140 h3 clutch pin

Josh,

I've had good luck using an air hammer with punch attachment. I support the other side of the shaft with a four way lug wrench. (Learned that tip from WFM)

Maybe it could still run, but my guess is it would take out the next tooth in short order. If only the top part of a tooth broke off, maybe the crank gear would not climb (and break)the next tooth, but it will be interesting to see what you find when you get it opened up. Take lots of pictures for us.

Here's a photo with a steel geared cam being installed. You can see the limited engagement from one tooth to the next.




tommyhawk

Had more time to think about this one, and have some more "maybes".
Check the spark plug gaps. Make both as nearly the same as possible. Sounds crazy I know, but there's something about the Kawasaki twins that makes them very finicky about this.
Next, check the valve lash and put them right on the money. The possibility of a bent push rod might be of concern too, but the only bent ones I've found were caused by the rod falling out because of loose rocker to valve lash clearance. At least that's what I thought at the time, since the other side was way wide. It did run with no strange noise, but the exhaust sounded funny. A bit low on power but not as much as having a dead cylinder. Could a backfire cause a bent push rod? I don't know. They have a very delicate appearance.
I have wondered if the occasional "back fire" could break or begin the demise of the plastic gears. The occasional "running on or dieseling" is another concern, but I can't back that up with hard evidence.
Sorry to ramble, but hope you will check out these suggestions before doing a cam job. That is a low hour machine, but the cam might be the problem.
Keep us posted, as this subject will come up many more times in the future. I suspect we will learn some bad effects with the steel geared cam sooner or later.

tommyhawk

I sure hope I'm not sounding like an expert on these L/C twins. I've only been inside 3 Fd590's and 1 Fd620. I just do it as a hobby. Three of the cams were replaced because there was chipping on one side of the teeth. Good insurance against failure in the near future. These were torn down because of coolant leak at the case halves/waterpump area. The FD620 had a meter showing just under 1000 hours.
One FD590 did fail to start, just popped a couple times and had broken the cam gear and the w/p gear. No hour meter on this one, but a good estimate of over 2000 hours. Original owner, good yearly maintenance.
This is what it looked like.







The governor gear and washer was headed south too. New one on the right for reference.





Tommyhawk

Hey Steve,

That's an easy decision for me- fix it right before you sell it. Don't pass a known problem off on somebody else.

Your conscience will thank you...