Who has two thumbs and needs a new stator?

[Guest]

That would be me.

Good news is that I picked up a Compu-fire 3 phase R/R a while ago and had been meaning to get around to replacing them both. Well the bike has told me no more waiting - gotta do it.

Guess I'll order the stator in the next week or two and then start reading up here on the tutorials.

It's so frustrating to keep dumping money into this bike. *Deep breath*

Thankful I have my Burgman to give me a little fun on two wheels in the meantime. It's the most reliable machine I've ever owned.

[Nessism]

Your GS is 35 years old. Maybe older than you?

If you don't enjoy wrenching there are better choices. A properly maintained GS is a very economical machine though.

Good luck!

[growler]

I turn 41 on Saturday.

I do enjoy wrenching, and have done a ton to this bike already. Just complaining a bit - I'll get over it.

[Boriqua]

My plan for this coming saturday is replace my stator and RR. Like Ed said .. they are 35 yrs old so they will need some help getting back in shape but I find they are super easy to work on with help from this forum and replacement parts are pretty damn cheap. I have been using the better parts that I can find and they are still pretty reasonable. When I had my GS back in the 70's and 80's it was stone reliable and I rode it in the heat of summer and through snow in the winter. I couldn't find anything to tinker with and I rode it for years like I stole it. I treated the throttle like a whip and I still couldn't kill it. Guy who had it before me had the 750 dressed with fairing and luggage and rode it to NYC from California and I sold the bike running and happy with some 85000.00 miles on it.

Dont get frustrated (even though last week I was about to set the bike on fire) once you get er going it will be great.

[derwood]

every one i know has 2 thumbs

[dwilson0725]

every one i know has 2 thumbs

I know two people missing a thumb. Well.... one is missing their thumb, the other is missing the tip of their thumb.

[Cipher]

must make hitchhiking a real PITA

[eil]

Happy birthday!

I guess your birthday present to yourself is a new stator?

[AMK]

I know two people missing a thumb. Well.... one is missing their thumb, the other is missing the tip of their thumb.

I know a couple of old guys that thought they could pull stuck stalks from a corn picker. It picked their thumbs and more.

[Wingsconsin]

Wow -- If only we had timed it better...
Good ol' Steve was in town and we ran out of things to do Saturday afternoon
We (he) could've easily done your bike as well...
Bad luck for sure..just as you get it going..it gets sick..
I feel the pain (more than most) and wish you the best -
You know electronics are my Kryptonite so I am not a lot of help on this one - or else I would be there helping
I have lots of wire if you need any for the work your doing.
Hang in there - the money is a far cry from the actual worth of having a classic to show off at bike nights
Which we will be at together on our GS's this YEAR !

Someday you will be SO Smart from the lessons your bike is teaching.

[Boriqua]

Well I just finished my install. Having never done it before it took me a straight up 3 hours to remove and install. Would have been alot faster but I was documenting everything as I went and so on.

Here is a little heads up.... its nice to have an extra set of hands when installing the stator and cover back on the bike. The wires goes through the gasket and through a little hole between the stator cover and the starter motor compartment. It was good to have someone pull the wires through the little hole slowly while I moved the cover into position.

The magnetic force pulls the stator and cover when you get close to the engine so try and have everything lined up nicely from about 6 inches away so as you put the cover on and it sucks from your greasy hands it is aligned already.

My stator cover had 3 different sizes of screws. Be careful to document where they go back. I marked the Number 1 screw randomly on the case cover and then taped them to a manila folder in the order I took them out.

My front sprocket cover also had an assemblage of screw sizes. Be careful to mark their location as you take them out. If you just pull them all out and stick them in a cup ... well my old butt would absolutely not remember where they went back.

Other than that .. it is really a pretty easy task and I could certainly cut the time in half now having done it.

edited to add: I had to run out and buy a rubber mallet. The cover was on there a good while and it wasnt moving. 2 taps with the mallet on either side and it broke the seal and I was able to remove it. Just an fyi .. my locating dowel was on the left side at about 9 oclock.

[dwilson0725]

If you're ever unsure where the bolts go, take the longest and drive it all the way in. Observe the distance between bolt head and bearing surface. Check every hole this way. Sort bolts accordingly.

[Grimly]

They all have about 10 or 12mm of free play before they start to screw in - ie, they have 10 or 12mm of thread engaged. I never sorted them once I noticed that.

[growler]

I will keep these encouraging words on my mind once I tackle this. Trying to order a stator off of the Caltric site and it's been stuck "loading" for hours.

UPDATE: it was just a drop down menu error. Got the stator ordered. $37 bucks w/free shipping isn't bad at all. Now to make sure I have all the right connectors for the job.

Wow -- If only we had timed it better...
Good ol' Steve was in town and we ran out of things to do Saturday afternoon
We (he) could've easily done your bike as well...
Bad luck for sure..just as you get it going..it gets sick..
I feel the pain (more than most) and wish you the best -
You know electronics are my Kryptonite so I am not a lot of help on this one - or else I would be there helping
I have lots of wire if you need any for the work your doing.
Hang in there - the money is a far cry from the actual worth of having a classic to show off at bike nights
Which we will be at together on our GS's this YEAR !

Someday you will be SO Smart from the lessons your bike is teaching.

[growler]

Great tips - thank you.

Well I just finished my install. Having never done it before it took me a straight up 3 hours to remove and install. Would have been alot faster but I was documenting everything as I went and so on.

Here is a little heads up.... its nice to have an extra set of hands when installing the stator and cover back on the bike. The wires goes through the gasket and through a little hole between the stator cover and the starter motor compartment. It was good to have someone pull the wires through the little hole slowly while I moved the cover into position.

The magnetic force pulls the stator and cover when you get close to the engine so try and have everything lined up nicely from about 6 inches away so as you put the cover on and it sucks from your greasy hands it is aligned already.

My stator cover had 3 different sizes of screws. Be careful to document where they go back. I marked the Number 1 screw randomly on the case cover and then taped them to a manila folder in the order I took them out.

My front sprocket cover also had an assemblage of screw sizes. Be careful to mark their location as you take them out. If you just pull them all out and stick them in a cup ... well my old butt would absolutely not remember where they went back.

Other than that .. it is really a pretty easy task and I could certainly cut the time in half now having done it.

edited to add: I had to run out and buy a rubber mallet. The cover was on there a good while and it wasnt moving. 2 taps with the mallet on either side and it broke the seal and I was able to remove it. Just an fyi .. my locating dowel was on the left side at about 9 oclock.