Starter gear assembly question

[jeffg]

OK, I am going to preface this by saying that other than a Suzuki GT550, I've never had an electric starter system apart...every other bike I've owned is either kick only or the electric starter system never gave me a problem, so I don't know how, or have any real frame of reference as to how the electric leg works on the Venture. When I thought that the ignition pickups were bad (they aren't) I took off the generator cover and 2 shafts and 3 gears fell out. Naturally, I had 5 separate pieces on the floor instead of 2 assemblies.

 

I put the pieces back in in what seems to me to be the logical way and I looked at the microfiche, but it's not 100% obvious as to the correct order that the parts install. Attached is a picture of how I reinstalled the gears. With no gears installed, the starter driven gear on the back of the rotor spins freely in 1 direction only as I figured that it would. With the gears installed as per the picture, I can't easily spin the driven gear in either direction, but it appears that this arrangement is the only way that everything lines up.

 

Did I put this back together correctly or am I about to cost myself some serious money?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

 

http://www.3cyl.com/jeff/starter%20gears.jpg

[frankd]

Jeff,

 

Welcome to the site....

 

Yes, it looks like you've got the gears installed correctly. Why did you pull the left cover in the first place?

 

Frank D.

[dingy]

When you put the cover back on, the magnets are going to make it hard to line up over the starter dowels. It takes some force to get it on.

 

Also clean gasket surfaces, and seal around 2 sets of wires exiting rear side.

 

Gary

[jeffg]

When you put the cover back on, the magnets are going to make it hard to line up over the starter dowels. It takes some force to get it on.

 

Also clean gasket surfaces, and seal around 2 sets of wires exiting rear side.

 

Gary

 

I had to move the bike today, so I tried to slip the cover back on just so it wasn't dangling...those magnets are STRONG!!!! Gasket surfaces will be cleaned better before it goes back together and sealant will be applied (been there, done that on other bikes). Permatex Ultra Copper OK? I use that on most everything on my 2 strokes.

 

Jeff,

 

Welcome to the site....

 

Yes, it looks like you've got the gears installed correctly. Why did you pull the left cover in the first place?

 

Frank D.

 

I followed the directions in the service manual to test the pickups. Got bad readings so I pulled the cover figuring I had a short or bad pickups. Turns out the manual is wrong on which wires to test. OOPS Turns out that the TCI is bad so I have a new one on the way (thanks Gary)

 

 

 

Thanks Guys for verifying that I have it together correctly. It seemed that way to me, but I wasn't 100% sure.

[jeffg]

When you put the cover back on, the magnets are going to make it hard to line up over the starter dowels. It takes some force to get it on.

 

Also clean gasket surfaces, and seal around 2 sets of wires exiting rear side.

 

Gary

 

Oh yeah, whose brilliant idea was it to have a shaft for the shifter running THROUGH the stator cover with a shift arm on either side. That's going to be an assembly pain in the a**...one more thing to get lined up.

[dingy]

Oh yeah, whose brilliant idea was it to have a shaft for the shifter running THROUGH the stator cover with a shift arm on either side. That's going to be an assembly pain in the a**...one more thing to get lined up.

 

Attached are 2 pictures that will help you with that.

 

Gary

[dingy]

Gasket surfaces will be cleaned better before it goes back together and sealant will be applied (been there, done that on other bikes). Permatex Ultra Copper OK? I use that on most everything on my 2 strokes.

 

Somewhere in my head, one of the voices are saying this could be a problem.

 

I seem to recall someone had an issue trying to do that. The gasket acts as a shim and there may have been a clearance issue.

 

Sometimes the voices are wrong though.

 

 

Gary

[jeffg]

Somewhere in my head, one of the voices are saying this could be a problem.

 

I seem to recall someone had an issue trying to do that. The gasket acts as a shim and there may have been a clearance issue.

 

Sometimes the voices are wrong though.

 

 

Gary

 

My bad...I wasn't clear. I have new gaskets from Yamaha (local dealer had them in stock). In looking at the way the cover was set up with the stator and ignition pickups, I figured that approx. .020" spacing might be an issue if I left the gaskets out. I was planning on lightly coating the gaskets with sealer, not replacing them with sealer. Again, is Permatex Ultra Copper OK to use, or should I use the basic blue sealer. I have the Ultra Copper in my tool box.

 

I try to always listen to the voices in my head. Last time I told them to shut up, I had a noise in my motor that wasn't usual. 10 miles later, I lost power and limped back to the motel at Deals Gap. Testing showed no compression on my left cylinder. The top of my piston looked like a pincushion after the ring land broke on my H2 and the piston rings disintegrated. I lucked out...new piston overnighted to the motel and with a little dremel work to get the biggest divots out of the head, the bike ran like new...still does. Funniest part of the whole thing was the sport bike guys. They were amazed that I could replace a piston in the parking lot of the motel and even more amazed that I did it in less than 2 hours counting the clean up of the head. LOL

[bongobobny]

While you have that apart, see the switch in the middle of the picture held on with 3 screws? Take that off, clean the contacts and reassemble with a dab of dielectric grease. That is your gear selector switch, and by servicing it now you may avoid problems later...

[dingy]

My bad...I wasn't clear. I have new gaskets from Yamaha (local dealer had them in stock). In looking at the way the cover was set up with the stator and ignition pickups, I figured that approx. .020" spacing might be an issue if I left the gaskets out. I was planning on lightly coating the gaskets with sealer, not replacing them with sealer. Again, is Permatex Ultra Copper OK to use, or should I use the basic blue sealer. I have the Ultra Copper in my tool box.

 

I try to always listen to the voices in my head. Last time I told them to shut up, I had a noise in my motor that wasn't usual. 10 miles later, I lost power and limped back to the motel at Deals Gap. Testing showed no compression on my left cylinder. The top of my piston looked like a pincushion after the ring land broke on my H2 and the piston rings disintegrated. I lucked out...new piston overnighted to the motel and with a little dremel work to get the biggest divots out of the head, the bike ran like new...still does. Funniest part of the whole thing was the sport bike guys. They were amazed that I could replace a piston in the parking lot of the motel and even more amazed that I did it in less than 2 hours counting the clean up of the head. LOL

 

I have had my motor tore down last to winters, both were for performance enhancements, not mechanical problems.

 

Both times I have coated fiber gaskets in motor oil. They came of rather easy on 2nd tear down & no leakage problems.

 

The oil tends to swell the fiber gasket just a tad, then when it is torqued down it is squeezed in place.

 

Clean and seal around the two wire packs for sure. Slide grommet out of stator cover, clean and coat all around. Slide grommets down on wires a little & coat wires, then slide grommet back in place. These wires are a PIA for leaking.

 

Also clean & lube shifter linkage ball joints while in there, it helps.

 

Gary

[dingy]

While you have that apart, see the switch in the middle of the picture held on with 3 screws? Take that off, clean the contacts and reassemble with a dab of dielectric grease. That is your gear selector switch, and by servicing it now you may avoid problems later...

 

Attached are a few of pictures of the neutral switch. The 83 will only have 1 contact though.

 

Also clean the contact on the case side.

 

Gary

[Venturous Randy]

Oh yeah, whose brilliant idea was it to have a shaft for the shifter running THROUGH the stator cover with a shift arm on either side. That's going to be an assembly pain in the a**...one more thing to get lined up.

 

If you will look on the end of the shaft that comes through the housing, you will see a mark. This mark will line up in the center of the slot on the part that slides on the shaft where the clamp bolt is. If you put it together like that, it has to be correct.

RandyA

[jeffg]

If you will look on the end of the shaft that comes through the housing, you will see a mark. This mark will line up in the center of the slot on the part that slides on the shaft where the clamp bolt is. If you put it together like that, it has to be correct.

RandyA

 

I can see from the pictures that I'm missing an E clip. I didn't take one off and I did take the shaft out of the cover. Looks like another trip to the dealer this weekend.

 

Jeff

[jeffg]

Attached are a few of pictures of the neutral switch. The 83 will only have 1 contact though.

 

Also clean the contact on the case side.

 

Gary

 

83 has only a neutral light and the later ones have a gear position indicator?

 

Jeff

[bongobobny]

'fraid so! Of course you could always install the newer style switch along with a Royale wiring harness and switch out the dash to a newer style, then also add cruise, radio, CLASS...