New 850 Ride. Big Road Trip

[gustovh]

I went 230 on the bat on my 850 L with the lights on before I started having running issues. Still had 90 to go and push started the last fill up, made it home. Would not start the next day..Stator issue.

So I am with you but like to be a bit conservative. The question is, should he even put the stator in?

V

[tkent02]

No point in it is there? But I think he's already on the road and it's already in there. Can it hurt anything? I don't think it can but I'm no Posplayer.

[rustybronco]

I don't see what he's doing with his math, but he seems to understand.

Every magnet has two poles. A north pole and a south pole. He has eight 'sticking' points which equates to four magnets. These alternators are three phase. In order for his alternator to work correctly you would need twelve poles.

My GS1000's rotor has six magnets (three sets of two magnets) times the three phases equals eighteen.

http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_statorrewind.htm

Notice there are six of each of the three colours on the rewinding diagram? Those correspond to each magnet. If the diagram had four poles of each colour, then four magnets would work.

[tkent02]

I checked my GS550, the drill bit I used stuck 12 times, four on each segment.
What does that mean? Someone put in an 18 pole setup? It's a '77, it came with 12.

[RobertGS]

I feel bad about getting everyone excited. On the plus side the battery was going strong after 250kms. Worked great. Also a plus was a good couple hours of sweet mountain riding.

NOw the bad news. I'm not sure it was well maintained. The bike started dieing whenever I pulled into a town or for gas. Then most recently spewed gas from the carbs after shutting down.

It also seemed to be really hot... the plugs looked pretty toasty to my untrained eye... only cylinder 1 looking normal and tan. Cleaned them up let the bike cool and tried again. Same deal.

Seems like carb issues to me.

Soooo. I hate to be the bearer of adventure busting news, but I'm pretty close to done and looking into shipping options. No mechanic will touch it this time of year with carb issues (I tried a couple in Kamloops area). And I absolutely need to be back to the family and work so can't spend a few days troubleshooting. Also no buddies house here. Just me and hotel rooms.

The worst thing is that every 5 minutes more riders pull in here after a days ride.

So unless one of the senior guys on the site happens to live around the corner from Princton BC, AND thinks it's worth even looking for a quick solution.. (idle circuit??) Or has a brother who is a killer mechanic in Kamloops or somewhere nearby and wants to drop everything to take a job from me. I've gotta pull the trigger on getting home another way and shipping the bike.

Sorry guys, it was really really fun while it lasted... even the putting in the new stator and treating it all like a big adventure.

Anyway let me know your thoughts. Also for the Canadian guys whether you know of good shipping options from interior BC to Toronto.

Heading out for wings and beers. I'm using the hotel internet so will check in from time to time...

[tkent02]

If it's still ridable, consider using a carburetor cleaner in the fuel tank. It may do some good, sometimes it does. Techron is a good one, a lot of folks swear by Seafoam.

It's odd that it would run fine at first and then not, unless the gas tank is rusty and sending rust particles into your carbs?

Princeton is a little higher in elevation, VM carbs don't compensate for elevation at all. 2,000 ft should not matter much, but if he had it on the rich side it could. Try opening the air screws just a little bit. It may help it idle better.

Not sure about the spewing gas thing. You could add an inline filter just to see if it's getting stuff in it from the tank.

[rustybronco]

I checked my GS550, the drill bit I used stuck 12 times, four on each segment.
What does that mean? Someone put in an 18 pole setup? It's a '77, it came with 12.

Tom, I guess you would have to count the number of poles on the stator to know for sure.

[Grimly]

My bet is that you can do better than 500 miles on that car battery, before the drain is noticed in the bikes running. The secrete is to keep on the move as fast as you can....


V

When earning a living with the '79 bike, the first stator that burned out left me with no choice but to run the bike with a car battery in the topbox until I could acquire a stator at the end of the week. It easily did an eight or ten hour day on a full charge, and plenty left over.
The ignition base load was a mere 4 amps or so, dropping to less as the engine speed rose, so totally seat of the pants, but yes, it can be done easily enough. That was with a Piranha electronic ignition system though, and I suspect a points system running two sets and two coils could be drawing 8 amps at idle, falling to less with speed.
I know the owner here has an electronic ignitor of some sort on this bike, but this info is for the use of anyone stuck in a similar situation.

[850 Combat]

I've driven a car with a bad alternator 250 miles, the last hour with the headlights on. Ihad a spare battery from a Diesel Tractor, but didn't need it. I discovered in Cantwell, AK that my CBX wasn't charging. I pulled the headlight fuse and made it Nenana to gas up. It wouldn't stsrt on the button there, but I jumped it off a truck and made it home to Fairbankd. It had a worn out brush on the alternator. My plan when we crossed the country mostly on GS was to buy a battery and charge it at night, and swap out batteries in the day between chargers and non chargers. We ended up not having to.

I'm sorry that your trip isn't going as planned. Having the time to go is difficult.

I just changed the oil on my650 Seca. My buddy from work is stopping by on the 7th to ride it to Alaska. He just got his license. I'm not even going to be here when he shows up. It all works, but...

Its a bike I paid 600 bucks for. I replaced the steering bearings and the headlight, about six years ago. I hope he makes it.

Its a good bike, but Anchorage is 2600 miles. Alone, old bike, and brand new license.

[tkent02]

Tom, I guess you would have to count the number of poles on the stator to know for sure.

On the stator, the number of coils equals the number of poles, right? Just count them up? I think I had 18, not sure.

12 pole rotor has six complete magnets, so two on each segment, which is four sticking places…. four on each segment is what I had.

The 18 pole rotor would have nine complete magnets?

It's back on the 675 engine now, which I'm not running yet so no big deal, just have to open it up again and look inside. My concern is that I don't have a clue which stator cover came from which engine. I may have mismatched something. Wouldn't have even thought about it without this thread bringing it up.

The first year for the 18 pole system was 1981, I don't have any 550s or 550 engines that new.

Ohh, I may have parted out a newer 550L…...

[tkent02]

Its a good bike, but Anchorage is 2600 miles. Alone, old bike, and brand new license.

And Canada. Poor guy.

[RobertGS]

Alright. Here's the plan. The ride is being postponed not cancelled. CAA is trucking me and the bike back to Vancouver tomorrow. I'm bringing it to a little shop in Lynn Valley...WindBell they feel right, do only Japanese bikes. I like them. So rather than spending money on shipping it on the ride I want to go on, I'll just take it myself later.

Anyway I'm out here for a couple of weeks of work in early August. So I'll ride it home from that job.

You know who's in your corner when something like this happens.
Lots of folks on this site have been a big help. Trevor welcomed me in Victoria (Trevor I'll have my own bike in August for our ride! Hope to meet AZR then and maybe a few others)
My buddy Jeff and his family were unbelievable taking care of me while I scrambled to deal with the electrics and get on my way.
And my gal, jumping at the idea of me tacking on yet another week away for version 2 of the trip.

Chapter 2 in August.

[Wingsconsin]

Even more to add to the story ...chapter 2 ...

[tkent02]

Can't wait….

[trevor]

Alright. Here's the plan. The ride is being postponed not cancelled. CAA is trucking me and the bike back to Vancouver tomorrow. I'm bringing it to a little shop in Lynn Valley...WindBell they feel right, do only Japanese bikes. I like them. So rather than spending money on shipping it on the ride I want to go on, I'll just take it myself later.

Anyway I'm out here for a couple of weeks of work in early August. So I'll ride it home from that job.

You know who's in your corner when something like this happens.
Lots of folks on this site have been a big help. Trevor welcomed me in Victoria (Trevor I'll have my own bike in August for our ride! Hope to meet AZR then and maybe a few others)
My buddy Jeff and his family were unbelievable taking care of me while I scrambled to deal with the electrics and get on my way.
And my gal, jumping at the idea of me tacking on yet another week away for version 2 of the trip.

Chapter 2 in August.

Well Robert I don't kmow what to say. Good idea though...getting it sorted and having it ready for your trip back here in Aug. I sure hope Len is going to make things right with you. Imo..he needs to.
Well I look forward to riding with you in a month or so.
Again please let me know if I can do anything for you. I will be ready to pick you up at the airport.