Finally got me.....R/R thermal meltdown!

[Motorcyclemodeller]

Story time boys and girls.

Went to meet my wife the other day for lunch.........all is well. I go to fire up White Lightning and she barely turns over. Oh well, I bum start her. Fine. While putting on my gloves and helmet I smell something burning, red positive wire off the R/R is dripping liquid insulation, and solder is dripping out of the three leads from the R/R, and a black ooze is running out of the R/R. I disconect the positive and stator leads, restart her and try to make it home. Get out on the highway, cluster lights start to get dim........I keep going.........then she dies. I am on the side of the highway.........not going anywhere. I pull out the cell. Call work, not coming to play today. Call my brother, tell him to go pick up my van, and tie-downs. I push the bike to the next exit and up the road to the first gas station. About a half a mile.......now you guys know this is no easy task with a big GS...........I am in full cardiac arrest. Two hours later we load her up in the van, go to the local wrecker. Not a Suzuki R/R to be found. Tells me about the Honda conversion, they have lots of Honda R/R's and they never fail. $40 for a used Honda one or $200 plus a couple of days for a Ricks or Electrix............hmmmmmmm. I find a 5 wire one from a older 750. It has two wires on the ground and positive, twice the gauge of the stock GS wires. The unit is 1 3/4 inches thick and 2 by 3. I am off, I get home praying all the way that I didn't fry my stator. I get home and test the new R/R and stator.......perfect. Some new bullet connectors and some 14 AWG wire and I set her all up. Charged up the battery, and fire her up. Never started better, all the lights are bright. So, for 40 bucks I saved my ass. I go for a long ride and the new R/R is barely warm, my old R/R would have been untouchable. The bike has been great for 4 days, I highly recomend this hot/mod. Just make sure you use a rectifier from a simularly sized and equiped bike........NO GOLD WING R/R's!

Conclusion:

I am not saying this hot/mod is better than a replacement from Electrix or Ricks. But it is something to remember if you are in a bind on a long trip and near a wrecker. Just be careful, as most Honda R/R's have about 15 wires coming out of them; they have some other transistorized thingy in them. Look for a 5 wire, the conversion is as follows:

Suzuki

Red
Yellow
W/Blue
W/Green
Black

Honda

Red
Yellow
Yellow
Yellow
Green

Hope this info will help someone in a bind one day, just thought I would share.

Andre

[Billy Ricks]

I never knew I manufactured R/Rs.

[Anonymous]

M

[Anonymous]

So it looks like my electricals are going south faster then you can imagine, and i don't have the cash for a Electrex or OEM RR, but i know a good shop that may be able to pull a Honda RR. Could you give me a little more info about this swap?

Do you have a part number for the one you used? (maybe printed on the RR itself?)

If i only need to shell out for the stator this month, and get a temp. honda part, i can live with that.

THanks in advance,

[Motorcyclemodeller]

I could look for the part # on the R/R, but it may not be a Honda part # rather the manufacturer...Nipondeso or whatever. My wrecker had a whole filing cabinet drawer full of Honda R/R's. They all had that famous oil marker with the bike they were removed from. Just find one from a bike with simular cc's and electrical consumption characteristics. And try to find a five wire, as this leaves no quess work on electrical connections. I will check the part # for you, ask again if I forget.

8) Dr. Dre 8)

[Anonymous]

turns out it was the stator (those stator papers are a life saver, as is the diagnosis chart at Electrex)

Had to get a Ricks stator as it was the least expensive of either Ricks or OEM, i'm afraid of getting dinged with exorbitant tarriffs by going with an Electrex
(i'm in Ottawa)

Anyone used the Ricks replacement stators? I've heard great things about Electrex....

BTW Was the design flaw in the R/R or the Stator (stat. papers refer to this problem with our bikes and attribute it's cause to poor design) And is it corrected in the Ricks stuff if it was in the stator?

THanks

[1100ED]

I actually believe that any company that rewinds the stators will give you a better quality one than the oem.

[mcycle-nut]

I could look for the part # on the R/R, but it may not be a Honda part # rather the manufacturer...Nipondeso or whatever. My wrecker had a whole filing cabinet drawer full of Honda R/R's. They all had that famous oil marker with the bike they were removed from. Just find one from a bike with simular cc's and electrical consumption characteristics. And try to find a five wire, as this leaves no quess work on electrical connections. I will check the part # for you, ask again if I forget.

8) Dr. Dre 8)

Find one for a late '70's to early '80's Honda 400 twin, usually a CM or a CB. The mounting holes even line up perfectly to the pretapped holes on the bottom of my battery box! This is a permanant fix. Don't think of it as "just something to get you home". I've had one for years, and it works like a hot damn.

[argonsagas]

Stators can be rewound at Proformance Motorcycles in Orangeville, Ont.

I don't know their long-term reputation, but they rebuilt a stator for me and it still works after two years. They will build it to higher specifications than original if you wish...but this may cause additional heat

Electrex has a Canadian outlet in Calgary...I bought my R/R from them . Unlike everyone else, Electrex gives a two year guarantee ont heir parts.

You can use an R/R from a 400/450 Honda of eighties vintage. Bolt holes match Suzuki. You will need to clip and solder the wires into your original connector, as it has more wires than Suzuki. Green is ground and should be extended to run to the battery. Black connects into a live circuit on your bike. Red connects with your red, the other three go to the stator.

(Carmen's bike is still working, a week after doing this ...and he put a few hundred miles on it in the last week. )

[SqDancerLynn1]

It's a great tip to remember. It is also listed somewhere in the tips and tricks forum. By the way I also have a Honda reg/rect on my GS850. If you look you can probably find one on ebay for $20

[Anonymous]

Yes, 4 weeks later, my Honda r/r is working flawlessly. I find it interesting that the honda unit is twice the size of the Suzuki unit despite the fact that the honda r/r came off a 450. Clearly honda overbuilds their electrical units. This is a lesson that Suzuki could learn. Many thanks again to the skilled technician who installed it. My hero-Ron Martin.