Side Stand Switch 1983 GS450L

[Guest]

Here goes a relatively silly thing...

My GS came without a side stand. I just got one in that was bundled with a new switch assembly, since the one left on the bike has the leads clipped off. Unfortunately, I can't seem to make sense of how the spring for the switch actually connects to the bike in a way that will stay mounted through the whole range of travel. Any chance someone can shoot me a picture of a correct assembly?

It's possible it may have included the wrong spring, as the service book I have seems to indicate it mounts near the kickstand bolt, though that doesn't look feasible with the included spring (and the included spring looks just like what's in the parts fiche, so I am doubting the Clymer manual).

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

If you don't get a response with a picture from someone else by the time I get home this evening, I'll take a pic or short video of the switch operating on my side stand. I doesn't have to move as much as you might imagine.

 

[Guest]

I think I did figure it out, actually. I still wouldn't mind a picture to confirm. I'd have taken one myself, but the spring broke pretty much immediately (which I think was my trouble from the beginning: it's over-stretched and was about to fail). It was a little too long to hook up properly to the sort-of oversized hook made by the side stand return spring, but I watched it closely as I raised and lowered the stand and saw it was moving that perfect amount in and out to actuate and release the switch without binding on anything. Since the switch was already adjusted fully out, I made a little bend in the spring hook to see if it would actuate correctly and it did, right until it snapped.

Fortunately, I've got an old parts house in-town loaded with parts for hundreds of old bikes and I'd bet they'll have just the right spring to replace this. Failing that, the hardware store should have something similar enough to work.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Here ya go.

 

[Guest]

Fantastic! Thanks, Rich. After fiddling with mine for a bit, I'm surprised yours is working correctly with how tight it is. Mine wants to complete the circuit pretty much as soon as there's any tension.

But for what's it's worth, I got success with my stand. I picked up an assorted spring pack from Dorman, which had a spring that had about the right tension and length to work. With a little bit of trimming to length and making a nice bend for the hook, I was able to get it setup to fit correctly and have the light kick on in the down position and back off within about 15 degrees of horizontal. Felt good getting it working and feels even better seeing that it's actually how it's supposed to be. It's going to feel the best knowing my wife will have a working warning to let her know that the side stand is down...

Of side note, while I was busy playing with springs, I noticed that the clutch return spring was trash. It was way too stiff and was something poorly formed and installed, which didn't return the lever back correctly and felt awful in the hand. I got a throttle spring from the parts store, made a single nice bend to set it for the length, and cut away the excess. Now it's got the perfect amount of force to just take up the cable slack and reset the lever, leaving the rest of the spring force to the actual clutch assembly. It feels much nicer, though is still way firmer than any of the other bikes I have. Hopefully I can either figure that one out soon enough or can compare it to another GS some day to see if that's just normal for this bike. Either way, if I squeezed the clutch the way it is now, I wouldn't have really been concerned that something was wrong with it, so gives an idea of how much improvement was made in one spring change.