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Today
I removed my front cover to investigate a slight noise
from the front of my engine that was new. I had read in
CJU about a person who had his alternator center bolt
back out and go right through the cover. I have also read
about the rotor being so tough to get off you had to use
a hammer. My center bolt was loose and my rotor was
wobbling, not that great a fit on the shaft. The cover
comes off easily on my bike—just two allen head
screws. The center bolt will be a surprise to anyone who
has not worked on these bikes. It was so long I had to
turn the forks to clear. I cleaned up the rotor and
decided after inspection that it would do for another
turn at bat. Not the best fit and the brushes had taken a
bit of a beating but were still usable. I put the rotor
back on and selected reverse to get enough resistance to
tighten. The very long bolt got a good dose of blue
Locktite. Don’t put too much pressure on this bolt
as it is quite thin and would snap easily becoming quite
a pain. If you are not an experienced mechanic I would
suggest torqueing it. Odds are you would need to look it
up in a shop manual by bolt size. I ran the engine with
the cover off to check rotor run out and it was
acceptable. I checked to make sure that the bolt was
really locking the rotor by trying to move it by hand. It
was tight. I opened my boot and checked my voltmeter, she
was putting out normally. After refitting the cover and
riding the bike I think I dodged one bullet thanks to the
reports on CJU. It does make me wonder how my timing
gears are locked though. This was the easiest job I have
done on this bike. Changing the oil is tougher. It took
less than a half hour and might be worth your while to do
to prevent problems. |
