Let's All Bust Rick's Chops

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C'mon Rick. Wheres the choice for "I checked them before riding season and if they were any longer they would knock the guy off the Harley as I passed him giving a one finger salute."

Next you'll wanna know when I'm going to stop beating my wife :roll:

 

What if the Harley guy wants to beat up the wife... Seeing as it was her that gave him the finger :lol:

 

Did she even bother to remove the Marlboro from between her lips when she told him to kiss her... um, well, anyway...

Loud weather we're having, isn't it? :wink:

 

ok Rick if it's not to hard,,,, an mines been changed in the past but I not sure when,,,,,ok just how hard is it,,,Dan

 

"A Caveman could do it" ... provided he had a Allen-shaped rock!


Pull-off the Alternator Cover.
There's only 3 Allen's to deal with.
Look inside the cover!
Those are the brushes.

Measure how long they are from where they extend out from the platform to the end.

11mm or more ... you're good to GO!

10.9mm or less ... Replace!

Your bike will love you.

 

Checked them last week, 20mm. Good to go.

 

As a good xj disciple I checked my a few weeks ago. They were low, so humbly following xj advice, I ordered new ones.

 

Clearification, I eyeballed mine. They were a bit longer than the 17mm wrench I had laying handy so the 20mm is a ballpark. Suffice it to say that they are darned near new.

 

You didn't have a poll section earmarked " Checked 'em before riding season and they were fine"......

 

Nag nag bloody nag! Alright I'll have a look today.

I mentioned the Harley rally down the coast a little way a few days ago, it's had quite an impact already can't get a breakdown truck up here for love nor money.

Mick

 

been there
done that :wink:

never ignore free sound advice :lol:

 

Hell no... Take a pair if pliers to get that puppy loose

Loud.... Sheesh that aint the half of it lol

 

Yes, though it's almost 11:30 p.m., I just went out in the garage and checked.

The first thing I noticed is that there was a lot of carbon dust in there. It almost looked like there was charring, but I'm pretty sure it was just an accumulation of dust. Edit: The ROTOR was clear - not charred looking. Just wanted to clarify that. The dust was on the inside of the cover.

The second thing I noticed is that I don't have anything which measures in metric. My brushes were just over 7/16", though, and looking at English to metric conversions, that's RIGHT AROUND 11mm.

The third thing I noticed was that there was a bit of loose 'stuff' in the casing. Looked like whatever the windings are coated in, some bits of that may have broken off. I took some pics, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow.

A) Should I be worried about those bits?
B) If I were to replace my brushes (they're certainly NOT 17mm), is there a preferred source to get them from?
C) Will my wife kill me if she finds out I was tinkering in the garage instead of heading up to bed?

Thank you, and good night!

 

Worry about the Pumpkin Colored Flakes ... NO.

11mm ... Your on the fence.

I'd pop in new ones if you find a good price for a pair!

11:30 and she'd be upset?

My wife don't get upset anymore. She's lived with late-night projects that went past 2:00AM, so she's used to it!

 

I cleaned the crispy tie material out of the Seca's alternator hole last weekend. Had me a bit worried but the carbon buildup and oil coking on the inside of the cover has me even more concerned. Funny thing is that the brushes are new. Guess this fellow lunched the brushes earlier and didn't bother to clean house before slapping it all back together. I don't think I'd worry about the string, it will give if it gets anywhere it's not supposed to be.

 

Which leads to the questions, "What's a good price for a pair," and "Where?"
OldBikeBarn.com doesn't seem to have them.
BikeBandit.com has them $38.16 EACH! Ouch!

Can I stick a few #2 pencils in there? It's just carbon/graphite, right?

 

Checked mine and one is borderline and the other not far off, so they need replacing.

Motorgrid and Bikebandit have them but the total cost with postage is around $137.00 one uses UPS and as far as I know the other sends Fedex $46.00 for posting 2 small brushes to Spain???? Anyone know a source that posts by US mail?

Mick Faighaigh.

 

Yes, Z1 has them for $12.53. Out of stock right now. I emailed the guy and they're probably getting more this week. They ship USPS, which is awesome. Mine should arrive sometime in the next few days.

http://www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2673

 

ok, where are we measuring from? The black ring on the base of the holder, or are we taking them out of the holder and then measuring them? Mine are about 11mm while still in the holder. I can't get them out yet because one of my screws is stuck. I wanted to pull them out and see if the ones from z1enterprises would fit.

 

Total length, they should have a Wear Limit mark on one side of the brush.

This also lets you know if the springs for the brushes are weak with age and not pushing the brushes out enough to make good contact and that the brushes can move freely.

Brushes could be Made if you can find a similar one at a auto sparky by file down the sides to match. Idea for people on limited funds but L33t Skillz! Lucus brushes for the older English '70s alternators are similar.

 

Is it safe to assume that the brushes from Z1 will fit an XJ700, even though it isn't listed?

 

I went to bikebandit and found the part # for a 1982 650 Maxim. I then took the part # and did a search on it. Guess what? The brushes are the same for ALOT of Yamahas from like 1980-1988. THey DO work on my 86 Maxim X.

 

The Old Book I had shows them being measured from "How much is protruding from the Brush holder"

At 11mm ... they've been worn down 6mm (at least).

Sticking some new Brushes in there is a good idea ... and, you'll be running with the NEW Brushes in there ... which ought to make you feel good for catching the situation "Shortly" before it became a problem!

 

Piersol.
According to this cross ref program I have brush 1 fits 44 different Yamaha's brush 2 fits 33, odd but handy to know.

Brendtron5000.
When your brushes arrive would you let me know they fit OK please, I'm having a problem getting the brush holder out to see how the brushes fit.

Mick Faighaigh

 

Total length, they should have a Wear Limit mark on one side of the brush.

 

Question about the wear indicator: If you can see it, they're too short, or if you can see it, you're still good? I'm not sure if seeing the mark means it's protruding past the base, and thus the brushes are too short, or it means the mark has not yet been ground off by the rotor and you're still good. My wear mark was a few mm above the base.

 

That’s a strange choice of scenarios
Especially the Harley guy, maybe twenty years ago, but these days I think your more likely to get sued

if it aint broke dont fix it

 

Did a quick search and found this site. XJ brushes for $18.00.
http://www.cyclewareables.com/pages/alt ... rushes.htm

 

Nice find, RangerG. I placed an order. We'll see how they do.

 

YeeHaaa! After reading this thread, I came home from work and checked my brushes. I've got about 4 mm to go before I hit the wear indicator. I'll probably buy a new set just to have on hand. Cheap insurance!

 

So - I too am in this group now. My CBR's charging system has a question mark and I'm tracking down the problem - it is either brushes or more common to honda's the regulator.

The following link I find a good companion to Rick's electrical help with stator brushes.

http://www.offwidth.co.uk/bike/general/ ... inding.pdf

 

FYI, I received these pretty quickly (don't remember if it was last week or early this - the Wednesday holiday has thrown me into a time warp). Haven't installed them yet.