Stator Upgrade and Installation

[Ratfade]

One of my planned projects for this winter has been to upgrade and install a stator from Cycle Electric. I'm going to have to remove the inner primary anyway to replace a loose shifter arm, and since a burned up stator has grounded me a couple of times when travelling, I thought a new one from C.E. made sense,

My questions are: Is it necessary to also replace the rotor (which comes close to doubling the cost of the project), or is the HD rotor good enough?
Most instructions suggest using the HD rotor removal tool or equivalent for this job. Do I really need a special tool, or is it something I can make or buy cheaply?

Thanks

[L-]

Gonna depend on your dexterity.  You can get a brass welding rod and do the bends and hook bends in the "legs" of it and  pull it off.  BUT if it is one of the ones with the magnets from the hell side of earth then I would make or use the tool that threads in there to pull it off.  Most accidents are well pinched finger tips, dropped rotors (which make the magnets come off) or banging it back and forth cuz you can't get a good grip on it and you don't want those pinched fingers.  What model bike do you have?  Cycle Electric is good stuff. 

L-

[smoserx1]

If you are going to have to remove the inner primary anyway you can probably get a decent grip on the rotor.  I ended up having to remove my inner primary when I changed my stator even though I was not supposed to need to.  There was some material on the primary that should have been machined off at the factory that was left, and the rotor would not go through.  I thought I was crazy at first but after the inner primary and rotor were both off the bile it was obvious it would never have gone through without some filing or grinding.

If your shifter arm is loose I would replace it while the primary was off.  The arm is cheap and you will get new splines.  Use a new bolt and lube it up real good with anti-sieze (not loctite).  You want the best clamp load you can get here.  I also used a grade 8 hex bolt, not the Harley allen bolt, and screwed that thing down super tight.  Put in a new SKF or cometic shift shaft seal in too.

[les]

If you buy a CE charging kit, you will see that the rotor has "H-D" stamped on it.  It's a resell of a stock Harley rotor.  Just take a look at the splines to make sure your old one is in good physical condition.  In terms of your shifter bolt, use some blue loctite on the threads.  However, also make sure you put some assembly lube under the head crown of the bolt so you can overcome friction and get it tight.  So many times the shifter bolts will not tighten enough simply due to the crown not sliding.

[harleyjt]

Chances are you won't get the rotor off, and certainly not back on without some kind of special tool.  I used a two legged steering wheel puller I already had to do the trick.  Threaded in two long bolts, and captured the puller body between two nuts.  Effectively, this gave me a "handle" to pull on.  The magnets are just too strong on the current rotors, and as stated above, there's not enough room to man-handle it out.  Going back on, it keeps wanting to jump to one side - you just can't make it go on straight without help.  

Another easy trick would be two long bolts, with a piece of flat strap metal double nutted on each.
jt  

[Ratfade]

Sorry I forgot to mention that the bike is a 2000 FLHTCI bored to 96" with about 95,000 miles on it. Through replacements and upgrades, I think there's hardly a part on it that's the original. Thanks for the great ideas. I especially like the one about using the puller.

[noliners]

Good time to convert to 3 phase charging system. 

[Ratfade]

Good time to convert to 3 phase charging system. 

What is that?

[smoserx1]

In essence it is like having three stators in a single component, the poles on each one are oriented 120° apart.  Virtually all cars use this, as well as large industrial and commercial generators/users of electricity.  The biggest advantage in a vehicle since the AC of the stator is converted to DC, the three phase system helps smooth out the "ripple" you get in the DC.  The old single phase stator is a really old fashioned design, although the the stator is a 12 pole unit.  Do a Google search on 3 phase power and you will get the idea.

[glens]

Don't forget the square root of 3!

[smoserx1]

Don't forget the square root of 3!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase_electric_power

[FXDRYDR]

I'm no wrench by a long shot and I got mine off just fine with no special tool.  Bent rod technique is good - I just used two allen wrenches.  Take it nice and easy, no rush.  Also suggest you put a thick-folded over blanket under the bike in case you drop the rotor. 

[road-dawgs1]

THIS POST in another forum has some good pics of the way to make a puller using the steering wheel puller