Stator Replacement Procedure

[camos]

First Gen MkII Stator Replacement

 

 

Before you begin make sure you have all the materials and tools you will need:

 

the new stator,

gaskets for the flywheel/stator cover and the middle gear cover,

large Phillips screw driver (#3),

10mm socket,

12mm socket,

5mm allen wrench,

flathead screwdriver,

gasket remover,

scraper,

brake cleaner,

thread locker (Blue Locktite)

oil resistant RTV (Permatex PX #82180)

 

 

Possibly an extension magnet will be needed if any of the case pins fall into the engine. A new copper crush washer might be needed. You will find it on the bottom bolt of the middle gear cover. The old one should work OK but if it does leak afterwards it can be replaced any time so it's not that important to have at the beginning unless you plan on losing it.

 

 

Removing the covers:

 

 

First remove the chin fairing, left side lower fairing, the engine crash guard, the shift lever from the shaft that comes through the stator cover and remove the "C" clip and washer from that shaft. Remove one bolt from the the foot peg/shifter assembly so it can be pushed out of the way.

 

 

Next remove the six 5mm cap screws from the middle gear cover (the small cover at your left foot while riding) taking note that the cap screw at the bottom has a copper washer that is used as an oil seal, carefully remove the cover. Have a small container ready to catch the oil behind the cover. Perhaps a 1/4 cup, just enough to make a mess. Make note of the orientation of the inside shift linkage because unless the lever is in the proper position (lever should be up) the stator case cover will not fit back on properly.

 

 

 

 

You can now see two wire leads coming out of the lower rear part of the stator cover, follow these under the middle gear until you get to a connector on each of the cables. Unplug the two connectors (the smaller two wire one is the pickup and the large one is a three wire for the stator) then remove both cables from the retaining clips.

 

 

Remove the two Phillips head screws from the flywheel cover and remove the round plate and note the orientation of the spring washer so you can replace it the right way.(flat side out).

 

 

 

 

Remove the eleven 5mm cap screws from the flywheel cover and remove it from the engine. As you pull the cover away from the engine it will start to come but then give some resistance. This is due to the magnet in the flywheel pulling on the steel in the stator. A steady straight pull will remove it by gentle prying with a flathead screwdriver. Be careful when prying as you don't want to mark the case edges. A tap or two with a mallet will help to break the seal.

 

 

 

 

Inside of the cover there are two guide pins in the case perimeter that are used for positioning. There are also two shafts and three gears used by the starter, if they fall out or come with the case put them back into position in the engine. A note of caution here, when removing the cover one of the gear pins may stay with the case and the gears may fall out. The gear on the splined shaft will only go in one way, rotate to fit. Be advised the pin that goes into the gear can fall into the engine.

 

 

 

 

Remove the three Phillips head screws in the center of the stator coil. Make note of the position of the retaining cover for the wires from the stator before removing the 2 screws holding them. These screws may have Loctite on them and be tough to break loose, so use a screw driver that fits tightly in the screws and proceed using gentle steady force. Remove the wire cover and the old stator.

 

 

 

 

 

Prepping and Reassembling the New Stator:

 

 

Clean all the old gasket from the cover mating surfaces. If you are lucky the old gasket will all be on the cover. Likely the old gasket will be baked on so now is the time to use the gasket remover. This stuff will also remove paint. The luck involved in having the gasket remain only on the case makes it much easier to spray the remover without getting it all over the bike. Scraping may be necessary to get all the old gasket off. Use multiple applications of gasket remover, scraping between coats. It's important to remove it all but be careful of scratching the mating surfaces.

 

 

The stator wires go through a rubber plug. Some stators come with a new plug and some require reusing the old plug. To prevent future oil leaks at this point use brake cleaner to clean the plug, wires and the area in the case where the plug fits. Pay attention to cleaning out the groove in the slot. A small amount of RTV on the plug and the wires will aid in preventing oil leakage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use a tap and a die to clean the threads on the 3 stator screws and the 2 wire cover screws. This will get rid of any remaining locking compound. This step is highly recommended and will prevent the possibility of breaking any screws while tightening. Guess how I found that out.

 

 

When installing the new stator pay attention to the position of the wires coming off the stator, they must go between the two pins that position the clip holder. The first time I did this job the wires fit in place perfectly but the second time when using a different brand of stator it was necessary to loosen the clamp holding the wires on the stator to adjust the position to fit between the pins. Re-install the wire cover.

 

 

Adjust the shift shaft to the up position. The flywheel/stator case can now be installed. Run the wires up to the connectors and put them into the clamp near the stator cover.

 

 

After replacing the flat spring washer, the round flywheel cover and 2 screws can be installed. Clean the mating surfaces then replace the middle gear gasket and install the cover. Don't forget the copper washer on the bottom bolt. Place the washer on the shift shaft and pull the shaft outwards until the slot for the "C" clip becomes visible then press into place. Re-install the foot peg, engine guard and chin fairing and you are done.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2016 by camos
Updated and repaired missing pix

[Snaggletooth]

"A small amount of RTV on the plug and the wires will aid in preventing oil leakage."

Boy did I screw up! I used a LOT!!

Just kiddin' Camos. Well kinda. I was very "liberal" with the stuff. I took no chances.

 

Seems to have worked.

 

BTW, good post.

 

Mike

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

Thanks Clive I knew I could trust you to make all the mistakes so I would not have to!

 

One question.... well two..... when would you like to come and do mine? And I guess the one you will likely answer politely ...... if the bike was standing instead of laying down is it less likely to drop these pins into the unknown? Is it a better idea for a novice to stand it up?

 

Hopefully a moderator can consider making this a sticky.

[MiCarl]

Before starting decide whether you want to drain the oil or lay the bike down on the right side crash bars. My choice was to lay the bike down because I had just recently changed the oil.

 

This method will help guide loose parts into the crankcase.

 

Do it on the center stand. You'll only lose a cup or two of oil anyhow.

Edited March 3, 2013 by MiCarl

[Squidley]

Do it on the center stand. You'll only lose a cup or two of oil anyhow.

 

 

I figured the oil loss would have been more than that, learn something new everyday

[Flyinfool]

I did my starter cluch on the center stand and only lost a few drops of oil. Now I get to do it again to replace the stator.

[camos]

Thanks Clive I knew I could trust you to make all the mistakes so I would not have to!

 

One question.... well two..... when would you like to come and do mine? And I guess the one you will likely answer politely ...... if the bike was standing instead of laying down is it less likely to drop these pins into the unknown? Is it a better idea for a novice to stand it up?

 

Hopefully a moderator can consider making this a sticky.

The first time I replaced the stator I managed to snap off one of the 3 Phillips screws holding the stator. It broke with hardly any pressure, like a piece of string cheese being twisted. Rocket came to my rescue with a spare case cover. He took my case in to his shop and had the offending remains of the screw removed. Paul is one of the great assets of this club.

 

I'm not sure I made ALL the possible mistakes but certainly made a dent in the list of likely ones. You will likely be far better off to ask Paul to help you with it since there is a good chance I only made half the mistakes that are possible. If the bike was standing there would probably be much less chance of anything falling into the engine.

[camos]

This method will help guide loose parts into the crankcase.

 

Do it on the center stand. You'll only lose a cup or two of oil anyhow.

Now you tell me.

[camos]

"A small amount of RTV on the plug and the wires will aid in preventing oil leakage."

 

Boy did I screw up! I used a LOT!!

 

Just kiddin' Camos. Well kinda. I was very "liberal" with the stuff. I took no chances.

 

Seems to have worked.

 

BTW, good post.

 

Mike

The first time I did this job the new stator did not come with the plug so I too used quite a lot of RTV around the plug and wires when re-using the old one.

 

The second time I did it the new stator came with a plug and the wires were very tight where they went through the plug so I left them alone. The wires were also very stiff which caused the plug to come out several times before I got them oriented so the plug would not pop out. The first time I put the plug in I used quite a lot of RTV but found after it popped out a couple of times that there was not much RTV actually in the slot. So it seems a little is all that is necessary since the rest of it gets squeezed out.

[Marcarl]

I have found that using an impact driver saves me a lot of screw heads and broken screws. Personally I use an 18 volt DeWalt, but anything like it would be useful, much better than the impact drivers that you hit with a hammer. Also, it saves the pilllips bit, or what ever bit you might be using,,, fact is, I find it so handy that it almost has replaced all use of my hand held screw drivers and ratchets, not all mind you, but it is one tool I would replace immediately should the one I have fail.

[camos]

I have found that using an impact driver saves me a lot of screw heads and broken screws. Personally I use an 18 volt DeWalt, but anything like it would be useful, much better than the impact drivers that you hit with a hammer. Also, it saves the pilllips bit, or what ever bit you might be using,,, fact is, I find it so handy that it almost has replaced all use of my hand held screw drivers and ratchets, not all mind you, but it is one tool I would replace immediately should the one I have fail.

I think that is a very good idea. Does the DeWalt driver have adjustable torque settings?

[Marcarl]

I think that is a very good idea. Does the DeWalt driver have adjustable torque settings?

Not really as you might think, it's variable speed, so the harder you squeeze the trigger the more torque, also the better the battery the more torque, so a half used battery maybe won't do what a full battery is capable of.

[camos]

I found a pic of the shift linkage and inserted that in the procedure.

 

I'm not an expert mechanic and other then having done this job twice make no claim to fame. If anyone has an opinion on anything that I missed or perhaps could have done differently please chime in here. It isn't necessary to repeat the advice already given regarding the use of an impact driver or doing this job on the center stand or even on a lift. This procedure may as well be as complete as possible so I will be including those tidbits in the procedure text.

[Marcarl]

I found a pic of the shift linkage and inserted that in the procedure.

 

I'm not an expert mechanic and other then having done this job twice make no claim to fame. If anyone has an opinion on anything that I missed or perhaps could have done differently please chime in here. It isn't necessary to repeat the advice already given regarding the use of an impact driver or doing this job on the center stand or even on a lift. This procedure may as well be as complete as possible so I will be including those tidbits in the procedure text.

I think you covered it fairly well,,, nice job!

[camos]

Not really as you might think, it's variable speed, so the harder you squeeze the trigger the more torque, also the better the battery the more torque, so a half used battery maybe won't do what a full battery is capable of.

Thanks, I'm going to look for one on sale.

[MiCarl]

In The States you can get a hand impact for $10-$20. Does a great job on most screws. Generally doesn't bugger the head because you're pounding in on it so the bit seats tight. Gotta make sure the other side of the cover is protected so you're not beating it against the floor or something.

 

The screws in the cover are secured with loc-tite, not unusual to break them. A bit of heat will let you remove the remnants with pliers, if there is anything to grab.

[Marcarl]

In The States you can get a hand impact for $10-$20. Does a great job on most screws. Generally doesn't bugger the head because you're pounding in on it so the bit seats tight. Gotta make sure the other side of the cover is protected so you're not beating it against the floor or something.

 

The screws in the cover are secured with loc-tite, not unusual to break them. A bit of heat will let you remove the remnants with pliers, if there is anything to grab.

That's the beauty of the impact driver (Dewalt), it gives you the impact without the danger of hammering your way through the item your working on. You don't need to support the back side or set it in a 'vice' to keep it from turning. More or less like an air impact, but then much gentler and neater, and much better control with amazing results. Wayne didn't believe me when he first saw me use it, but now has his own,,, it's awesome!!!!

[Nate]

How did you get the c clip back on?? What's the best method?

[camos]

I had to replace the stator on my 89 and looked for the procedure I had uploaded after doing my 90. All the pix had disappeared so I updated the procedure and the pix.

 

Hopefully by now Nate has found the answer to installing the "C" clip but I added that and made a few other small changes.

[KIC]

Great thread. I want to upgrade mine at some point. Since I create my own 3-ring binder shop manual from all these great "how to" threads I turned yours into a WORD Doc. Here it is so others can print it out and use it.

 

STATOR REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT.docx