

Comparing the new spring to the old one, the old one clearly was stretched out the first half coil on both ends. It is a pretty darn stiff spring to begin with. By my guestimation, the approximate 1/16" stretch on both ends of of the spring was the difference maker in it no longer doing its job.

The tit on the frame has a shoulder on the end of it and of course the groove where the spring hook seats. I was able to push the hook over the shoulder by hand somewhat easily. Hmm, my confidence waned a bit. The hook settled into the groove rather nicely. There seemed to be enough tension to hold the kickstand securely. I upped-and-downed it several times while watching closely. The hook seemed secure and exhibited no signs of working its way off due to lack of tension.

Whew, an $11 gamble on a new spring allowed me to avoid welding and drilling and all that jazz. And yes, I lubed 'er up real good too.