Alternator cover removal

[KA1J]

I want to polish up the aluminum on the bike & went to remove the alternator cover & saw the components attached to the cover itself so I bolted the cover back on. Before I remove the coil & brush assembly, are there any gotchas I should be aware of first? Or any suggestions?

Thanks

[BA80]

No "gotchas". just unplug the stator wires fom the bike and polish away. You might not want to remove the stator from the cover though because they sometimes can be difficult to realign.

[crazy steve]

No "gotchas". just unplug the stator wires fom the bike and polish away. You might not want to remove the stator from the cover though because they sometimes can be difficult to realign.

The XJ unit is easier for that....

[KA1J]

Oh, that's good to know. If re-aligning the unit can be a hassle, no sense in making work. I'll have to look in the daytime to see where the easiest place is to unplug the stator wires.

I figured I needed to remove the coils & brushes, not familiar with removing the alternator parts. To the good though, the brushes look pretty intact & not worn low.

[BA80]

I have to do a backstroke on my last post. I hadn't even noticed you were working on an XJ until now.

I've never had one of those apart so I can't even really comment. I know the alternators are different and have brushes unlike the XS though.

My apologies.

[KA1J]

Backstroke... heh

I thought the XS11 and XJ11 had the same engine/transmission & alternators with the exception that the early XS was able to have a kick start & there were BS34 II on early XS11s & BS34 III on the later ones. That and earlier bikes had different bore/stroke/compression details.

Maybe I've learned these distinctions incorrectly? The alternator on the other XJ series of bikes is accessed from the left and top of the engine, next to the starter. That's why the other XJ bikes are symmetrical when riding, there is no offset to the right from the alternator.

Funny that, when I was looking for the XJ11 on Craigslist, I never had seen one in person and expected it was nothing other than a larger version of the 82 XJ650 Maxim I have. I didn't realize it was the last of the XS1100 line of bikes.

However, I have probably put close to $1000 in parts into it and I paid about that when I bought it. I have unquestioningly put many hundreds of hours into restoring/rehabbing this bike and it's truly paid off; it's no VMAX power-wise but it has a beauty and soul to it that unless something untoward happens, I will keep this bike as long as I ride.

Now to find out how to remove those wires.

[crazy steve]

The XJ motor is pretty much the same unit as the XS, but there are differences. The ignition and alternator are completely different from the XS; you can swap the complete units between motors, but there's no interchangable parts in the ignitions/alternator themselves...

That's one of the difficulties of owning a XJ11; there's so many 'one year only' bits on them that finding good used replacements can be very tough.

[BA80]

I think you best bet KA1J is to contact trbig on ANYTHING XJ. He has broken and repaired everything on his at least once if not multiple times.

[KA1J]

<Snip>

That's one of the difficulties of owning a XJ11; there's so many 'one year only' bits on them that finding good used replacements can be very tough.

That's gotta be one of the masochistic parts of me, I like having things that are a genuine challenge to resolve. When they do get resolved it's like a vacation.

I have a buncha Ham radios with unobtanium parts to them that need resolved. Figuring out how to make these 60-70 year old beauties work like new is a thrill. I see the XJ11 in the same light. What sucks is when there's a dead end and you have to accept FAIL or better, how to modify what is that it becomes functionally working as what was original and it's good as new.