Replacement of Brigitta's Failed Rotor

I had mentioned in my previous post, that Brigitta my '87 R80 BMW Airhead had developed charging issues. 

Diagnosis had led to planning a replacement of a failed rotor that was not passing the continuity test.

Dick Paschen is the Colorado AirMarshal for the Airheads Beemer club (ABC).  He told me that he had a spare rotor and was willing to help me install it today.  

So I showed up at his home and he even fed me breakfast before we started work on the motorcycle! 

Dick patiently guided me through the whole process beginning with removing the front cover after disconnecting the battery in negative cable and disassembly of the alternator.

It's very important, to disconnect the battery, otherwise you may cause an electric arc while removing the front cover and burn out your diode board! 

Here's the alternator, wires disconnected.  A couple of the black plastic insulator bits broke as we removed the wire connections on the alternator. We would use some shrink tubing at the end to fix that.

Here the stator has been removed exposing the rotor.  The shiny bolt in the center is a special tool to help pull the rotor out of the alternator.  

Note the large screwdriver jamming the rotor in place preventing it from turning as we worked to loosen and later tighten the rotor.  Simply putting the transmission in gear did not do the trick, probably a harbinger of clutch pad work sometime in the future. 

I had only observed the brushes, shown below while mounted. It was one of the things that RichardM suspected.  However, the fact that the rotor was failing the continuity test bypassed that thinking until today. 

Once the stator was pulled off I was able to observe easily into the rectangular wells that house the brushes and they were very worn down!  

Luckily, Dick had a spare set of brushes!

Below you can see one of the old brushes lying on top of the brush housing to illustrate how worn down it had become. 

The new brush is flush with the end of the housing. 

Note: the old brushes were soldered on, so Dick cut off the wires and we just used the new brushes' connectors to secure them onto the 8mm nuts that secure the brush assembly.

It was a bit fiddly, working to put the brushes in while holding the springs out of the way but we got it done.

Fully assembled, awaiting heat shrink tubing.  

Before we put the front cover back on, Dick had me reconnect the battery negative wire and we did a quick test.  The generator light came on as expected and desired, and the bike fired up right away, and the volt meter showed she was charging up!  Success!

Quickly disconnecting the battery again, I put the front cover back on with Dick's help and we rolled the bikes out onto the street. 

Brigitta back home

My thanks to Dick Paschen, Colorado AirMarshal for his time, patient training, and of course the spare rotor and brushes!

Here's the broken rotor:

A Few Days at Home, waiting for Umarang to be fixed

September 24:

I had lunch with 3 fellow uralisti: Jay, Dan and John (Spat).  I was distracted by Spat's new (to him) sidecar rig, so no group pic like last time.

Quite the rig, it's a R1200 Hex head tug so quite powerful to haul the sidecar along.

September 25

I drove Thing 2's 1990 Toyota Pickup to a truck scale to get it weighed.  The Internet said they're in the 3000 lb range but I didn't believe it.  

Alas, she was 2920 lbs, almost empty in back   I had been toying with the option of using it as a towed vehicle but no longer.  After all, the Honda CRV is only about 700 lbs heavier.

The fact that it also requires the drive shaft to be removed for towing due to it being an automatic transmission is the other nail in the coffin.

September 27

A 100km ride with Scarlett down to Castlewood Canyon SP area.  I wanted to see what Fall coloration might be there, there was none.

Here's a picture of the damn that failed, the waters of which flooded Denver apparently a few decades ago. 

September 29

A ride with Brigitta, my '87 BMW R80 Airhead ride ended sooner than planned.  I noticed while riding that her battery wasn't charging after initially doing so at the ride's beginning.

Made it home with no issues and the diagnosis is a failed rotor in the alternator.  

September 30

I am still waiting for Uma to be fixed, the mechanic has encountered parts delays and some lift availability issues.  She's in for a fuel pump system replacement to hopefully get rid of recurring OBD codes causing Check Engine warnings.

Some Fall Colors have started to show up in the neighborhood: 

October 2

So bored waiting for the RV to be repaired that I performed some half-assed fence repairs.  A tree on the side, it's trunk had grown over the years, pressing against part of the fence.

This fellow watched my efforts sporadically, I think with a critical eye:

Now it's only two fence slats bowed inwards, as opposed to a whole section.

RV work complete notification just after 5pm!  I pick it up tomorrow.

October 3

I picked up the RV and drive it home in the morning.. I spent The rest of the day we mounting the front motorcycle carrier rack. I had to remove it to give the mechanics I'm working room as a requested.  I also move some supplies into the RV, filled the fresh water tank, and improved the way I'm carrying the spare gas can on the rear bumper.

I'll finish packing up the RV tomorrow.

Evidence of what idle hands can lead to, some of my favorite movies:

Sunday I will be riding Brigitta over to the Colorado Airheads Airmarshal's home. He has a spare rotor and is willing to help me install it, what a guy.

Motorcycle Maintenance while Home

There's been several items on the to-do list for my motorcycles.  I've delayed them so I could do the work in the comfort of my garage at home rather than in some wind-swept and dusty campsite.  (That and parts had to be ordered)

Wednesday, March 10

I replaced the battery on Brigitta, my BMW R80 Airhead.  The old battery died on Monday when I tried to go for a ride.  I'd noticed via the voltmeter that the battery wasn't charging as I rode out of the neighborhood and so had turned around and started troubleshooting.

My battery tester said it was bad, but it's also not quite suitable for motorcycle batteries with their low Amp Hour ratings.  Must get a more suitable one in the future.  I also verified via an Autozone tech that the battery was bad.

I replaced it with the same battery, a maintenance-free unit from Amazon (it came full charged)

Installation was straight forward, no issues.  Brigitta started right up and now charges when the RPMs go above 2000.  The battery lasted about 4 years.

Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and swapped the stator on Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 Dual Sport.

Nothing wrong with the one that was installed.  I had recently received back from a neighborhood friend, a refurbished one.  The first swap I had done oh so many months ago had failed (something broken in the stator itself).  

So I had my neighbor who is good at soldering, transfer the good wiring harness from the failed stator and connect it to the known good stator that came with the motorcycle but who's wiring I'd damaged by not routing it correctly.  This had started the whole stator debacle.  Chronological order:

Home Early due to Lack of Spark

Yagi has spark once more ! Kinda... (now waiting for parts)

Boondocking near Westcreek, CO

A Paradigm Shift?

Maybe not so big a Paradigm Shift after all.....Yagi has Spark Again

So, I swapped in the refurbed stator and she fired right up when tested.  I'll keep the known and trusted Partzilla Stator as "known good spare" and ride Yagi with the refurbed one for a while to gain trust.

A Ride for Brigitta while Enjoying Neighborhood Fall Colors

The time for Fall Colors is actually a couple of days or so past peak for my home neighborhood trees to display their Fall Colors.

I had decided to finally get Brigitta out of the garage and get some exercise.  My departure was delayed when she expressed her displeasure at not being out since September 4 however.

Yep, she leaked gas from her right side carburetor onto the garage floor as I readied her for riding and got my riding gear on!

Tried new cork seals, that didn't work, still leaking.

Tried doubling up of the seals, still leaking.  Finally figured out it wasn't the seals for the fuel bowl, but it was coming from a overfill tube in the bowl.  I then used some needle nose pliers and bent the metal tab for the floats a tiny bit downward.  

That seemed to do the trick and I went riding.

The first two pics were taken with RichardM's comment in mind that Fall Colors should be more than just yellow.  So here you go, RichardM.

Of course, the rest will be of the yellow variety:

So what do you think?  Landscape or Portrait format better with the below scene?

I only rode perhaps 12 miles, more tomorrow.  No further fuel leaks from the right side carburetor.  Hopefully, Brigitta has finished showing her displeasure at me.

Brigitta's Clutch Cable End Breaks, A Torture Run for the Sammy and Sun Visors

 Monday, May 9

I rode out on Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer, just for a short run to get some stuff from the VRRV at the storage yard.  All was well until I was on Arapahoe Road heading home.   Then, I went to engage the clutch lever and there was a pop and then no resistance!  Yep, the end of the cable had snapped at the lever.

I was able to get within one mile of home before I could go no further without being able to engage the clutch.  So I parked Brigitta at the corner and started walking down the hill towards home after crossing the busy intersection of Smoky Hill Road and Himalaya Road.  

About a block down, it occurred to me that since I was walking downhill, that I could easily coast downhill with Brigitta!  So I walked back to her, pushed her across Smoky Hill Road at the pedestrian crossing, then mounted and rode her down the hill.  

Got within a half block or so of the house before she lost all momentum, then I pushed her a bit closer before getting Patrick (Thing One) to come out and help me push Brigitta onto the cul-de-sac and into the garage.  

I had a spare clutch cable at home fortunately, so I mounted it after using the old clutch cable as a routing guide.  Got the ends connected; then realized something:

Note, in the picture above, the small grey cap that is the end of the new clutch cable. (red arrow).  This bit is apparently called the nipple.

Seems to be a lot of room inside that cavity huh?  It had also been a remarkably short interval since I last changed out the clutch cable. (Less than 3000 miles).

I suspect, that I didn't realize that what BMW calls a Nipple Holder, is what you mount the end of the clutch cable to, then you insert the nipple holder onto that round cavity under the clutch lever!  Doh!

Nipple Holder

I ordered the parts (replacement clutch cable for spare and two nipple holders) and they came in today and Brigitta is whole once again.

Yesterday, May 11, Wednesday.

I drove the Sammy about 7 of the 8 hours it took to go and wander about the camping sites along Rampart Range Road, in the Rampart Range Riding Area.  The driving was a combination of highway, surface and dirt road driving.  Lots of slow driving from one campsite to the next, checking each out for future usage.  

The view from the Cabin Ridge Picnic Area

I believe this is near the junction of Rampart Range Rd

and Forest Road 507

After returning from the Rampart Range Riding Area, I detoured to Bee Rock for pics:

I would end up returning home via US85 to Castle Rock, then the Crowfoot Parkway to Parker and "enjoy" the stop and go traffic of Parker to Lincoln Avenue and thence homewards via Inspiration Drive and Gartrell Road.

I'm happy to report no issues with the oil pressure gauge leaking at the fitting anymore (I'd tightened it slightly).  It also had no coolant issues even in heavy stop and go traffic with the outside temperature approaching 90 degrees!

I did see the temperature gauge's needle, reach the 3/4 mark on the gauge and a bit beyond three times during the drive.  Each time, the gauge's needle would, after a few seconds, then start to move back towards the middle of the gauge.

After a conversation with RichardM, he suggested perhaps there's air in the coolant system, causing the gauge's behavior but that as long as it drops each time, all should be well.

The Sammy's oil level was about a quart low once I got home (yep, she continues to burn oil) so I topped it off.  The oil pressure gauge never fluctuated so it appears the oil level has to be more than one quart low before it'll affect the oil pressure gauge.  Good info for me to know.  RichardM explained to me that when you see the oil level on the dipstick below the low mark, that means the engine is about a quart low.

Later in the evening, a couple of cheap sun visors I'd ordered from Ebay from a vendor in India arrived.  The finish was "meh" and I had to adjust the placement placement of the mounting holes for the visor to align correctly.  I guess that's what you get when you go cheap.

Still, the Sammy's got visors now, no more starting into the sun in the early morning or late afternoon.

Snow, delays, batteries and a sunset

Sunday, Jan 10

Went for a short drive with Mariko, to check out her 4WD in a more extended manner on what I hoped would be snow covered road.  The area I picked did have some snow on the roads, but not much, more muddy than anything else (which is also a good test I guess) as the weather had been warm the last few days.

Aside from a slight rattling noise when engaging the clutch before bleeding down the speed, no issues encountered.  The PO told me he'd heard some noise too, especially in Low Range but I guess we'll see if its something to worry about.

I dropped Mariko off at the mechanic's shop on Monday, the 11th.  They estimated at the time it would take perhaps 3 days.

Wednesday, Jan 13

I'm not known for patience so it probably won't surprise you that I was disappointed to be called and be told by the shop that the carburetor rebuild was delayed.  

Looks like they have to replace the e-choke component involved with the radiator ( the fluid temperature tells the choke to activate or shut down ).  Also, apparently the float has to be replaced.  The delay involves finding the right parts for this old carburetor model: Hitachi DFB306-832.  The parts are due in Jan 21, Thursday of next week but they'll call me if they arrive earlier.

On the positive side, its good they found these problems now and are working to fix them.  Hopefully, it'll mean a more reliable key component to the Samurai being a dependable vehicle.

-----

I'd been exercising both Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol and Brigitta, my '87 Airhead Beemer the last few days.  They've not gotten ridden much since the last three months or so as I was away camping.  Scarlett gave me no issues the couple times I rode her around the area.

Brigitta, on the other hand gave me the dreaded clicking noise of a dead battery.  This is even though she started fine at home, and no issues all the way to the RV storage yard where I'd been doing some work on the URRV.  

Sighing heavily, I got the jumper cables from the URRV, hooked her up and she started right up and caused no issues all the way home.  I looked up on her maintenance records when I'd last changed out her battery and it was over 10 years ago!  Dang.  Just goes to show how little she'd been ridden in the last ten years!  So a replacement battery is ordered and on the way, a PowerStar PS-NH12-18, which is equivalent to a BMW 51814 which is suitable for R Bikes.

More battery issues, the small lithium battery on Yagi, my 2006 Yamaha TW200 failed completely same day.  The battery had been stuck on 14.1 volts for over a day, so I'd disconnected the charger and reconnected...not bothering to check the voltmeter readout.  

As I was checking Brigitta, I finally noticed the voltmeter showing weird readings, changing rapidly, and reporting only 6.4 volts with the multimeter!  It was toast.  

Luckily, I still have the Yuasa YB7C-A  battery that had been installed in 2016 and which I'd changed out proactively when I brought the TW home.  I ordered a replacement battery as they're not too expensive and it should be here Friday this week.

----

Jan 12

We had us a pretty good sunset, with some nice clouds being lit up by the sun's rays once it had sank below the horizon:

Wrote this blog entry to keep my mind off the delays involving Mariko's carburetor, yesterday I washed part of the garage floor and mowed/mulched the large amount of fallen leaves that were in the back yard.

Sigh.

Replacing Fuel Lines on Brigitta and a look at past and present cousins....

 Today the weather had finally warmed enough to allow me an easy and almost iceless exit out of the neighborhood while riding Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer.

I rode her the nine miles to the RV Storage Yard and as I parked her next to the URRV, noted the smell of gas.  Oh Oh.

A quick look showed drops of gas emanating from the vicinity of the right tank petcock!  I had recently installed a couple of worm gear clamps  (none had been there before Fiona's immolation); and apparently the clamp's pressure caused an existing split in the rubber to leak gas.

See the split in the rubber fuel line, it's

on side closest to my thumb

Needless to say, visions of another engine fire pop into my head and I hurriedly shut off the right side petcock.  The leaking stopped of course and after retrieving what I had gone to retrieve from the URRV; I rode the few miles to the BMW Motorcycle Dealership.

Got me 3 feet of braided fuel line, borrowed a scissor from the parts clerk, and within five minutes had replaced the leaker with new fuel line.  Leak resolved!

While at the dealership, I saw this R60 /2 in very good condition sitting in the showroom.  I didn't ask if it was for sale so no need to ask me the price.

Now, with the above R60's 600cc engine representing one end of the spectrum....I present to you what is probably a new R18 that was sitting in the parking lot...with its 1800cc engine:

Those are some huge jugs eh?  Not being misogynistic here, that's what the engine's cylinders are called by some riders.

I believe the R18 is BMW's attempt to get some buyers away from the Cruiser crowd of motorcycles such as Harley-Davidson.  It doesn't hold any appeal to me but having 1800cc on tap would be so nice on those long trips involving interstate highways.

Asked to make a choice, I would go for the R60 /2.

Once I got home I also replaced the left side petcock's feed line even though it wasn't leaking, just so they're both same age you see.  I kept the old one as a "get me home" spare and will store it in the toolbox under the seat.

As a test ride, I rode to the Home Depot to get a wire brush Dremel bit and once I was back home I spent a couple of hours cleaning the burn stains on most of the moto tools, my hand started cramping up so will finish the rest tomorrow.  

In the first half of May....

A little bit of catch up being done with this posting, no real events but one and that one is on hold in terms of being posted due to issues beyond my control.

The R3W steering damper has worked out great for Scarlett, I've had zero instances of "head shake" and she takes bumps and pot holes with steadiness and surety now.

We had us some rain on May 3 and here's a pic of Scarlett getting wet under rainy Colorado skies; a rather uncommon occurrence I assure you.

Rainy Sunset

The next day, the fourth, proved somewhat better in terms of sunset conditions:

 Hazy conditions for the capital of the Stoner State

May 5th through the 6th, I went through what was to me a refresher Basic Rider Course for riders of Three-Wheeled motorcycles.  Much more to follow but for now, just a pic of me during the class:

May 7th's sunset was pretty good:

May 9th's sunset was better:

The sunset on the 10th was the best of the month of May so far:

Some mechanical notes for record:

Replaced the clutch cable on Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer, I discovered the end at the handlebar lever quite frayed!  Luckily, I had a spare but am still tweaking the adjustment a bit.  Quite different from a URAL's clutch cable adjustment on the gearbox side.

Scarlett: After much fiddling with the original issue being a high idle when engine was hot and unable to get it to idle at 1000 rpm AND be balanced per the Harmonizer tool; I opted for correct RPMs and skewed balance at idle.  The left side throttle body is somehow letting air in (checked all components, no luck); which causes vacuum higher on the right.

Once off idle though, and through the gears, the throttle bodies are balanced withing 4 mbars of center!  She sounds better too, not racing when at idle and engine warm.  Hopefully, I'm not doing long term damage.

Thinking of going camping again at the Hugo SWA (State Wildlife Area) this Sunday, but not for certain.