Trash Stator/Alternator or reusable?

What’s up guys. Just wondering if the alt/stator is ok or i just need a new one. Some gouges and scrapes, rust, and the wire cover frayed.

Back story on the bike. PO only had it for a couple months and bought it from a guy who stated bike was in a flood and it sat for 2 months.

I took the carbs to church and now just going through the engine little by little. New to the bike world and any input greatly appreciated.

 

It looks fine aside for the scratches on the annular traces where the brushes run. Those need to be smoother so the brushes don't bounce. Redo that with the rotor installed and use progressively finer grits of finishing paper until you can't see any grooves. Then use electrical motor cleaner to remove the grit. The preferred method is touse a hard art eraser to remove corrosion, but it's too late for that.

The only way to know if it still works to test it electrically. Do you have a multimeter?

 

Yes i have a multimeter. I’ll look up what it should read. Thanks

 

Does it matter if i test the ACG out of the engine? If not i got .8 ohms on the 3 white wires. The brown and green wires read .51 ohms. Haynes says the the white wires should be .46 ohms and brown/green should be 4.0 ohms. Idk I’m lost or it’s my cheepo multimeter.

 

Did you put the probes of the multimeter together first to check the reading on your meter then deduct that from your figures? You can test it off the engine.

 

I didn’t test the probes to each other. Thanks for the heads up. The manual also says that the temp tested is 68 degrees. It’s colder out now, roughly 55 degrees. Would that make a difference or am i just reading too much into it.

 

I am not sure about the temperature to be honest. Did you subtract the figure on the meter from the figures you got from the three white wires and brown and green wires?

Double check with another meter too if you can. Good chance your rotor and stator are working.

 

Yea i ordered a better meter. But i did subtract the initial probe to probe reading. Got .5 for the 3 white and .2 for the green/black

 

Just wait until the better meter arrives before you make any decisions. 0.5 ohms is close enough to 0.46 ohms on the stator wires, the extra little amount could be meter error or some slight corrosion on the metal wire terminals that you are measuring against (p.s. you should also pick up a can of DeOxit electrical contact cleaner and spray those terminals, or use any of the other methods suggested to "clean" the terminals).

The rotor should ideally be measured thru it's harness with the brushes firmly being pressed against the rotor contact rings (the "annular traces" that k-moe refers to). 0.2 ohms is way too low, which typically isn't the way that things work (resistance increases) with electrical items over time. 0.2 ohms is really close to a straight short, which can happen.

Since the items are off the bike, why not bring the items inside for a few hours and re-measure at room temps, just to eliminate any temp discrepancies.

 

ill def clean all the connectors also and put it all back together to get a more accurate reading

 

Before you go any further, what is the plan?
A flood bike really needs to have the engine torn down completely for evaluation, unless you're just using it for parts and not putting it back into running order.
If you are fixing her up, wait on reinstalling the alternator until afer you've had the engine apart. That will save you some redoing of work that you've already done.

 

yes sir plan on going the whole 9 yards with her. I've only been in the carbs, left crank case, and stator so far and it was pretty bad. I can imagine whats waiting for me inside of the engine

 

ok got the new meter. Put the rotor on the brushes and stator in. 3 white wires go between 4 and 5 ohms and the brown green are still high at 4.8/4.9 ohms. Sprayed some electric cleaner in the connectors. I’m prob going to have to get a deeper clean with the connectors or just new ones. I tested the rotor directly on the annular traces and got 4.6 ohms. So I’m gonna guess with my amateur bike brain that the connectors are dirty.

 

Just an update guys. Been slowly disassembling the engine and mannnn it’s pretty bad. Pics below

 

I’ll post more as i go along. Dunno if i screwed or not

 

I would strip the rest of it down, split the cases and check all of the parts and clean everything. Wash all of the parts. Get the oilways cleaned out with compressed air if possible. I think it is rebuildable. It does not look that bad in the photographs, I have seen a lot worse, engines people are trying to see on E Bay etc a few are junk.

 

Alright got it all apart. Rust was falling from everywhere. But I’m gonna do what u said and clean everything first before i count myself out.

 

Looks like she'll run again.
The main things to look at are gouges or pits in the main bearings, the camshaft bearings (non replaceable), and rust or pitting on the cam lobes. Camshafts are chap and plentiful, as are heads.

The bores look good visually, but measure them to be sure.

If all that checks out then replace the alternator chain guide and rebuild the starter clutch before she goes back together.

 

Yes looks fine to me too. I would rebuild it if it was my bike.

You should replace the cam chain too since you have the cases split if all the checks k-moe advised you to do are fine.

 

I briefly looked over the bearing. No damage so far. On the top of the piston bores there’s a ring of rust maybe a 1/4 from the top. I dunno if a hone would get rid of it or just fine W/D sandpaper

 

That is the space between your top piston ring and the top of your cylinder where the rings don't contact. Try a stout plastic scraper first, don't use a hone on it. My cylinders were the same. Here is a photograph from my engine rebuild you are looking for cross hatching the crossed scoring you see on my cylinder wall. You can see the line where the top piston ring stops, the light brown at the top of the cylinder. The cross hatching is to keep oil on the cylinder to lubricate the cylinders and piston rings.

 

Ok sounds good

 

Is this just rust build up or was there some sort of gasket around these bolts? It was just falling off while splitting the engine. (Green arrows)

 

There was tubing fitted at the factory to protect the front studs your arrows are at. Studs are visible looking at the front of the engine through the cooling fins when the cylinders are on. I think the reason was that the front studs were exposed to road dirt and can corrode. I had problems getting the cylinders off my engine because of it. I decided to rebuild it without new tubing. You should be able to clean the dirt off with some steel wool. A lot of the corrosion and dirt fell into my engine but I was splitting the cases anyway so it didn't matter. From your photograph it looks like there is still some tubing on the stud next to the cam chain.

 

The tubing you mentioned is barely holding on so ill prob just pull it off. I should prob take closer pictures for you guys to show how crappy it looked. Thanks again.

 

Yes remove it. You can get new tubing and other parts from Chacal on info@xj4ever for the rebuild if you wish.

 

Yea me and Chacal have been in contact since i got the bike and did the carbs

 

Here is Mezzmo's engine rebuild video, will be useful for you for reassembly.

 

Ive watched Mezzmo's engine overhaul a bunch already. Theyre my go to source when i cant find it in the book.

 

Ok great. When you split the cases heat up the two bolts before removing them that secure the starter chain guide to soften the factory threadlock. The bolts can break otherwise.

 

the upper bolt was so corroded that the head just fell off with minimal force. had to drill it out and gonna re-thread it. other two came out easily

 

Good you got them out, I forgot you have already split the cases lol.

 

Whats up gents. Been MIA for a bit. Too cold out to be cleaning in a unheated garage. Slowly bringing in parts to clean in the house. I didnt give up just too damn cold,

 

you can use 9mm heatshrink tubing ,on the cylinder bolts, not the 2 rh ones though, they're the oil galleries

 

Thanks for the heads up

 

Never ending cleaning

 

what up guys? I have a question about the connecting rod bolts/nuts when I'm checking clearances for the bearings and journals. I know I have to replace them once the rods are split but do I have to replace them again after I use plastigauge?

 

use the old bolts and nuts for the plasti check then the new ones for final assembly.

and no if you use the new ones there will not have been any stress on them besides the torque

 

Ok sounds good. Thanks again

 

Question gentlemen. I want get new Middle gear pinion shims. I have the originals but they rusted. they read .15 and .50. The manual say to use a dial indicator and some brain effort with the lower 4 numbers on the case. I dont have a dial indicator because well i honestly have no clue how to use it. Just wondering if i could just buy new shims the same size as the originals and it be ok.

 

not the ideal situation , but yes you can just go with what sizes you have.

you can read about it in the xj4ever catalog
XJ PARTS CATALOG, SECTION H: CLUTCH, TRANNY, DRIVETRAIN (xj4ever.com)

 

Rusty shims should not be an issue, just scuff them with some scotchbrite or very fine sandpaper and jam them back in place........

 

While that will work it's not a guarantee that the gear lash will be set correctly, unless the cleaned-up shims have been measured to ensure that they are still of the correct thickness.

@Rubodee83 Measuring the shims canbe done well enough with a cheap set of calipers. A micrometer would be preferable, but calipers will do. When cleaning the rust off use finishing paper that's been taped to a flat surface, and move the shims ina figure-8 to clean them up. Use a splash of water to help the shims slide evenly and keep the paper clean.

 

Correct, the only way to determine that is to follow the measuring procedure in the service manual, which requires the use of a dial indicator, etc. It's my understanding that.....just like with valve shims.....the shims do not actually wear thinner, but other components change dimensionally, requiring re-shimming to compensate for such wear. But I may be wrong.

 

it is one of those things that while your in there you may as well make sure its correct,

 

Youre right, but it takes a really long time to need to reshim a gear that runs in an oil bath. My concern about reusing rusty shims has to do with the amount of rust, that rust takes up 30% more volume than the parent steel, and removing rust can change the thickness of a shim.

The determining factor for me has always been how much rust, and where it is.
Rusty edges? No worries, just clean and reuse.
Light film of rust on the flats that canbe rubbed off with my thumb? Scothchbrite and reuse.
Bumps or pits? Wet-sand and measure as long as there are very few pits.
Any flaking? Junk.

 

The edges are kind of flakey. They fell out of place when pulling the housing out during tear down. I’ll have to clean them up more to see if there are any pits and measure them.

 

Also during the tear down this was on the outside of the bearing closest to the 5th gear. Not sure what it is but seems like an oil seal. Looking at the exploded view of the parts i can’t find it in the manual.