sidestand spring

I was going down a fairly rough road the other day, and at the end of the ride I noticed my sidestand was not staying up. After investigation I noticed that the spring is no longer there. Does anybody know the exact dimensions for this spring? I had a guy at the local dealer who was great help on the older bikes, especially the xj's, but has since retired. Now all of the young guys (thats all that remain-oldest probably about 25-doubt he has ever seen an xj much less know anything about it) are no help at all. If anyone has the exact dimensions where I could go to the hardware store and get one that actually works (have tried three different ones with correct length but none will stay on) would be a great help.

 

Here ya go. I had a helluva time getting this damn thing off. I have no idea how one would fall off unless it just broke.

The side with the long hook on the end is the end toward the ground when the kickstand is down.

 

And the last picture...

 

After putting my spring back on I think I figured out what your problem is. There is another piece of metal that the spring hooks to. It attaches to the bike on the little peg that I think you are probably trying to hook the spring to. This piece is what pushes in the kill switch that is next to the peg.

That piece just hangs there when there is no spring attached. Mine fell off when I went to put the spring back on. My guess is that you lost that when the spring fell off.

 

I appreciate the pics. I see what might have been the problem, the "hooks" are not in the same plane, but will check the other spring attachment to see if it is still there.

 

Good Job Seedyrom.